My First Technical Writing Experience

by Sarah-Beth Doner, Recorder

It all began during the winter of 2003. It was my 1B academic term at the University of Waterloo, and I was entering the co-op process for the very first time. I knew that I wanted to find a job that involved writing because I love to write. When anyone asks me to describe my love for writing, I simply answer, "I love to write, to communicate." I would rather write an essay than a poem, and I love to edit, so I had it set in my mind that I would eventually publish textbooks. I could think of no other way to incorporate my particular affinity for writing with an equal attraction to education and teaching. When the first co-op jobs were posted, I was a little discouraged. Somehow there didn't seem to be very many opportunities to help produce the textbooks that I pay far too much to purchase every term. 

Finding a Job

Actually, I was very discouraged. But, that's when I saw it: Position--Technical Writer. Before I finished reading the job description, I had already shifted career paths. This was it! I had found a vocation that pulled together all of my interests: writing, teaching, technology, research. I applied for the job and got an interview. I bombed that interview. Terribly. On the bright side, the interviewer introduced me to the STC by adding me to their mailing list. (But, I'll save that story for another day.) 

The following term, I applied to any job I saw that involved technical writing. I was fortunate enough to be hired by iAnywhere Solutions in Waterloo, a division of Sybase. This term has been my very first technical writing position, and it's been a very eye-opening experience for me. I've learned about some of the ups and downs of the business and lived to tell the tale. 

Experiencing Shock

My very first week involved training on the software that iAnywhere produces. I was the only Arts major in a room full of Engineering and Computer Science students. The trainer asked us to introduce ourselves, including our year, program, and any languages we knew. All that came to mind were English and Spanish, but I knew that wasn't what he meant. At that moment, I started asking what I'd gotten myself into. Was I supposed to know how to program the software in order to write about it? I was scared. 

Learning the Ropes

The following week I met with the Documentation Team and my supervisor. She told me that a long learning curve was to be expected since I had to learn technical writing and a new type of software at the same time. She said that I shouldn't feel pressured to produce anything until at least half way through my co-op term. Instead, I was to focus on learning. I felt encouraged knowing that it was okay to take the time to get my bearings. Still, it seemed like a daunting task. 

Over the next few weeks, I spent my time reading the documentation, experimenting with the software, and trying to learn how to use the XML editor that iAnywhere uses to produce its documentation. It was one of the most trying few weeks I've ever experienced. I felt completely unproductive. One of the reasons that I like to write is that I like to see the results of all of my efforts fill the screen or come hot off the laser printer. Instead, I was sitting in front of my computer trying to understand exactly why my database wouldn't start, or why I couldn't insert a tag in a particular place in a document. And I felt that I had to knock on doors to ask for help far too often. Again, I was asking what I'd gotten myself into. 

Testing Documentation

My saving grace was getting involved in usability testing of the documentation. The documentation team designed scenarios involving the software, and we tried to solve them using the product documentation. Being completely inexperienced with the software and unaccustomed to the documentation, I was in an excellent position to test just how effective our documentation was in terms of navigation and instruction. Finally, my inexperience paid off! After a few weeks, the software finally began to make sense, and I was able to experiment with more complex features. My confidence grew exponentially each day. 

Starting to Write

Then it finally happened: I started writing documentation. At the end of every week, I printed a copy of my chapter and patted myself on the back for adding two or three more pages and learning a new feature of the software. As the weeks passed, my writing improved and my output increased. Instead of two or three pages per week, I was writing 10 or 12 pages per week. And, I was scrapping entire sections of my chapter and replacing them with better, more comprehensive material. I was more confident about emailing developers to ask questions about the software, and I didn't feel guilty about knocking on someone's door to ask for help. Now my chapter has taken shape and grown beyond what I thought possible. And I'm really looking forward to sending it out to the developers for editing. 

Seeing Improvement

Looking back, I know that I've improved by leaps and bounds. There were certainly some days when I yearned for the simpler days of writing essays about Shakespeare instead of software tutorials. And I know that this job isn't always going to be exciting -- every job has its drudgery. But, I learn something new absolutely every day, be it about my writing, the software, or the psychology of a documentation user. I'm planning to return to iAnywhere for my next co-op term and I'm looking forward to continuing what I've started and delving into new areas of this crazy thing we call technical writing.