Engineer to Writer
I met Jacob for the first time in a crowd of engineers at the inauguration of our company's new offices. The CEO had come from Britain to meet the timid but efficient engineers. When he asked, "Does anybody have questions?" an awkward silence filled the hall. After some long pauses, questions started coming.
A voice articulated the best-expressed question of the day in clear and beautiful English. I looked in the direction where the question and saw Jacob for the first time. I went to say hi to him and introduced myself. It was the start of a great friendship, but also the start of my apprenticeship in writing with Jacob as a mentor.
Around the same time, I was tasked to work with Jacob on a big project that required our division to create a journal of best practices in testing devices that route Internet traffic. I was a contributor while Jacob was editor and project manager. This was one of the most fun projects which I was assigned.
You see, I was an engineer. But what I wanted to be was a writer.
Jacob showed me how to turn my passive-voice, rigid statements into sentences that flowed better and more clearly conveyed the message. The mentoring expanded beyond technical writing to screenplays and short stories. Whenever I write something, Jacob is the first person I turn to for constructive feedback.
Now I'm a full-fledged technical writer. To earn a living writing words is wonderful.
Mihnea Nemes
Virginia
A voice articulated the best-expressed question of the day in clear and beautiful English. I looked in the direction where the question and saw Jacob for the first time. I went to say hi to him and introduced myself. It was the start of a great friendship, but also the start of my apprenticeship in writing with Jacob as a mentor.
Around the same time, I was tasked to work with Jacob on a big project that required our division to create a journal of best practices in testing devices that route Internet traffic. I was a contributor while Jacob was editor and project manager. This was one of the most fun projects which I was assigned.
You see, I was an engineer. But what I wanted to be was a writer.
Jacob showed me how to turn my passive-voice, rigid statements into sentences that flowed better and more clearly conveyed the message. The mentoring expanded beyond technical writing to screenplays and short stories. Whenever I write something, Jacob is the first person I turn to for constructive feedback.
Now I'm a full-fledged technical writer. To earn a living writing words is wonderful.
Mihnea Nemes
Virginia