I started technical writing long before I ever knew there was such a thing. My first job in the Army was as an intelligence analyst. I gathered information from various sources, researched trends, interviewed experts, then distilled it all down into articles for the general staff to read.
That, in essence, is technical writing. I, the mechanically challenged, also pulled together a maintenance procedure in much the same way.
When I left the Army, I took a fulltime job at Honeywell, where I worked as a documentation specialist and project lead. In the wake of a layoff, I realized what I liked best was the writing aspect of my job, and I decided to pursue a career as a contract technical writer.
For eight years, I worked for Guidant Corporation (now part of Boston Scientific), a manufacturer of pacemakers and defibrillators and other medical devices. This experience gave me a good grounding in the highly-regulated medical device industry, and I was able to work in both the design side and customer-service side of the business.
I now work for a software company in St. Paul. If you’d like more information about my technical writing background, please visit my LinkedIn Profile.
Writing Wrongs 