Pat Dales, STC Toronto Treasurer

As secretary for STC Toronto, I have been learning, recording and occasionally contributing to the chapter’s business for the last three years. Prior to joining the Toronto chapter, I edited the Vancouver Island chapter’s newsletter for two years, an experience that gave me great admiration for the work of volunteer newsletter editors everywhere.

In my professional life, I’m a contract technical communicator in the IT sector with particular expertise in the database and telecommunications fields. My interest in technical communication developed while I worked as a developer in the SQL/DS area of the IBM lab in Toronto. I was the principal reviewer of the SQL/DS programmers’ guide and assistant reviewer of the SQL reference manual. I found both activities quite fascinating so, during a year’s leave of absence on the West Coast, I earned a diploma in technical communication from Simon Fraser University. I used the diploma to get my first technical writing job with a small (very small) software development company in Victoria.

Since then, I’ve held technical writing positions with Triant Technologies, IBM and CIBC. My current contract is with Rogers Wireless where my primary responsibility is maintaining system documentation for the Customer Care and Billing system. As time permits, I create procedural documentation for internal users and, over the next little while, I’ll have a chance to pull together a library of training documentation, also for internal users.

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