See Also: Shilpi Kedia, Ramesh Aiyyangar

UDAY  CHAVA

‘What seemed to be a long unplanned voyage has finally come to a place where I feel happy and excited for the future’ is what Uday has to say about being a technical communicator. After completing his Masters in English in 1995 all Uday wanted was never return to the school. He started career as a teacher, switched to selling goods, then turned a journalist, and finally a technical communicator! The final switch was initially a job change to kill boredom and act as a bridge into the future. However, the challenge of learning something new everyday and owning communication deliverables that enable end users to use the product effectively continues to thrill Uday to this day.

Uday’s first experience as a technical communicator was bitter as his hard work was never appreciated. He was more respected for his past experience then his current contributions. As he picked product knowledge and developed relations with the members of the product team, Uday found that respect for his work required respect for his profession, and to be successful he would need to educate his colleagues. When you are a lone writer, it is not easy to cope up with this challenge.  However, the realisation that your role is indispensable and the work you do is as important as anyone else helped Uday build his confidence and over time gain peer’s acceptance.

Uday’s second and more urgent challenge is to multiplex between multiple projects and manage schedules effectively in projects that often have cross geography and cross business group dependencies. Planning ahead well and clarity in the expected output of him is helping Uday still dream despite work pressure.

Uday is a dreamer and a realist, an outdoor guy who loves to trek, and is training self to be a good farm hand.  While he joined STC in 2001, Uday has been an active member and is working as the city representative for Hyderabad.

You can contact Uday at uday@stc-india.org.

SHILPI KEDIA

While still pursuing her graduation in sociology, Shilpi developed interests in computers that has only increased in passion and intensity every passing year. Her first love in computers was understanding networking. For eight years, Shilpi installed computer networks for clients on a freelance basis. Shilpi has seen transition of operating system technologies beginning from good old Novell Netware 2.0 days to Windows 2000 systems.

It was during these years when Shilpi got a chance to explore the power of the Internet in meeting new people, conducting business, and networking. As Shilpi wrote, designed, conducted interactive conferences, the importance of content seeped in. It was this realisation that has led Shilpi to start a technical writing division in her firm. Shilpi loves experimentation and is picking projects with difference. Her favorite topics are writing for disabled people especially blind, and writing for children.

Shilpi has joined STC in 2002 and has immediately become the city representative for Mumbai. She sees her role as an opportunity to spread awareness of technical writing.

When free, Shilpi loves reading books and listening to Indian classical music. She has a good voice and sings semi-classical Indian music also. Whenever she needs to relax and find peace in the deafening pace of modern world, Shilpi goes to the nearest beach and sits there for hours. Her dream is to set a technology centre for the disabled where every disability can use technology to better their lives.

You can contact Shilpi at shilpi@stc-india.org.

RAMESH AIYYANGAR

A science graduate with majors in journalism, Ramesh started his career as a correspondent for leading dailies in Western India. From correspondent to part of editorial team, Ramesh moved on experiencing new challenges and trying copy writing, teaching, setting a computer institute, and defining public relation strategies for Mercedes Benz, India. It was this spirit of experimentation that led Ramesh to technical writing in 1995.

During the last 7 years, Ramesh has created user guides, manuals, training, and reference materials for different companies. He has created single-handedly a documentation management system for banking software. Currently, Ramesh works at VERITAS Software as lone technical writer for a business unit and is responsible for writing the documentation suite including manuals and online help. Ramesh is specifically interested in usability, and has played extensive role in defining the product’s usability and designing a web site for the product he documents.

Ramesh rebukes the popular belief that technical writing is easy. He believes the real challenge of technical writers lies in demystifying complexity without compromising on correctness or availability of content. The ability to use text and visual is an art that can make a major difference in understanding of content.

Ramesh loves socialising and organising events. A member of STC for over 2 years, Ramesh is active participant/organiser of local events. He is also organising the logo competition for STC India. When free, Ramesh loves to relax by shooting, of course with a camera. Listening soul stirring melodies and Ghazals, according to Ramesh, sustains his existence.

You can contact Ramesh at ramesh@stc-india.org.

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