Ten Phases Of Keith Johnson’s Terrific Career Journey to “Senior Technical Writer”

In 1985, Keith Johnson was asked what he was going to do at college besides just going to classes, by an upper classman.

Keith replied “I am not sure”.

The upper classman said, “Come and work on the student newspaper. We need writers.”

Keith replied “I do not know how to write.” The upperclassman said “No worries. I will teach you.” And he did.

For the next three years, Keith Johnson served his college community as regular newspaper writer and then News Editor of the Willamette Collegian.

365 technical writing tips with Keith Johnson

That was Step #1 of Keith’s professional path.

In 1992, Keith, after completing an IBM-certified course of study in computing, got a job in Southern Brazil at the International School of Curitiba as computer teacher.

Step #2 in his professional journey

In this position, Keith learned to teach, train, troubleshoot, fix computer hardware and software, and more. He eventually began to develop software on his own, using the C programming language, to create programs for the Microsoft Windows platform. That was Step #2 of Keith’s professional path.

Step #3

In 1996, Keith was hired by Rene Perez and Associates in Miami, Florida, as a technical writer.

In Brazil, as both a trainer and programmer, he had to learn how to document the development and use of computer software.

RPA recognized Keith’s skill and for the next several years, Keith documented the company’s passenger revenue accounting and purchasing, maintenance, and inventory software for aviation clients.

Step #4

In 2000, Keith was hired by Star Media Corporation and became the trainer of its wireless division.

This division had created a Wireless Internet Server (WIS) and Keith traveled to Latin America to train field workers how to manage and repair this server.

Keith used his Portuguese and Spanish language skills during this professional tenure.

Step #5

In 2005, Keith completed his Master’s of Science in Education degree at Nova Southeastern University.

Both Technical Writing and Software Training, in his view, were professional “education” paths, so formal studies in this area would become most helpful.

Step #6

In 2008, Keith was hired by Qpay, located in North Miami Beach, Florida to become its Technical Writer/Trainer.

The company had created electronic payment software for emerging telecoms like MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Cricket Wireless.

Each client needed user guides and training videos, and this is what Keith worked on for the next six years.

Keith was well-respected by all employees at Qpay and was able to become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for executives at times because of his thorough platform knowledge.

Step #7

In 2014, Keith wrote his first commercial technology book called “The Google Productivity Guide”, which shows users unfamiliar with the Google platform how to take advantage of the company’s many free resources – Search, Blogger, Translate, Gmail, Hangouts, and more.

The book sold very well in its first three months at Amazon.com.

Step #8

In 2016, Keith wrote his second commercial technology book called “Windows 10 for Seniors and Beginners”, which shows users unfamiliar with Microsoft Windows 10 how to navigate the Operating System.

The book sold well over a year’s time and received many positive reviews at Amazon.com.

Step #9

In 2017, Keith was hired by First Global Capital in Hallandale Beach, Florida to become its Senior Technical Writer.

Keith wrote complete user guides for regular and admin users of the company’s Investor and Sales portals.

Keith also composed training manuals for the company’s employees on how to use RingCentral for Meetings and Salesforce for Sales/Prospecting.

Hiring Chief Operations Officer and Vice President, Steve Bernardone says of Keith at LinkedIn: “Keith is a great listener who strives to understand both the project and the audience. Keith is also an expert in training users through a patient and diligent demeanor.”

Step #10

Finally, two months ago, Keith composed his latest and greatest technology book that is now live at Amazon.com in both paperback and kindle formats. Its title is “365 Technical Writing Tips.”

In this book, Keith details tools, resources, insights, strategies, observations, lessons learned, and more about the process of writing technical documents.

The book is not just for Tech Writers, he says. Rather, the book is for all writers, and especially those working with technical content.

Since writing this book, Keith has been featured on three webinars and reviews of “365 Technical Writing Tips” will be out soon by chapters of the Society for Technical Communications in India and the USA.

Keith believes his book can positively impact writers everywhere.

It took Keith twenty years to earn the professional title of Senior Technical Writer.

He started his career in the third world earning a very modest salary and learned on the side while holding numerous jobs and still taking care of his family.

Keith Johnson is a Senior Technical Writer because it gives him a chance to serve the world as an Educator.

Keith says “it is one thing just to record or document something. It is another thing to learn, write, and educate your reader(s) in your document.”

Keith believes strongly in the saying of the American Philosopher John Dewey: “Education is not preparation for life. Education is life itself.”

So, the lesson you can learn from Keith’s amazing career journey is — Hard-work and education is the key to success – both financial and personal.