Anniversary of My Career

My interview for a Quality Assurance Tester position at Network Data Processing (NDP) in downtown Cedar Rapids was on 2/10/1995 at 8 AM. I remember talking to the following people that day:

• Ed Arkema
• Karen Barth
• Vickie Estringer (now Vickie Wyatt)
• Mike Scanlon
• Paulette ... can't recall her last name

I think it was during my time with Paulette that I noticed she was looking at a piece of paper. When I inquired what she was referring to, she showed me a job description for a Documentation Specialist, which was (more or less) a Technical Writer position.

To make a long story short, I ended up in John Millard's office, where he offered me a position with a starting salary of $17,500. I asked for $18,000, and he gave it to me, with the stipulation that I would "have to work hard" for that extra $500. I signed my letter of acceptance before noon.

I remember the conversation I had with Karen when I called her to tell her I had a job. She said to me, "Now we can have a baby." Yes, she said other things on the phone, but those words are what resonate in my mind today, 22 years later. Megan was born on 8/14/1996, while I was still employed at NDP.

Three years to the day, I left NDP to go work at Jordan Systems with my friend from college, Rick Whitaker, but that's a story for another day. Today is purely about the anniversary of being hired at NDP, which was my first-ever technical writer position.