Job dissatisfaction

[Melissa Lowery <melissa -dot- lowery -at- CAPITALONE -dot- COM>]

     I had wanted to stay out of this public airing of job dissatisfaction, 
     but I have a different perspective and a different solution to Anon's 
     problem than those offered previously. I too had a series of tech 
     writing jobs that basically sucked...but, I stuck it out in two of 
     them to get enough experience and enough "stability time" to look for 
     a better alternative. 
     
     I taught myself how to be a technical writer in my first position. I 
     literally learned on the job and from the ground up (as the clichés 
     go), as a lone tech writer. I got paid $9.00 an hour and tuition 
     reimbursement for that job. I stayed there 3 years and learned more 
     from this list and from the everyday problems I encountered there than 
     any degree program could teach me. If Anon thinks his current 
     situation sucks, he doesn't have a clue. Try working for almost 
     nothing and see if boredom is your biggest complaint.
     
     My second tech writing job paid more, but was extremely taxing. For 
     example, I worked 87 hours of overtime one of the months that I was 
     there (that's 6+ weeks in a four week time span). I was miserable in 
     that job, but I learned an enormous amount in less than a year's time. 
     I started looking for a new job as soon as I reasonably could. 
     
     I found a better paying job doing less interesting work. It was a four 
     month contract and it taught me a lot about following a predetermined 
     format and about how to use Framemaker. I can now say that I can write 
     to government specifications and that I helped produce a 1000 p. 
     manual in 10 weeks.
     
     When I was recruited for my current job, I knew that my diligence and 
     patience had paid off. I LOVE my current job. I get to do interesting 
     work, work with knowledgeable people, and still have a very full 
     personal life. It has been a little over a year since I worked that 87 
     hours of overtime and things are so different! 
     
     In the 6 months that I've been in this position I've learned document 
     design, project planning, and real teamwork. The company is paying for 
     me to take graduate classes in tech comm to get that degree I wasn't 
     ready to pursue 4 years ago. I appreciate the opportunity, but I 
     worked hard to get it. 
     
     Maybe Anon should try a little perseverance. Try to learn what you can 
     from your current position. Take the initiative and make your job what 
     you want it to be. Lack of clear direction from management can be a 
     good thing if you want to tailor your job to your interests. If you 
     don't think that will work, forward your resume to me. We're currently 
     hiring new writers for my team. Anyone other than Anon who might be 
     looking for greener pastures is welcome to apply as well.
     
     Melissa Lowery
     Distributed Service Group
     Capital One
     melissa -dot- lowery -at- capitalone -dot- com


 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000