Talent Isn't Everything

To succeed as a creative professional, you need more than talent. Chanpory Rith offers us a list of seven habits that can help put a junior designer's career on the path to success.

Rith, Chanpory. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Careers>Advice>Design

Tech Writing Jobs

A guide to job types, employers, work environment, and salaries.

Stahl, Rebecca J. Tech Writer's Assistant, The (2000). Careers>Advice>Salaries

Technical Communication: Love It or Leave It  

In this column, we are going to talk about why some technical communicators just plain hate their jobs. The bottom line is not to just stay in that unhappy place. Make up your mind to do something about it. Make your job into what you want it to be.

Davis, Douglas W. STC (2007). Careers>Advice>TC

The Technical Talk: More Effective Use Of Visual Aids  

While most technical writing teachers assign the oral report and insist on visuals, very few offer their students good classroom examples of technical report visual aids. However, a set of 35 mm slides on one teaching topic could be easily produced with neither expensive equipment nor much ability in graphic design.

Jobst, Jack W. JAC (1981). Presentations>Advice>Visual>Visual Rhetoric

Technical Writer Career Information  

A brief handout about what a technical writer does, prepared for a school careers fair.

Farbey, David. Tripod.com (2002). Careers>Advice

Ten Steps to Getting a Writing Job

A hiring manager in a documentation firm offers some advice and tips on getting a writing job.

Collins, John. Writer's Block (1996). Careers>Advice

Top Five Tips for Starting a New Job

This article offers five tips that can help you get off to a good start in your new job.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2000). Careers>Advice>TC

Understanding Career Development  

Describes four stages of career development.

Oestreich, Linda L. Intercom (2002). Careers>Advice

Walking the Line When You Work from Home

Working from home, whether as a freelance contractor or remote employee, can be a great thing, particularly if you live alone. But what if you have a spouse and/or children at home with you while you work? Every work environment offers distractions, but those who work from home with their families face a unique set of issues—and need equally unique ways of dealing with them.

Jost, Natalie. List Apart, A (2008). Careers>Advice>Telecommuting

Why Did You Hire Me?

Remembering why you were hired—and identifying whether or not you belong—is just as important as getting the gig. To sustain career and mental health, you must work within your means and know how to navigate ambiguous workplace situations. Using client and project management techniques is one part of the solution. Using your talent is the other.

LaFerriere, Keith. List Apart, A (2008). Careers>Advice>Project Management

Why Use an Employment Agency?  

Today’s marketing advantage is specialization. To focus on a specialty is one of the many challenges a freelance writer must face. You must balance the amount of time spent on marketing, versus focusing on existing projects. To gain more time to focus on your specialty, use employment agencies as a marketing resource. Send your resume to two to three agencies to increase your opportunities. Use the time formerly spent marketing to increase your income by working on the additional contracts the agencies send you. To help your agencies, your resume should include keywords representing the documents written, software used, and your background or expertise.

Desmond, James M. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Advice>Employment Agencies

With All This Fuss About Tools, Three Best Practice Attitudes

Although tools seem to play a significant role in technical authoring, some people disagree. Embrace tool learning. Recognize that the 'best tool' is relative. Expose knowledge gaps.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>TC>Advice>Software

Working with Employment Agencies  

As a professional recruiter and the owner of an agency that places technical writers, I have heard horror stories about some candidates’ experiences with employment agencies. Just as there are trustworthy car mechanics and those who are out to steal your money, there are reputable agencies and agencies that are, let us say, less than reputable. If an agency misrepresents you, you could lose a great job. Do the benefits of working with agencies outweigh the risks? I think so, especially if you are an independent contractor: Many companies will hire contractors only through agencies because of current tax laws.

