I’m a technical writer with a career of 20 years’ experience in full-time documentation of software (and occasionally hardware).

When I was doing my undergraduate degree in English, I took a creative writing course. Each week, we had the assignment of writing in a different style, and it was always most enjoyable. The week that we had to demonstrate our skill in instructional writing, I took advantage of my natural aptitude for detail and wrote a procedure for making a photographic print using a film negative and an enlarger. I got great marks for that assignment. (Historical note: We were still a long way from using digital cameras, so film negatives were still very much a thing.)

It did not occur to me that technical writing was a profession, so I didn’t do any more instructional writing for years. Sure, I created short documents to support my mother, who couldn’t remember how to get the computer to do what she wanted it to. But not much else until I had stored up a good deal of information about microcomputers.

When I wrote articles for microcomputer users, for example, taking the worry out of choosing mass storage devices, I found that people enjoyed my clarity. Other users, some in a position to hire, noticed my skills. I got a couple of contracts writing software manuals.

Then I applied for and did not get a job as a marketing writer. I had no experience and only moderate aptitude for persuasive writing, so naturally I did not get the position. But I interviewed well, and they offered me a technical writing position.

I’ve considered myself a technical writer ever since. And so have those who know me.