I'm Canary Systems' New Technical Writer

Three weeks ago, I walked across the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Amphitheater at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to receive my Master of Arts in Professional Writing. I was elated to finally achieve what I worked so hard for over 20 months, and I was ready to start working as a technical writer or editor.

I interviewed for a technical writer/documentation specialist position at Canary Systems, Incorporated, in New London, New Hampshire on May 7th, right after I finished my classes for graduate school. For the last 17 years, Canary has been providing hardware and software solutions to allow clients like miners, geologists, and civil engineers to make sure that the projects are completed safely and all risk factors are understood. They have expanded their client base and they have a great reputation in the mining and geology industries for providing quality software and hardware.

Two-and-a-half weeks after my interview, I followed up with the marketing manager, Martin van Balkom, and he told me that he and the company's president, Alex Neuwirt, wanted to offer me the position. I drove up to their offices in New Hampshire the following week, and I discussed with Alex the position's requirements and how excited we both were about this opportunity. I asked for a couple of days to decide on the position, and after careful thought, I accepted his offer this past Friday.

This is going to be an exciting opportunity. I'll finally work as a technical writer in a professional setting, where I can use the skills I've been crafting since my undergraduate years at Central Connecticut State University, so I can help Canary achieve its goals in properly informing their clients of risks associated with their project, as well as keep the clients' workers safe. In addition, I'll be training clients on the new software and hardware developments, so I can use my instructional and presentation abilities that I've used in my graduate studies, to add value to Canary's reputation and to properly educate new users to products.

I'll be moving up from Connecticut to New Hampshire within the next month. This will be a big change in my life, but I'm excited about the new opportunities and skills I'll learn at this position, which will help expand my insight to the profession.