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Subject:Re: Customer Support Hat From:"Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 10 May 2006 09:26:52 -0600
On Tuesday, May 09, 2006, Kimberly McClintock wrote:
> Wonder how many of you have ever been responsible for taking support
> calls as well as being responsible for docs & web content. Seems like
> a natural hat to wear in a small group. I'm interviewing with a tiny
> start-up and interested in exploring all the ways in which I bring
> value.
I have been at my current job for 9 years. I was hired on as an
"applications engineer" in the software support group. My
responsibilities were to write help files & manuals, provide customer
support for software (our group gets escalated calls from the
"regular" AEs), training, and testing.
I love it. No two days are the same, and I am constantly learning. I
am always doing something different. ( I would go crazy if all I did all
day long was write. ) And, I am essentially an SME on our products
(dataloggers & software) because I learn the product, do the writing,
and share that knowledge.
As an aside, in February, the manager of our group retired and I
applied for, and was promoted in to, his position. I hope to be doing
a little less writing soon (I enjoy it but don't have time!) as I have just
hired a new writer (actually, I added someone to our group who was
already an employee with decent writing skills. There will be a
documentation learning curve, but not a product learning curve,
which in some ways is a much easier route).
While I'm sure a start-up will offer its own challenges (job security &
tight budgets, for instance), I think you should consider it an
opportunity to have interesting and rewarding work, and a chance to
learn something new every day.
Dana W.
***************************
Dana Worley
Manager, Software Support Group
Campbell Scientific, Inc.
Microsoft MVP, Windows Help 2003-2006
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