I have been a technical writer for a number of different firms since 1997. When I started, working on a Windows 95 platform was not guaranteed; many businesspeople did not have a personal e-mail address, only a few businesses had web pages (and they looked terrible), and it wasn't clear whether this Internet thing would be a passing fad -- after all, only software businesses and computer engineering students had broadband access. I didn't see my first graphical browser until 1996, in the school office where I volunteered as a writing tutor. (My first search: Blackadder quotes.)

Now, of course, it's different. I don't use MS Word 6, MS Paint, and Doc-to-Help on a 15-inch screen. I have the latest versions of Framemaker, Illustrator, Acrobat, and SnagIt, and I have a 19" monitor (still working on getting that 21" flatscreen). The software I document is all either web-based, or we provide a wrapper that makes it available on the web. Oh, and the software is used for resume processing; when I was first looking for a job, there were high-tech firms that still required that you mail them a hard-copy resume.

So much for the ancient past.

Here are the places I've worked for and the platforms I've worked with:

Employers

(including contract and significant outsourcing positions)

Authoring Platforms

Platforms