Technically...

After a two week paid vacation, I finally started my new job.

So here's the deal with my job. I work for a department of the federal government. Technically, I just work at a federal government department's building, but I work for a subcontractor hired to do network security for a department of the federal government. Actually, technically, I do technical writing for a subcontractor hired to do network security for a department of the federal government, but I work for (and get paid by) a subcontractor hired to fill the position of technical writer by the subcontractor hired to do network security for a department of the federal government. Simple, huh?

There was another person hired to the same position who started today also. And boy, am I glad for that! Today my supervisor gave us a handful (and inbox-full) of specifications and examples of previous manuals and told us to look at those and plan out a template for new ones. Then he left us alone to contemplate this and wonder if we were indeed in way over our heads. We spent most of the day alternately staring at our screens or staring at each other in disbelief. These upward-of-two-hundred-page documents (of which there were several) read like a Faulkner novel with arbitrary letters, computer code, and random technical jargon sprinkled in. I felt as confused and helpless as Dan Quayle in a spelling bee.

Luckily, my coworker had previously been in a technical writing position. She pointed out some commonalities in the specs and the example manuals, and noted that including those seemed a good place to start. By the end of the day, we had begun to construct an outline of our template.

From what it looks like, there will be no shortage of work during this next year as a tech writer. I'll keep everyone updated.

| Tags || tech | writing | work |