Face to Face with Tharun…

That was when Tharun landed an assignment with Wipro Systems Ltd. Exhilarated by his first experience, he reminisces, “I was very fortunate to kick start my career under the guidance of Peter Yorke.”

During this tenure he honed his skills in writing and editing. His next stint was with Tata Consultancy Services, Delhi as Assistant Reports Editor. At TCS, he worked with a team of highly talented writers and editors. He improved his knowledge on technology, started on structured documentation using SGML, and automation using word macros – skills that proved really handy in later years. From TCS, Tharun moved to VeriFone-HP at Bangalore. He feels that his assignment at VeriFone boosted his confidence levels and helped him don bigger roles. He treats this as a high point of his career. He remembers, “It was a great team!”

Tharun’s dream was to build a team from ground zero and this took him to Aztec in Bangalore, where he set up a three-member team that worked on documenting cutting-edge technologies. After a two-year stint at Aztec, he moved to FaceTime Communications

On the challenges of working with global engineering teams in his current role, Tharun says, “The challenges are different work cultures, time zones, and varied expectations. The distributed workplace also means relying on e-mail and instant messaging to acquire information. In such a situation, it pays to be proactive, collaborative, and process-oriented.” The biggest crisis was when he had to prove that technical writing could be done totally from a remote location. The situation was unique as the entire engineering team and QA was located in the US. He survived by communicating effectively, reading up on the products, and by sticking to a documentation process.

Tharun plays an active role in the technical writing course introduced into the Master of Communication and Journalism (MCJ) degree offered by the Calicut University. He narrates, “The faculty at the Calicut University constantly works on creating job-focused courses that impart contemporary skills. The efforts put in by Dr. Syed Amjed Ahmed and Prof. V.S. Sasibhooshanan Nair in devising the Technical Writing course is commendable.” Hareesh Kumar (who currently heads a Technical Writing team at HCL Technologies, Chennai) – Tharun’s classmate – worked closely with the faculty to come up with the initial course syllabus. Tharun confirms, “We kept it fairly simple – the Technical Writing course was an add-on to the existing MCJ course. The course was designed such that we utilized all the strengths and benefits of the the writing, editing and communication papers of MCJ, while providing the extra content needed for technical writing.” He strongly feels, “We need a lot more academic initiatives in technical communication, and the best people to support such activities are the members of STC India.” The guest faculty panel for the technical writing course includes two more STC India members, namely, R. Ravishankar (VP STC India Chapter) and Shankar Sastry, confirming Tharun’s belief in STC’s role in academic initiatives.

Observing the emerging trends in technical writing, Tharun foresees the Indian IT industry heading towards a boom in terms of job opportunities and careers. This trend has percolated down to the field of technical writing too. “Are we ready for a period of explosive growth,” questions Tharun. He feels the talent pool is certainly available but awareness about technical writing as a career option is very poor. He strongly feels STC India and TWIN can increase awareness by collaborating with educational institutions.

Tharun has the following tips for the young folks among the technical writing community:

• Technical writing demands good understanding of technology and good writing skills
• Senior writers must assume the responsibility of helping (mentor) junior writers improve the quality of their writing and editing
• Seniors must ensure that the documentation process includes peer reviews and that timely feedback is provided to help junior writers improve their skills rapidly

What excites him most?

Tharun believes in developing hands-on knowledge of products before preparing user documentation. Writing about technology, by itself, is exciting enough as in most cases, the writer attempts to unravel information about some product or feature the world does not yet know about. He reiterates that technical writing is challenging and exciting, as one is constantly trying to solve complex communication situations using simple and crisp content.

His advice to beginners?

• Focus on core skills – writing and editing; there is no dearth of opportunities; it is the writing talent that is limited!
• Constantly review your writing against standards and guidelines.
• Do not get lured into a blind chase for monetary gain; while money is important, do not lose focus on improving core skills.
• Without strong writing and editing capabilities, one's career cannot be sustained.
• Spend a good amount of time with an employer; switching job frequently leaves you with insufficient skills and limited technology or product knowledge.

According to Tharun, his STC participation has been a great learning experience. It gave him a theoretical basis for his work. The STC publications are useful as they update one on current and emerging trends in technical communication. Participating in the various STC forums can be a great learning experience. One of Tharun’s most memorable events of STC was the opportunity that he got to present a paper at the 1999 STC Annual Conference. He owes it to STC for helping him improve his skills and confidence levels in technical writing. He also believes that the extent of benefit that one can derive from STC is highly dependent on the time and effort one invests as a member. During his tenure as STC India Chapter President a year ago, education and training were the top items that he had addressed. Overall, today Tharun’s efforts have produced results in two areas - more volunteers for learning sessions and other chapter activities, and also student scholarship being in place.

Tharun is married to Lakshmi Varma, who quit work after a brief assignment in HR, finding work-life balance a spot of bother with their naughty, 3 year old son Neeraj Raja! Tharun loves music and was a part of “Sound Engineers” band at VeriFone – one of the many reasons why he cherishes his stint at VeriFone.

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