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Re: What job did you have before you became a technical communicator?
Subject:Re: What job did you have before you became a technical communicator? From:lsherman -at- documentology -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:27:18 -0700
Scott asks:
> If you had another career before you became a technical communicator, what
> was it and why did you decide to pursue technical communication?
Well, I started out as a child...oops, too far back...I left high school
after Grade 11 (Ontario), became a hippie in Toronto, supported myself by
driving and dispatching taxicab (now there was an education!) When I was
about 30 I got bored, took an architectural drafting course in community
college (before AutoCad, we're talking #2 mechanical pencil on Mylar) and
worked as a detail draftsman for a couple of years. Got bored again, went
back to driving, this time as a rush courier. Soon I was dispatching
again, and then took the opportunity to move to Ottawa and open a branch
office. Managed that for a while, and then started looking at automating
the office procedures. Bought one of the first IBM PCs in Ottawa, learned
how to use it, and took a job office managing a housing design firm.
Learned more about computer software, then began contract teaching Lotus
1-2-3, Word, dBase II, etc. This led to contracts building complex
spreadsheets and specialized dabatases. Then I took a job as the tech
support person for a small training firm, learned System Approach to
Training and began writing stand-up and CBT course materials. Left there
after 10 years and now I write procedural manuals for complex radar
display systems. Somewhere back in time I also drove 10-ton delivery
trucks and was a front-line worker in a residential program for violently
disturbed teenagers.
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