Water Flowing Under the Bridge

Last night, two interesting jobs came to my attention. The first job I viewed, technical writer at MLBAM, included the information that 25 people had already applied for the job. That was at 8:55 PM. The second job I viewed, technical writer at MartinFederal, included the information that it is a part-time opportunity. Before giving you my thoughts, review the ads first. My thoughts are under the ads.

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Technical Writer, Sports Data

Major League Baseball Advanced Media - New York, NY

MLB Advanced Media is seeking a Technical Writer for an immediate opening in the Sports Data department. Launched in 2001 as the tech arm of Major League Baseball, MLBAM is now a leading authority in media streaming and real time data processing, distribution and analysis.

The Sports Data team is the central data hub for MLB, NHL and other sports properties. Through a highly scalable RESTful API designed to support millions of concurrent users, our data is consumed by fans, broadcasters, professional sports teams and sports data scientists.

We're also the team behind MLB Statcast Player Tracking, our flagship project. You can find more information about MLB Statcast at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/magazine/can-new-technology-bring-baseballs-data-revolution-to-fielding.html

As a Technical Writer, your primary responsibility will be to develop and deliver technical documentation for ongoing projects that other engineers trust.

You'll also:

• Improve existing on boarding and education processes with documentation, helping engineers contribute quicker.
• Properly organize documentation, from the layout of content on a page to finding its proper place in the entire documentation taxonomy, with search optimization in mind.
• Define standards and style guidelines that help other writers, as well as engineers. You will be a steward of quality and efficiency.
• Write high quality technical documentation for complex subjects in the most economical manner possible.
• Influence the innovation of products used by millions of users worldwide.
• Collaborate with a team of extraordinary engineers and technologists.
• Receive amazing benefits - you get 100% employer-paid Medical, Dental and Vision.

You are:

• 5+ years in a technical writing role
• Able to write prolifically with strong attention to detail
• Able to learn technical concepts quickly
• Able to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
• Experienced creating API documentation or code examples
• Experienced writing for web, software, or cloud technologies
• Experienced working directly with development teams

Preferred, but not required:

• Experience working in an agile environment
• Experience using Git, Confluence and/or Jira
• A sports fan of any kind: whether it's baseball, hockey, soccer, formula 1, e-sports, or code golf, we don't discriminate.

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Technical Writer

Oak Ridge, TN MartinFederal

Compensation $28 to $32 Hourly

Employment Type Part-Time

MartinFederal is seeking a self-motivated detailed oriented Technical Writer to support our long-term Oak Ridge customer. This is a part-time position and working from home “may” be approved based on your performance and quality of work. The tasks of this position will include:

• Assimilating, editing, and updating technical Program Management Plan using MS Word
• Format as required and enter documents into the ORNL Publication Tracking System
• Assist in organizing and posting documents to the Program SharePoint site as required
• Update as needed requirements documents, system design documents and user documentation for the Program system of record(s)
• Assist with the preparation of funding proposals and white papers capturing team production
• Assist with assimilating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Assist with simulating Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Qualifications:

• Associates Degree Bachelors Preferred
• At least 3 years of technical writing within an IT environment
• Knowledge of Project Management practices
• Ability to work alone and in teams
• Must attend meetings
• Must be an excellent communicator
• Must pass a background check

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So, regarding the first, when I went to the page to paste the content into a blog post earlier this AM, the number had changed from "25 people have already applied to this job" to "31 people have already applied to this job." No, I was not one of them. Living and working in New York, NY is not possible. Regarding the second, I would consider myself disqualified because of the bold/italic text in this sentence:
This is a part-time position and working from home “may” be approved based on your performance and quality of work.

Rats.

Oh well, water under the bridge.

I don't want to use the adjective "good" because it isn't on the surface for a lot of people, but it does apply to me and my role at work as a Senior Technical Writer working on disaster recovery documentation. Here's the scoop. On Wednesday night, there were some systems that went down. It was a big deal and many people worked through the night to get those systems up and running. At our department-wide meeting on Thursday AM, the Associate Vice President (and my manager's boss) talked about setting up a debrief meeting. I messaged him and this was our conversation:

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• Do you think it would be helpful for me to attend the meetings about the systems going down last night?

• I am directing my assistant to schedule a debrief for all parties for tomorrow am 9-10:30, and your name is on the list of attendees

• I was hoping you'd say that. <grin>

• I expect tomorrow you will be an observer. After that meeting and another planned meeting you and I and others will pull together for a more targeted discussion

• perfect

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That makes me feel good that I was already in his mind about the meetings. I like that!