My Journey as a Technical Writer

After juggling through multiple jobs starting from sales to mainstream content writing, I finally embarked on Technical Writing in the year 2011. While I was working as a content writer in the year 2009, and was thinking about switching to Technical Writing, the words technical and writing seemed rather contradictory to me. Technical Writing seemed more apt for technologists, rather than for hapless people from liberal arts background.

However, after a detailed research about the profile, I was finally ready for the LEAP OF FAITH.

The Stepping Stone

It all started down South. I grabbed my first Technical Writing job in IXL India in Chennai after completing a three months Technical Communication certificate from KBuffer in the city. Being a startup and a core IT company, my experience in IXL was full of new challenges and varied learning opportunities. Other than getting the scope to apply my language skills, I obtained extensive exposure to software development methodologies, front-end web page designing, and version control technologies. Here, I obtained the niche skills to develop online help systems using open source tools, and release documents after hours of haggling with SMEs.

Flight to Delhi

Despite sharing a special camaraderie with the ethos of Chennai, the city had its own set of challenges for outsiders who didn’t know the local language. Survival was difficult.

I flew to Delhi with a mere third-party contract job in Artech infosystems with high hopes but limited technical skills. Opportunities were limited for non-techies then. I remained a contractual employee in Delhi for one and half years wherein I worked for NIIT technologies and Evalueserve. My experience was varied - sometimes not as good as expected. While I was busy documenting service guides and training manuals in NIIT, in the next four months I was abruptly relocated to Evalueserve to document release documents, Quick Reference Guides (QRGs), and edit video outputs in Adobe Premier.

Trip further North

The feeling of being a temporary employee became unbearable. I felt insecure and under employed. On top of this, while in Artech I was frequently asked to relocate to different client locations throughout the country. Surviving in Artech was a real trouble. I had to actively look for a permanent job yet again. This time, it was CareFusion in Chandigarh, located amidst the lap of the Himalayas, and is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in the country to reside. Carefusion was the software division of Becton Dickenson, the mother company that manufactured and supplied medical equipment throughout Europe, the Americas and Pan India. Here, I was exposed to varied learning avenues, such as software development methodologies, SAP and various Technical Communication tools.

The Journey Home

Though Chandigarh was arguably one of the most ideal places to stay – beautiful infrastructure, cool weather, and easy accessibility to hill stations in Himachal Pradesh - I had my own struggles in the city. It is expensive, living cost is high, and basic transportation is a problem. Above all, I had been far from home for almost a decade and was weary of running around cities. After lot of effort, I managed to grab a job in Global IDs in Kolkata.

My journey towards home started here. After Global IDs, in due course of time, I got employed in Cognizant in Kolkata. Cognizant holistically honed my skills to become what I am today – a Technical Writer in Ingram Micro.

This essay, which could be better renamed as “My Struggle as a Writer”, entails my experience enclosed in a full circle. I left home when I was 19 to pursue graduation in Bangalore, worked in multiple places throughout the country to finally return home to settle down for good.