Coming in January 2007... My first foray into the 9 to 5 work force!
Yes, dear readers, I have learned that a girl with student loans can't survive solely on an adjunct professor's paycheck, and so have taken action. Though my body and sanity may suffer for it, I have decided to take on a full-time position at a certain
corporation in the neighboring town as a technical writer.
The way I came across the job was really fantastic, and seemed to me to be a sign that I was meant to accept it. The head engineer of PHC called Dr. Williams (our department chair) asking if she knew of any recently graduated students who needed a full time job writing instruction manuals for their products. She gave him a couple names, but after a couple hours remembered that I would be looking for a job next sememster, since I am only slotted to teach one class. She called him back and gave him my name, but wasn't even sure if he would be interested since he already had his names.
Just a few days later, I got a call inviting me to come over to see the factory and determine whether I would like the job. After a brief meeting with the head engineer in his office, we headed out onto the production floor. I had dressed up in my interview suit and heels that day, hoping to look impressive and professional. Imagine the image: I stepped out into the assembly room, wearing massive safety glasses and jotting notes on a steno pad, picking my way around puddles of coolant water and whirring machines. The air in there was filled with flying curled metal shavings, plasma sparks, and noise.
It was all fascinating, but one machine in particular caught my eye: a prototype for a plasma cutter mounted on a gyro-arm, able to cut a steel beam at any angle from any direction. The head engineer himself had designed it, and it will be the first machine that I will write a manual for. It was so impressive to see in action, with the huge plasma laser whirling and twisting within its surrounding frame, cutting the precise pattern entered into its computer. I'll have to take some pictures, because my words could never do it justice.
At any rate, I have a job! From 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, I'll be working with engineers, taking pictures of machines, and writing, writing, writing. Each manual is over 100 pages long, and besides the four or five new machines that are designed each year, there is a two-year backlog of old manuals that need to be rewritten. Talk about job security.
- 
