It’s been just about a month in this new position and I think I’m doing well. I am still in the process of being trained – a sort of ‘train as you go’ system.
For the most part, my duties are:
- reviewing, editing and publishing technical e-support documents (as per the company’s style guidelines)
- undertaking administrative duties for the content management system
- dealing with customer feedback on documents
- fixing style violations that come in through an automated style checker
As well, I participate in team meetings in which information management issues come up. I find those challenges interesting to think about and I would like to get more involved in finding solutions for those problems.
The work is interesting. I get a sense of challenge from trying to understand what authors are trying to say, finding missing documents and authors, and evaluating feedback. I am also constantly considering issues of clarity, findability, and those information management problems.
Plus, I enjoy editing work. Editing technical documents is slightly different than other documents because I have to figure out what the author is actually talking about. If I don’t know the product, fix, or tool, then it takes extra long. It’s all a learning experience.
Obviously the work I am doing is quite different from what I did the last time around. Last time I was working on corporate and employee communications – writing, editing and formatting various documents and media, organizing events, etc. This time, I am able to combine both my communication skills and my interest in computer science. It is a chance to determine, yet again, what possibilities I have with my previous experience and education.
I’m already thinking about what I will write in my term reports when they come along (and I’m already dreading them).
Another big difference from my last placement is that most of my current team is situated across the United States. The team is considered to be a remote team and we communicate through phone calls, conference calls, instant messenger, e-mails and sometimes we combine phone calls and desktop sharing to work together on projects. I’m not sure if I will ever meet the people I work with every day.
This is definitely a learning experience because I have to learn how to communicate through technology to my team. I will write a separate blog post about the challenges and the benefits of having a remote team and working with technology to collaborate.
Of course, I cannot believe that a month has already passed. I only have three more months to get up to speed, make some good contributions to the team, and show my worth.
I plan to blog about my progress, so stay tuned.
