[Oberon]

Your career path looks something like mine did at one point, I think. I parlayed a Bachelor's in English from an Engineering school (Virginia Tech) into a job as a copy editor for technology books at McGraw-Hill. When they shut the site down where that job was located, I made the jump into tech writing on contract in the IT industry. I did that for about ten years.

From there I moved into the Pharmaceutical industry, writing hardware SOPs for a drug manufacturer, and I've been tech writing in Pharma ever since. I would recommend you make the switch if you can manage it... the money is better. I mean lots better.

[rarestia]

I’m actually a systems engineer for a major financial organization. My work’s been more on the hardware and Windows system administration side of the house than with tech writing, although I did have my eye on tech writing as a career path when I started in graduate school.

I enjoy being one of the few actual writers among engineers, as the old adage that “engineers don’t write” is certainly a truism. My writing skills will take me places in the future, but at present I’m making more money per year than I ever thought I would in my life, and I’m saving it for any eventuality such as the recent 6 month unemployment stint I was on before landing back on my feet here.