interviewed by gregbo

When did you first discover the net?

In college, and in stages. I first encountered the idea of email in 1979; I knew there was a bigger world out there, but as a student I was limited to campus email addresses. In, I think, 1982 I got a job with the CS department, which as a side effect got me my first account on a machine with ARPAnet access. I discovered the SF-Lovers digest, but little else, and I didn't know anyone outside the university who had email. In 1984, after I graduated but while I still had a legacy account, CMU got Usenet and I got sucked in for a while. (There was no reader on the box on which I had an account; I read articles directly out of the spool directory over the network for long enough to decide that this was interesting, and then wrote a reader.)

What inspired you to pursue a career in technical writing?

I blundered into it by accident, really. I headed off to college in pursuit of CS. CMU didn't have an undergrad program at the time; what you did was to major in applied math and load up on CS courses. Well, the CS stuff was cool but the math was frustrating; for a program with "applied" in its name it seemed awfully uselessly-theoretical to me. While angsting about this I talked with someone who said "you have an aptitude for writing; why don't you do that?". I said "what, journalism? you can't make a living doing stuff like that". Then this person told me what technical writing was, and that sounded nifty and I ended up changing majors. I took almost all of the CS courses that I would have taken as a math major, by the way.

My first position out of school was at a startup as half tech writer, half programmer. Eventually the company got larger and the management structure got weird and I had to choose one, and because of things that were going on at the time I chose the programming route. I remained a programmer through one more job change, and come the one after that I realized that I was an adequate programmer but could be a good tech writer in the right kind of position. I found a company that was looking for a tech writer to document programming interfaces and software design and such, which was perfect. Now that's the kind of position I seek out, and so far I've been decent at crafting a position to fit what I can offer.

If I ever find myself irrevocably writing "application software 101" -- you know, "from the file menu choose 'save', type a file name into the dialogue box, and click on the 'ok' button" etc -- I think I'll have to take it as a sign that something has gone very, very wrong, and maybe it's time to bail.

Who has been your greatest influence?

My father. Both of my parents are great -- they were always there and supportive when I was growing up, very nurturing, and so on. But my father, in particular, is the one who was always challenging me to think harder and to do things I didn't think I could do (ranging from riding a bike to solving polynomial equations). My father is very smart, and he realized that I could be smart too but that's not just about schoolwork. He taught me to be analytical, inquisitive, and persistent, and I think two of those stuck pretty well.

If you could live at any time and place in recorded history, when and where would you live?

There are lots of places I'd love to visit, but for actually living, I don't really want to give up the benefits of modern medicine, instant communication with a large number of people I'd never know otherwise, the (pretty-much) guarantee of a comfortable home and ample food, and the ability to pursue whatever interests me regardless of class, gender, family background, etc.

What do you think is the best way for the US to balance the need for national security and individual privacy? ( Read more... )

You know the drill: if you want a set of questions, ask. You'll update your journal, including the offer to propegate.

short takes

It's very icy out tonight. Sidewalks that were clear and dry at 7:30 were icy enough to be a real challenge at 8:00. And the stuff coming down (not too heavily) seemed to be rain when airborn, not sleet. I guess it was freezing rain, but I thought it was too warm for that by a degree or two. The roads seemed to be fine; it was only walking that was a challenge. I'm done venturing out for the night.

Pittsburgh Geeks Buyout Bingo (link courtesy of the person behind gregleg_feed).

I called my car-service provider of choice to make an appointment for the annual inspection. I also asked if we could make a specific repair at the same time, and he said sure. He then began to ask for details. "Make?" Mazda 323 SE. "Year?" 1989. "Wait -- is this the little blue hatchback?" Careful attention to individual customers or noteworthy car -- you be the judge. :-) (I don't think of my car as noteworthy, but they hadn't even asked for my name at that point. In fact, they never did.)

Yesterday I got email asking if I could go help make a minyan for a shiva house if someone else did the driving, so I said yes. Turns out the family is small (and not all Jewish) and they live way the heck out (next county!!), so they needed some help. They were grateful, and I got to spend almost an hour and a half in a car with my rabbi alone, which was nifty. We almost never get to just talk, as opposed to talking about the agenda of a deliberately-scheduled meeting. (Aside: I think my rabbi now knows that he shouldn't necessarily take MapQuest's word on things. Oops.)