Non-computer tech writers

[Alan Yelvington <alany -at- TEKIG5 -dot- PEN -dot- TEK -dot- COM>]

I think that I brought this one up in a different light...

I am a hardware installation, operation, and repair writer.
I tell them how to plug it in, turn it on, play with it,
and heal it after they broke it.

"It" consists of electronic test & measurement products
made by Tektronix in Beaverton, OR.  Although some of the
high-end products are supported by firmware, the majority
are just a lot of precision components put together in
clever ways.

If ever familiarity bred contempt, this job will knock the
luster off of test and measurement.

I used to be a Coast Guard electronics tech and instructor.
That was OK until I saw the feasility studies on civilian
contracting and got out before the real down-sizing hit.


I did three years of EEE until my brain smoked. I switched
into tech writing and finished just before the financial aid
ran out.

The nice thing about this job is that they called me before I
ever thought of calling them.  Nice ego booster.  The pay is
good, the people are great, and the only thing that bugs me
is that I still get homesick.

Back to hardware.  Yup, there`s a lot to write about besides
software.  I worked for Minnesota Public Radio as a broadcast
engineer while I was in school.  The majority of my work was
made up of documenting the systems.  Although it's not really
textual, it was technical communication.  (Introductory narative
backed up by tons of wiring and block diagrams.)

Just my two bits...


Alan Yelvington
Tech Writer II



Sig time:


"We must remember three things," he said to them.
"I will tell them to you in the order of their impor-
tance.  Number one and first in importance, we must
have as much fun as we can with what we have.  Num-
ber two, we must eat as well as we can, because if we
don't we won't have the health and strength to have as
much fun as we might.  And number three and third
and last in importance, we must keep the house reason-
ably in order, wash the dishes, and such things.  But
we will not let the last interfere with the other two."


About Ed Rickets

John Steinbeck, The Log From The Sea of Cortez.