As a kid, I read a lot of books. This began to develop my skill with language. But I was also fascinated with computers from a very early age.
When I started college, I planned to get a degree in Computer Engineering or Computer Science. In my introductory computer programming courses, I noticed that my classmates were way more into programming than I was, but that I was way better at writing and communicating with people. Maybe I had a bit of impostor syndrome, as I developed this silly fear that if I graduated with a computer degree, I would end up working in some windowless office with little human interaction. So after taking two English classes that seemed interesting (Chaucer and Film Studies), I changed my major to English.
My junior year of college, I took a technical writing course. Although it was a required course for engineers, by this time I had switched my major to English. I think I just figured it would be a good course to take. Because it was a required course for engineers and there were a lot of engineering students, it was one of the biggest courses at the school. The largest lecture hall on campus seated 680. The professor would lecture there in-person one day a week, and recording of that lecture was replayed again in the same room later the week for another 680 students. As I recall, the professor didn’t keep office hours and all communication withim had to be in written form. I hated the class.
My final semester, I got really lucky. One of my buddies from the computer science program who had graduated a semester early happened to be visiting and mentioned that the computer software company he had gone to work for, Citrix Systems, was looking to hire a technical writer. He also said two of his co-workers would be on campus the next week interviewing computer science/engineering students. Although I didn’t have an interview scheduled, I went to the info session. At the end of their presentation about the company, they mentioned that they had an open interview slow and if by chance anyone present didn’t already have an interview scheduled, they should come see them. I jumped out of my seat and said “I’ll take that interview slot!”
The interviewers were not planning to interview for the technical writer position and weren’t sure what to ask me. So they asked me the same questions they were asking of the computer science/engineering students and I did my best to answer them. I hadn’t heard anything from the company, but since it happened to be located in my home town, I emailed them before my spring break to say that I’d be in town and would love to meet with them. They invited me to do a second round of interviews, which would take most of the day.
I wasn’t in the best shape when I went in for the day of interviews. I had all four my molars removed two days before and was still taking painkillers. Then I started coughing about 10 minutes into my first interview. The only cups they had were little 12-ounce styrofoam coffee cups, so I filled two at the water fountain and walked back to the interview room. 10 minutes later, both cups were empty and I was coughing again. So the interviewer and I walked back to the water fountain so I could refill the cups, continuing the interview as we walked. This went on for 4 or 5 more interviews. Amazingly, a few weeks later they offered me the job.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to work as a technical writer, but I was about to receive a degree in English (with a minor in Sociology) and I didn’t have any other job prospects. Plus, since the company was in my home down, I could live at home at first and see if I liked the job. If I didn’t like it, I was free to move somewhere else at any time.
I spent 4 years working as a technical writer for Citrix. I loved the job, the company, and my co-workers. My job was to write the printed and online documentation for Citrix’s one product (at the time): a remote, multi-user version of Windows server.
I feel incredibly lucky to have landed such a good job right out of college. During my time at Citrix, the full-time editor whipped my writing into shape, I learned the ins and outs of the product, and I became an expert with the tools of the trade: Microsoft Word and RoboHelp (used to create online help for Windows applications). After a year or two, as we hired more writers, I became a mentor and team leader on various writing projects. I even got to travel to England to help another office with a project, and to Salt Lake City to learn more about the process of translating our software and documentation to other languages.