Re: Job Hunting Stories

["Lisa Bronson" <Lisa -dot- Bronson -at- ipaper -dot- com>]

I have sent this to the list before, and was going to simply post the link
to it, but for some reason I can't get the archive search to work.  Is
there a trick I don't know, Eric??

Ed Gregory mentioned networking laterally; that's how I got my first tech
writing job, by attending a meeting for engineers.  Read on....  :-)



I was fortunate... I stumbled into my first tech writing job. :-)

I went to an engineering intern search meeting with a large consulting
company (Andersen Consulting, though they've since changed their name).
During a question and answer period, I asked if they hired tech writing
interns. The answer was that while they do hire technical writers, they do
not hire them as interns.

I was about to leave, when one of the soon-to-be-graduating engineers
tapped me on the shoulder. "You're a technical writer?" he asked. "We
*need* a technical  writer. Call this guy tomorrow!" and handed me a
business card.  I called, and got the internship. Later, it turned into a
full time position. A year after that (and 4 years ago now), I picked up a
contract job and moved from Minnesota to Iowa (for about 40% more money),
and then a few months later, moved into my current, permanent position.

I want to mention that two of these companies were manufacturing facilities
and one was a telecom; each time, I have worked in engineering departments,
where my background in physics, engineering, and CAD really paid off. I
know in at least one of my interviews, the fact I knew AutoCAD was *the*
deciding factor in my getting the job, and it at least contributed in the
others. If you are looking to write for software, the desired skill sets
would be different. In that case, a C++ class or Java or the like would be
more beneficial.

While you can truly say my work history has had a lot of luck in it, I
believe that you can help yourself *find* luck by putting yourself in
certain positions. Go to places where you might meet someone needing a
technical writer (like the internship meeting for *engineers* that I went
to). Let people know that you are a technical writer (not that you want to
be, but that you *are*). Take as many classes as you can in various aspects
of the field. I never thought my 100-level computer aided drafting
course would take me so far!

Good luck!


~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~
Lisa Bronson
Associate Technical Writer
Evergreen Packaging Equipment
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
319-399-3239
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

"Writing about yourself is a tremendously powerful exercise. If you want to
know how accurately you perceive reality in the present, try writing about
your perception of your past. You just might discover an entirely new
reality."--Lisa Bronson




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