Molisani, Jack. Intercom (2002). Careers>Advice>Employment Agencies

The Writing Student’s Guide to Successful Oral Presentations  

Graduates of technical writing programs often enter the workplace with poor oral communication skills due to lack of practice. The trainer or writing teacher can use several strategies to offer the students oral practice without expending a great deal of class time. Recommended classroom strategies include teaching the students basic preparation skills and presentational techniques, giving them brief as well as longer practice following strict time limits, and allowing them to receive immediate feedback from listeners. These efforts can aid writing students in giving oral presentations and in preparing them for the work setting.

Connors, Patricia E. STC Proceedings (1993). Presentations>Advice>Rhetoric

Your Resume

I did a presentation recently at a local college, and the students had a lot of questions about resumes and cover letters. Below are some helpful tips.

Leigh, Heather. Crazy for Words (2007). Careers>Resumes>Advice

Break Through Writers Block

Bottom line is there are two types of writers: those who believe in writer’s block and those who don’t. Neither will deny the magic and energy that possesses an author when inspiration rears its mysterious head, but where their approach to writing differs is how the time is spent between those moments of inspiration.

Wordclay (2006). Articles>Writing>Advice

Stop Wasting Time: Ten Things You Can Do to Make Yourself More Efficient

Ten bits of advice about how to save time in the workplace, using software-as-a-service websites.

Abel, Scott. SlideShare (2008). Presentations>Advice>Workflow

Ten Tips for a Better Manual

If the manual is for novices, make sure that the average person can understand what has been written (that is, don't include a lot of jargon or technical assumptions). This is sometimes very difficult for a writer who is a subject matter expert. He or she may have forgotten what it's like to know absolutely nothing about that particular subject.

Rosenberg, Nad. TechWRITE (2004). Articles>Documentation>Advice

Artists, Not Assholes

My key point in this column is that we need to support, defend, and promote our artisans, or artists, and we need to eliminate the assholes from our organizations. In practice, I see a lot of managers who do not support their artisans—their greatest performers—but hold onto and even reward their assholes. In the end, an organization that rewards the wrong people can destroy its effectiveness and drive the most talented people out.

Nieters, Jim. UXmatters (2008). Careers>Management>Advice

Deconstructing the Design Process

The way to overcome the pressure of a new design is by breaking the process into smaller parts, and defining a step by step strategy that allows you to address each issue of the design separately rather than as a daunting whole. Instead of one monolithic problem, you have lots of small, more manageable problems. Breaking each problem out will also help you arrive at better design results as you will have given close consideration to all aspects of the problem.

Walter, Aarron. AarronWalter.com (2007). Design>Project Management>Advice

The Top Five Risks of Not Managing Your Content

Managing content is the key task in keeping a website strategic and fresh. Content management requires commitments to develop and follow a standard set of publishing processes, archiving strategies/lifecycle rules, and coordination with marketing, sales, training and customer service.

Marsh, Hilary. Content Company (2004). Articles>Content Management>Advice

Transitioning from Literary Studies to Technical Communication

A 250 page manual for a complicated product may be more difficult to write than a master’s thesis. It may require a massive amount of deductive and inductive logic, as you try to figure out how the product works. You may spend months interviewing subject matter experts, asking them hundreds of questions about how the product functions, and then hundreds more to clarify their cryptic answers.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Careers>TC>Advice

Stepping into the Freelance World, Part 1: Getting Set Up

So, you’re seriously considering making the jump into the world of freelance technical writing. It’s a big step, and one there’s a lot more to it than just giving up your day job and hanging out a shingle. This post details a number of things that are important to consider before making the jump.

DMN Communications (2009). Careers>Freelance>Advice

Stepping into the Freelance World, Part 2: Getting to Work

The second part of a series on making the move to freelance technical writing. This installment discusses how to gigs and get paid.

DMN Communications (2009). Careers>Freelance>Advice

What I've Learned as a Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC)

In all, my experiences volunteering in the STC Carolina chapter have been very rewarding. I recommend dipping your toes in the water and trying something out. Email or call someone on the administrative council and ask what needs to be done. Start small. You might be surprised at the return on investment.

Loring, Sheila. Scriptorium (2009). Articles>Advice>Community Building>STC