Background
Tom Clements, M.S.
College
I was pre-med my first three years in college where I picked up a certain amount of knowledge in math and science. But I was restless; I wanted to write. Finally, by the end of my junior year I took the plunge and switched over to English Lit. After I graduated, I spent about five years trying to write the great american novel. No such luck. In between, I had a succession of interesting odd jobs. This pattern continued on into the 80s. Guess I never really wanted to become a corporate homeboy, certainly not the nine-to-five kind. However, along the way, I happened to marry a beautiful Japanese woman and ended up with four terrific daughters. Go figure. Here's a synopsis of my somewhat checkered career path.
70s
Youngest operative for top private investigator in San Francisco
Sold redwood hot tubs in Berkeley
Soundman for 16mm documentary and industrial films
Drove taxi cab in Reno
Traveled throughout Western Europe and Brazil
Taught ESL in Oakland (Holy Names College), Arizona (DeVry Institute of Technology, where
I taught a special group of Saudi military officers Scientific English), and Colorado (Trinidad
State JC)
80s
Traveled through Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan)
Got a Master's degree in International Business at St. Mary's College (SMC) with the
emphasis in applied mathematics
Worked as an international bank consultant (writer/trainer) for Wells Fargo, Security Pacific,
Union Bank, and Bank of California - wore a three-piece suit.
Taught English gammar and compositon to freshmen foreign students at SMC
Consulting systems analyst, writer and corporate trainer for Pac Bell in San Ramon
Part-time tutor/full-time father
90s
Editor for Polymer Technology Studies at Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
Senior tech writer for Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley (device drivers, java, network
technology, system architecture)
Aerobics instructor for Club Sport in Fremont (high-lo and cardio funk) two nights a
week after my day job at Sun
Part-time tutor (the other two nights a week, plus weekends; hey, lotta mouths to feed)
Wrote technology articles for Byte magazine and JavaWorld
2000s
Freelance writer and web journalist for Adobe, BEA, Oracle and assorted web-based
start- ups
Unceremoniously booted/retired from high-tech a couple years after the dot-com bomb
Full-time tutor and author ("How to Write a Killer SAT Essay in 25 Minutes or Less") and
subject of this commentary
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TOP
