Re: Getting started in tech writing...

[Paul Hanson <hanson -at- JORDANSYSTEMS -dot- COM>]

My story is perhaps not as entertaining as others but here goes.

After graduating from college in 5/92 with a B.A. in English and a minor in
Secondary Education, I drifted. I worked most of the summer as a waiter at
the restaurant I worked at during high school and college until September.
Then I left for the life of a telemarketer and selling accidental death and
dismemberment insurance to people who really didn't want it. I lasted 3
months before I accepted a temporary one month scoring project position with
a well-known college entrance exam company. As that position was drawing to
a close, the company was awarded a financial aid application processing
contract. I was hired as a temp data entry person. I worked at that position
from 1/93 until 3/94, when I accepted a software testing position. I learned
how to QA by following that company's rigorous standards. When that position
ended in 6/94, I went back to data entry.

Here's the relevant part. My wife and I held a New Year's Eve party on
12/31/94. One of my wife's friend's husband was pretty drunk and started
talking about how great the company was that he worked at and that they were
always looking for people. The next morning, I got the name and address of
the company and sent in a resume. A month later, I had an interview for what
I thought would be a QA position since I had (brief) experience with it. At
my interview, one of the interviewers kept looking at a sheet of paper in
front of him. When I asked what he was looking at, he showed me a job
description for a Documentation Specialist. My interview was at 8 on 2/10/95
and, after speaking with 5 people, including the VP of the department, I
signed my letter of acceptance before noon. That day ended three years of
building up hopes and watching them crumble with bland rejection letters. I
kept all of my rejection letters and it numbers in the hundreds (close to
300, but I'd have to look at my files).

I worked at that position for three years until I came to my current
position, which was a tiny ad in the local paper asking for TW and Word
experience.

Paul Hanson
Technical Writer


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