Frank Farella

My time here was NOT very good. Unfortunately, this was at the time of the Vietnam war, and the majority of the students here were only in college to avoid getting drafted into the military service. It also meant the Professors were not very keen on trying to teach students unwilling to learn. My Mechanical Engineering Professor would show up to class, give us our assignments, and then leave and we had to work on our own. Not very educational. Eventually, I dropped out since I wasn’t learning anything and tried a home study drafting course. That didn’t work out either when I noticed that all my projects, including those I deliberately did wrong, were coming back marked “A+ Good Work.” That was a waste of money! Time to get a job.

My Job History

I truly believe my “advanced” education in the College Discovery Program in Jamaica High School better prepared to enter the job market. The knowledge and values I learned enabled me to take on almost any job and quickly learn to do it efficiently.

• Laidlaw & Company and City Bank – At these Wall Street, NY brokerage companies I worked with stocks, bonds, and Market trends.
• City of New York – I worked at the Addiction Services Agency and the Department of Health as a Motor Vehicle Driver. I got laid off (1^st time in history for a city layoff!). I moved to Virginia and got a job at Honeywell.
• Honeywell Information Systems, Federal Systems Division – I quickly learned to be a Computer Operator, operating a large-scale Honeywell Computer System. The major client was the U.S. Customs Department. Then I took a position as a Technical Writer/Proposal Manager. I managed the writing of proposal projects specifically focused on selling computer systems to Federal government agencies. Ironic because I didn’t get very good grades in English (LOL). After transferring to Honeywell’s office in Los Angeles CA, to write technical documentation, I got laid off again when Honeywell closed the Los Angeles office.
• 3D Systems – I worked briefly here as a Technical Writer, writing User Manuals for their 3D printers. Then I moved to Florida and got a job at Maynard.
• Maynard Electronics – Maynard was a tape drive manufacturer and backup software company. Maynard got bought and sold three times and I survived every buyout (Maynard Electronics, Conner Peripherals, Arcadia Software, and finally Seagate Software). We used to joke about our job security; we had to change the company name in all our documents with each buyout. I quickly became very good at writing and editing documents. My specialty was writing User Manuals for computers. I am very proud to say that I wrote the very first User Manual for backup software when computers went from the DOS Operating System to Windows! It was titled; “Backup Exec for Windows” when it was Maynard Electronics. Also ironic, I wrote that manual on an Apple computer and not on a Windows computer. Once again, I got laid off when Seagate downsized and only one Technical Writer was needed to maintain their documentation.
• AAA – As a Technical Writer I wrote all their documentation covering their roadside service procedures for AAA Tow Truck Drivers.
• Gartner – I worked briefly here as a Customer Service Representative supporting their Total Cost of Operation (TCO) software, which was a program designed to help companies determine their Return on Investment (ROI) for any of their future projects.
• Storage Technologies (StorageTek) (in Virginia) – I worked remotely from Florida. StorageTek was a “large-scale” computer manufacturer. My title changed again to Proposal Manager, and I managed proposal projects focused on selling computer systems to Federal government agencies. StorageTek closed the Proposal Department, and everyone was laid off.
• EMC (in Virginia) – Again, I worked remotely from Florida. EMC was a “large-scale” computer manufacturer. As a Proposal Manager I managed proposal projects focused on selling computer systems to Federal government agencies. I retired from EMC, not by choice. A new, upper management executive was put in charge of our department. She decided EMC did not need a Proposal Department. Everyone in the department was laid off. I was very lucky to be at retirement age and EMC gave me their Retirement Package instead of a severance package. I found out about a year later that the executive was transferred to another area and the Proposal Department was once again put back in place. Funny how those things happen!

Caretaker

After my dad passed away in 1994, I took over the maintenance of my mother’s house in addition to taking care of my house. It soon became a lot of work taking care of two houses. It took me three years to convince my mother to move in with me. She kept telling me I needed my own space. Finally, we sold the two houses and bought one house with a great floor plan that we both liked in 2001. It worked out great because I can take care of her in her senior years. She just reached the age of 99 and is still doing great!

My Retirement

My retirement didn’t mean I stopped using my writing skills; I just used them for personal projects and to help friends and family.

My first project was my collection of very important documents. I scanned every document onto my computer. They are now all in digital format and preserved for safekeeping. I also did general documentation cleanup, organization, and conversion to PDF documents. I probably have the most organized computer system possible.

My second project was my collection of recipes. I am happy to say that I got all of the recipes that I collected and cut out of magazines over the years onto my computer and formatted in Word documents; over 700 recipes! Quite a collection – and yes, I do cook and bake.

My third project was my collection of photographs. I scanned every photograph I saved in photo albums over the years onto my computer. They are now all in digital format and preserved to avoid deterioration and fading and being lost forever. Great memories each and every one of them!

I still enjoy doing documentation work. If anyone needs some help with a documentation project, feel free to reach out to me. I will do my best to assist you.