Foul Writer’s World

Who are you?

• Name: Noel Thethy
• Age: 28
• Job: Technical Author
• Live: North London
• Status: Married
• Email: noel (at) foulwritersworld.net

Work history

What do you do?: I work as a technical writer at Questionmark Computers Ltd. My days are spent working on a number of projects. Some of these projects include producing context sensitive help for application, application user guides, best practice manuals and the current bane of my working life is the migration of an antiquated context sensitive help to Flare.

Before Questionmark?: I was in Spain where I went through a number of roles within the same company (Grupo Los Pontones S.L.). I started as a Project Manager. I was responsible for the design and delivery of a new Customer Relationship Management and Booking system. This was originally an in-house system for a small group of travel agencies (7 to be exact). As the system was rolled out the success of the system prompted management to sell the system to a large number of associated travel agencies (approximately 600). I enjoyed my time in Spain, and welcomed the flexibility the company allowed me to have, this included taking a 6 month sabbatical to come back to London and complete a contracting job I was really excited about. See What was so interesting about this contracting job?

After my sabbatical and with the project finished the company offered me a new position to help develop the application and move the organisation forward. The new position put me in charge of a support team of 8 and training team of 6 based all over Spain. Most of my time was taken up writing manuals and producing training material. I occasionally delivered training at client sites when we were short staffed. In this position I stayed for just over a year before moving back to London.

Why move back? This is a question I get all the time. The travel agency group I worked for were approached by a company who specialized in computer systems for Travel Agencies and they made an offer that couldn’t be refused. I didn’t feel like upping roots from Madrid and moving down to Malaga where this company was based. At the same point the misses had decided she’d had enough of her homeland. So we made the decision to move back to London. I went first to find a job and get settled. Six months later I was joined by my wife who had managed to get transfered to London.

What was so interesting about this contracting job?: I worked at Pharmology (Alliance Unichem now Alliance Boots), where I helped a small support team move from an unstandardised operating practice into a fully formed ITIL compliant European wide shared service desk. Most of my time was spent on PM activities, business analysis and process documentation. It was possibly one of the most interesting points of my working life so far. I learnt a lot from the people I worked with, some of whom are recognised as world leaders in their respected fields. Having completed my time there I returned to Spain.

What did you do before you went to Spain?: Prior to my trip to Spain, I worked for Voss Net Training Ltd. I started at Voss Net as an Assistant Tutor delivering Learndirect (e-learning courses) sessions. I worked my way up to Lead Tutor, Centre Manager and eventually Operation Manager. As Operations Manager most of my time was spent overseeing the companies Learndirect centres and working with the University For Industry (Ufi) developing further Learndirect courses. Unfortunately the company became a victim of bureaucracy and died a sudden death being owed hundreds of thousands of pounds by the Learndirect funding bodies.

Enough about work, tell me about you?: I’m married to Sara. We met in 2001 at Bournemouth University. Sara is Spanish, hence why the interest in Spain. She was a friend of a house mate, she had only come for a holiday and ended up staying.

We have been together since 2001, and in 2006 we took the plunge and got married. We were married in Spain, in the town hall of Getafe, Madrid. We enjoyed a lovely garden reception, despite it pouring down with rain mere minutes before everyone arrived.

Where did you go to University?: I spent many an hour in the Student Union bars of Bournemouth. Plenty of studying was done, although I would be the first to admit that the whole experience revolved more around making friends and contacts for the future. I studied Business Information System and Project Management. I graduated June 2001.