I've gone through a number of careers before becoming a tech
writer/editor. I majored in business in college (College of St.
Catherine, St. Paul, MN). My first job was as an inland marine
insurance broker with a major commercial brokerage. That lasted 6
years, but when the industry tanked in the early eighties, the junior
brokers got laid off.
Went into reinsurance, but got laid off again. Had a long stretch of
clerical temp jobs until my brother's father-in-law got me a job at
Sperry Univac (later Unisys). I created microfilm data disclosure
packages and wrote bids for the microfilm portions of defense
contracts for almost 7 years. Then the defense industry tanked and
yes, you guessed it---layoff number 3-week three.
I landed in a small company that made wireless home security systems.
I was supposed to do project management, but the place was small and
the engineers saw no reason to do their part. Upper management wasn't
too interested either (why did they hire me? I really don't know) and
I was totally miserable but reluctant to leave a paycheck after all
those layoffs. One day the mechanical engineer asked me to help write
a spec for a plastic housing he was designing, and bingo! It was fun.
I'd always been able to write, and now the idea of doing tech writing
was born.
I asked my manager if I could become a tech writer instead of flailing
around aimlessly, accomplishing nothing. He said no and fired me. <g>
It was a blessing.
So I managed to land a contract job with another contract
writer---writing docs for wireless home security systems. Then I went
solo and managed to do work for St. Jude Medical and a few other
clients for almost two years on contract.
The insecurity of finding my own jobs got to me, though, and I took a
regular job with a local hospital. It was a nice place but the pay was
pretty low ("we're a non-profit" was the excuse for being some $10,000
under the average pay for the Twin Cities) so after 7 years I started
looking again. I got very lucky and landed a job with a company that
develops software for call centers, centered around VoIP technology.
When I joined 6 years ago, the company had maybe 90 employees. Now
we're up to 250 and still growing, and I'm no longer the lone writer.
The two of us can barely keep up with the work, and we'll probably be
hiring another writer soon. I really enjoy working here---the casual
R&D atmosphere and the swift-moving technologies are my cup of tea.
As if that doesn't keep me busy enough, I do occasional contract work
for the American Society of Safety Engineers, editing books and then
designing and laying them out.
As for my personal life, I'm single. I study dressage and ride my
Lipizzan gelding 3-4 times a week. When not riding, I'm gardening or
fussing over my 2003 Mini Cooper with the other members of my Mini
club (the MINI-Sota Motoring, Pizza-Eating, Psychiatric Self-Help
Association). I adore driving and go on road trips at the drop of a
hat.
I also hike and hope to resume my rollerblading this winter---I had to
drop it this summer while my knee was recovering from an operation to
fix a torn meniscus. I am planning a hiking vacation next spring in
England---a friend and I are going to hike the Thames Pathway, a
distance of 186 miles from the headwaters of the Thames to the Estuary
in London.
My only dependents are my horse Sammy and my 12-year-old standard
dachshund, Carrie Ann, a retired show dog I adopted when she was 4.
What else? Oh, I'm involved with the fandom for Forever Knight, a
Canadian show from the early 90s about a vampire homicide detective,
and dabble in writing fanfic.
That's me. :-)
Nancy Kaminski
_______________________________________________
Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at
http://www.doc-u-motion.com Your 3D Documentation Community.
_______________________________________________
Technical Communication Professionals
To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected]
To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options,
visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com
If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
