Back when I still lived in Los Angeles I worked for a software company called Covient. I was hired to help write training materials for the company that were used by sales people to show our clients how to use our products. I didn't spend much time writing, though, since most of the materials that we needed were already produced. I simply had to add new stuff whenever a new version of something came out. And I had to be careful not to add too much because that would increase our translation fees. The translation work was outsourced, but... read full review »

I worked at Vitria for a few years before I had to take a break for medical reasons. I live in Santa Mateo and work part-time. It will be this way until I start to feel better. I keep my expenses low so I can get by. As part of my work at Vitria, I wrote up customer testimonials about our products that went up on the company website. They weren't completely fictional. I did have to meet with clients and take notes and incorporate a few lines of what they said into my work. But I typically had to get quite inventive in order to... read full review »

I worked at PacketMotion until quite recently. The company is having trouble at the moment as the economy starts to slow down again. Before the economic crisis there was talk of adding offices in New York and even London. But those plans have been scrapped, perhaps permanently. PacketMotion makes a lot of different hardware that lets businesses monitor traffic within their computer networks. I spent most of my time writing short documents outlining certain specific procedures clients could use to achieve certain aims. There were folks at... read full review »

I worked at Clearwell Systems for a short time last year. They let me go after my probation period because they told me that I could not focus properly on my work. They said that they had been receiving complaints from my co-workers that I was not getting my work done in time, and that I was holding up production of the teaching materials that our department produced. I wasn't surprised when they gave me this news. I knew that I had been a lousy employee, and at one point they even paired me up with a more experienced individual at the... read full review »

I worked for Avenda Systems as a technical writer for a while last year. The company is small and the pay was lousy given the amount of work I had to do. They were getting ready for a new product release and I had to give up most of my weekends. They let me go after the contract was up, and I didn't complain. At the time I was just getting started on my standards manual, and it was frustrating for me that I had to put in so many hours at Avenda when I was just getting this project off the ground. This is something that Ross and I had... read full review »

I worked for RapidForm back when I was still living in the Bay Area. For now I'm in Fresno, but I am thinking about leaving California altogether. I grew up in this state and believed in its potential to be great, but the situation here has gone sour and I think it's only going to get worse. For now I work a couple of part-time jobs and save money when I can. I rent at a rooming house so I can keep my costs down. I would really like to get up north, to Portland or to Seattle. One day I just might make the move and see what... read full review »

I worked for Apprion until about a year ago. When I left I promised myself to never again take a job in which I had to deal with the public. Of course now I'm working at the coffee shop down the street, but I try to keep my interactions with customers short and simple. You get the ones that want to talk about the weather or how they don't feel like going to work and that sort of thing. But all they're really looking for is an audience. You know, they talk and you listen and react appropriately. I can handle that. With... read full review »

I worked at Packet Design for a little over a year. They let me go in January of last year when the economy really started to turn. I remember Adler, who had only been my manager for only about a month, brought me to his office to tell me the news. "Packet Design is changing the way it does business, " he told me. "I have no problem with that, " I said. "The thing is that we're not going to need as many writers on staff, " he said. "But you are keeping some, I take it, " I... read full review »

I worked at Scalent Systems in Palo Alto back before it was bought by Dell. I was always on contract, which meant I never got benefits. When one contract ended, they started me up on another. I thought maybe I'd get on fulltime eventually, but once rumors of the buyout surfaced I knew that it was time to get out. I wrote for the company online help system, which only our clients could access. There was me and fellow named Egan who were hired to work on different parts of the system. It was lousy work. Information would come in from... read full review »