RE: New TECHWR-L Poll Question

[KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

Choice number 2:  Group.
I slid sideways from third-line Customer Support 
into the Philips (Montreal) documentation department.

I had some sample stuff that I'd written for our 
field people, but nothing that explained things 
for a new user. 

The documentation manager at the time, Kay Palkhivala 
(bless her) agreed to take me on, on the basis of 
a little piece I wrote overnight, in which I explained 
the workings of a Three-Ring Release Parachute Harness 
Attachment.... complete with a series of hand-drawn 
illustrations.   No, that had nothing at all to do 
with what Philips made at the computer plant... :-)

I worked with a very nice bunch of people -- a cluster 
of writers, a clump of translators, and a couple of 
illustrators -- for a few years, before getting the axe 
when Philips closed the facility. Since then, while I've 
done some non-tech-writing work, all my tech-writing 
has been as the entire technical/customer documentation 
department for one company or another.

I enjoy the latitude of being a solo writer, but one 
thing I do miss is having a good editor.

... that, and Kay's voice ringing out: 
"Sit down! Shut up! Write manual!"

Ah, the good old days.

Ah, the good new days.

/kevin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deborah S. Ray [mailto:debray -at- raycomm -dot- com]
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 10:54 AM

> In your first job as a technical writer, were you 
> working as a solo writer?
 
> * Yes, I was the only technical writer
> * No, I was part of a writing group
> * Other/none of the above
 

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