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Subject:RE: New TECHWR-L Poll Question From:Richard Lippincott <richard -dot- lippincott -at- ae -dot- ge -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 20 May 2002 12:57:50 -0400
>Have you, as a technical writer, been required to take
>a pre-employment writing or editing test?
Once, about a dozen years ago. Although I won't mention the company by name,
their primary product is nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy, so it's a
short list of suspects...
I mainly recall that they gave me a blueprint that showed a component
assembly, and wanted a quick procedure on how to disassemble the item. The
other was a quiz of some sort that asked specific technical questions. They
asked for a brief description of...arrgh, can't remember the exact phrase
(I'm sure ex-nuclear navy folks on this list will know it) how the submarine
drive system worked. "Nuclear turboelectric propulsion" I think it was. So,
I explained it, and drew a little picture. The fact that I knew this but
hadn't been in the Navy apparently flabbergasted them. They made an offer,
but I ended up declining it.
I never had the heart to tell them that the reason I understood the
submarine propulsion was from building a plastic scale model submarine kit
when I was a teenager, and the instruction sheet gave a brief
description...including a picture much like the one I drew.
Rick Lippincott
Saugus MA
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