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Subject:Re: anyone else in the same boat? From:Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Dec 2000 06:36:16 -0800 (PST)
--- train2 -at- sprynet -dot- com wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this:
> I was recently hired by a company as a tech writer....
> I have no previous experience and this company has no previous
> experience with an in-house writer. Anything they needed done was
> out-sourced to consultants.
> Now, it is my job to figure everything out. They dont really know
> what to tell me, other than what they do.
> I have no idea where to start. I'm a stranger in a semi-strange land
> (just because of all the studying I did). Anyone have any advice??
Well, there was probably more to it than just "all the studying" you
did. I'm guessing you convinced them you could do what the job. <g>
Everybody has a first job, though you do seem to be in the deep end to
start.
My advice would be to drill into the specifics as quickly as you can.
Take a look at what they've gotten from these outside consultants. Find
out what your employer likes about their work and what they would like
done differently. Learn how your employer worked with the consultants.
Did the consultants do the whole documentation project, from plan to
publication? Or did some of the people in-house do the plan and early
drafts and turn mainly to the outside folks for final edits and layout?
Knowing this information will help you understand their expectations.
Work within those expectations at first. I wouldn't try to introduce a
lot of formal processes all at once. I would take the time to
understand how they've been doing things, what they like about how
they've been doing things, and what they don't like. I would introduce
any changes I wanted to make gradually and spend extra time making sure
your boss and coworkers understood and agreed to any process changes
well before they were implemented.
Most of all, develop a reputation for delivering good work on time.
Invest your time in learning your products, technologies, and
interfaces. And while you're learning all that be sure you are
producing the output they need in a timely fashion.
That's a lot of stuff, but you're probably already feeling a bit
overwhelmed on the job. So relax. They hired you because they thought
you could do the job. They have faith in you, so have some faith in
yourself.
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