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Hear! Hear! Let's see . . . Bach of Science in Radio-TV News (in 1974, when there were NO new jobs in that field, like it's getting to be now), so started off as a newspaper reporter, then public relations rep (American Red Cross and later a major nationwide health care provider), then publications editor, a year or more as an advertising copywriter (yecchh!), some freelance stuff -- and LOTS of unemployment in between those job stints, before finally full-time tech writing in 1984.
One thing I found is that, in a way, "tech writing" was actually included _within_ each of those previous jobs to varying degrees.
Although I miss the news business, I LOVE tech writing far more. They used to say that the insult, "You're too nosy" to a reporter was actually a top compliment because of the almost insatiable curiosity about "things".
Same with tech writing -- continuous curiosity about how this or that works and how to tell everybody else all about it.
-- Ken in Atlanta
-------------- Original message from "Cardimon, Craig" <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com>: --------------
> Seems as though TW might be better when tempered by experience in
> another career. Is that a fair statement?
>
>
> Craig Cardimon
> Technical Writer
> Marketing Systems Group
> ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Posada [mailto:jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:59 AM
> > To: Cardimon, Craig
> > Cc: Techwr-l
> > Subject: Re: "Good enough"
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Cardimon, Craig
>
> > wrote:
> > > I come at TW from a background in newspapers. You don't miss
> deadlines
> > > in the news business. That's why they're called "dead lines." Cross
> them
> > > and you're as good as dead. Your business is, anyway.
> >
> > and I came at it from a sales background. In many instances, be 1
> > second late can turn your response into hundreds or thousands of hours
> > of wasted time.
> >
> > --
> > John Posada
> > Senior Technical Writer
> > NYMetro STC President
> >
> > 'Half this game is ninety percent mental.'
> > -- Danny Ozark, Philadelphia Phillies manager
> >
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