[no subject]

[Tizer Fizz <f -dot- tizer -at- EXCITE -dot- COM>]

Dear Anon--

I wish that I had your luck. I spent a year as an intern in the San
Francisco Bay Area to gain some experience, which the internship never
really provided and I had to survive on $7 hr and support my family.

I had been making $40k a year as CNA. I took a big chance and a big
financial hit because I wanted to write, not nurse.

After the internship, I went job hunting and I was desperate. It showed all
over my face. When I went for my first real Technical Writing job, I jumped
at the chance. The downside was is that I did not negotiate well and they
had set their pay to 26K a year. In the bay area, that's poverty line. I
took it because I needed some real experience.

A few months latter I was promoted to manager and given a 3k raise. That did
little to help my financial situation and my stress level has gone through
the roof. When I tried to hire other writers at 26k a year, I was greeted
with a mixture of disbelief, horror, howls of laughter and anger.

On the positive side I've written four manuals in one year, edited countless
others, convinced the company to switch to Frame from WP and put together a
small tech writing department.

The flip side of that is I live from paycheck to paycheck and struggle with
incredible stress. Why do I do it? I love to write and I love to see what I
created go to clients.  Why did you become a Tech Writer?

So, in my opinion, you may be bored, but you're not struggling financially.
Unfortunately this company cannot afford to pay me what I want so next year,
I'll be out there looking for another challenging position.

In the end you may find that no matter where you are, you will find that
bosses and non-tech writers haven't a clue what you do.
You get little thanks for what you do. In addition, 90% is spent researching
and planing.
Not writing. At least that's what I have found.

The "Big Picture" as you put it never presented itself to me I had to learn
a whole new software system on my own with no training and they are still
making changes daily. Evergreen documents are a way of life here.

As for engineers, I often find that the best way to get them to talk is to
offer them some home made cookies and bring a tape recorder, pen & pad.

Good Luck

Tizer.




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