TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I couldn't agree with Steven Brown and John Posada more. I would
basically add the continual job hunting line to John's e-mail. For that
matter, I pretty much agree with everyone else too.
In my new gig, I am also the solo tech writer. In a previous life, I
worked at a company that had about 7 tech writers on different teams.
Prior to that setup, there was a communications department. So, the
transition was from a comm. Department to team based writers to (you
guessed it) back to a departmental approach, but the tech writers were
leased out to various teams (at this point, I jumped ship and got into
product management) to 5 months later all the writers being laid off and
1 or 2 brought back as contractors. A couple years later, the PM
department was laid off too. The point is, nothing is guaranteed.
The company may have kept you on because they value your work, they may
also have kept you on b/c you are not paid a whole lot. It's probably a
combination of both. However, as others have said, keep your situation
in perspective. This is an excellent opportunity for you to define your
career. You are now a "lead" writer by title. A year or two from now,
you will be a Lead Writer by experience. The most important thing is
you have the opportunity to job hunt, while having a job.
The one mistake I am making right now, is I'm not producing enough stuff
yet. This is happening because I haven't been a tech writer in about 3
years and am relearning things like: when to write a ref doc vs a user's
guide, how to write online help, how to write a doc plan, and so forth
and the current documentation is a MESS. This list is invaluable in
that regard. Below are some archived posts that I've found to be very
useful. Good luck! I'm sure you will do very well.
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A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
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