The Care and Feeding of Your Customers  

Fugate discusses how self-employed technical communicators can maintain long-term relationships with multiple clients while still catering to their current customers.

Fugate, Alice E. Intercom (2001). Careers>Freelance

Careen-Stable

As an agile coach, I get the opportunity to facilitate many teams’ first iteration planning meeting. Now these meetings do start out like typical meetings, with everyone sitting around a table and one person talking. But as the meeting progresses and discussions begin around the work, it can begin to look like chaos to an outsider. What I didn’t realize however, until recently, was that it can also look like chaos to some of the insiders as well!

Sliger, Michele. On Becoming Agile (2006). Careers>Management>Agile

Career Assessment in Changing Times  

It used to be the prospect of retirement that made us stop and think about who we are and how we want to spend the productive years ahead. Not any more. This kind of thinking and planning is critical for everyone today, given the dramatic changes taking place in the business world. As companies shed staff of all ages, we need to assess our own strengths and weaknesses and career options. This experienced panel talks abut reinventing yourself, overcoming obstacles - real and imagined, practical considerations for the part-time, home-based business and 'dream' career alternatives.

Jones, Sheila C., Roger A. Grice, William A. Mattingly and Coralyn K. McGregor. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>TC>Assessment

Career Choices for Designers

What do you want to be when you grow up? Some people think there is only one choice, but Christina Wodtke shows us that there are as many choices as there are people making them.

Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Careers>TC>Design

Career Coach Offers Survival Skills for Challenging Times

Condon encourages people to search for networking opportunities. She suggests reading the technology section of The Oregonian on Mondays to find out about meetings of professional groups in addition to STC. She said she often attends events simply because the announced speaker sounds intriguing. She visits meetings of Rotary clubs, Lions, and environmental organizations. She finds out what groups her friends and neighbors belong to and asks if she can attend a meeting with them. When she goes, she doesn't attempt to meet everyone, she just tries to make two or three new contacts. She exchanges business cards, and then, the next day, she follows up with a handwritten note to one or two people saying what a pleasure it was to meet them.

Riley, Erin. STC Williamette Valley (2002). Careers>Advice

A Career in Technical Writing: What Can You Expect?  

What can you expect from a career in technical writing? The answer depends on a couple of factors. Specifically, will you be a lone technical writer or part of a technical writing team? Will you be a freelance technical writer or an employee?

Docsymmetry (2003). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

Career Options for Technical Communicators in a Restructured World  

In a booming economy, promotions and advancement 'up the career ladder' seemed like reasonable expectations for capable technical communicators. But in the new downsized business environment a new career pat tern is emerging called the portfolio career. In a portfolio career, a person develops a range of skills and applies them in a series of jobs or assignments or responsibilities. Technical communicators are in a unique position to take advantage of this new trend in the workplace because they often possess a wide range of transferable skills and have a good overview of the company's product line and business processes.

Fisher, Lori H. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>TC>Workplace

Career Outlook for Technical Writers and Editors

The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s 'Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2002-03 Edition, Writers and Editors,' is recommended reading for those considering technical writing as a profession. Some of the main points highlighted in the handbook make interesting reading.

Klariti (2003). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

The Career Path for Usability Professionals: A Review of the UPA DC June 7, 2006

Learn about the career path of usability professionals from three speakers who have extensive experience in the usability profession, including managers of usability departments and independent consultants.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2006). Careers>Usability

Career Paths Less Taken  

For many practitioners, technical communication can--and should--be the springboard for a different career. Many technical writers and editors have made transitions to related disciplines from which they can influence industry and academia. They now have titles such as marketing and web content writer, usability lab manager, product marketing manager, business operations strategist, and more. This paper summarizes the career evolutions of the author and several colleagues in technical communication, and provides advice to help readers broaden their career horizons.

Rosenbaum, Stephanie L. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>TC>Usability>Marketing

Career Preservation in a Volatile and Competitive Work Market  

The ideas presented in this paper reflect my 25 years of observations and work experience, and recent period of unemployment in 2002. These ideas apply most appropriately to the software, high tech, and telecom industries, but could easily apply to other industries, academia, government, or non-profit organizations.

Emerson, Nathan F. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Unemployment>Planning

Career Resources

Folks on the Interaction Design Discussionion mailing list posted some tips and Web sites helpful in conducting a job search.

IxDA Resource Library (2005). Careers>Usability>Mailing Lists>Interaction Design

Career Resources: Writing a Resume

The Career Center: Writing a Resume section contains information that can be helpful when you are preparing to write a resume.

Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Careers>Resumes>TC

Career Workshop: Participation Is Inspiration

Like most technical communicators in the current economic climate, I've been considering where I've been and where I'm going. On Saturday, January 12, I had the golden opportunity to do some of that in the company of some 50 like-minded participants and a number of inspirational and practical speakers. Not incidentally, I was reminded what a tremendous reservoir of volunteer spirit the Willamette Valley Chapter of the STC holds.

Cass, Richard. STC Williamette Valley (2002). Careers>Advice

Careers For English Majors: Where Are They And How Can Departments Help?

The market for English majors is poor; yet with concentration, awareness of skills, strong support, and sufficient information, recent graduates and career changers can find excellent positions. In 1980, after performing two surveys of the career paths of 550 humanities majors and publishing a guide to career options, I resigned my academic post and began a full year of part-time teaching, medical and technical editing, and several other jobs, including career counseling. As a career counselor I collaborated with another former academic to develop a variation on the familiar career seminar for humanities majors.

Trzyna, Thomas. ADE Bulletin (1983). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing

Careers for Professional Writing Majors  

A short article about careers in technical and professional communication.

Aronson, Anne. Metropolitan State University (2005). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing

Careers in Science Writing  

There are a number of careers in which people with a science background write as a major part of their job. What may spring to mind first when you hear the term 'science writer' is a reporter covering science topics for a newspaper, but writing careers for scientists are very diverse and include not only traditional science journalism, but medical writing, technical writing/editing, marketing, and science textbook publishing (and the list is by no means complete!). There is definitely overlap among the four areas listed below.

Yahoo (1995). Careers>Scientific Communication

Careers in Technical Communication: Usability  

This paper informs students, parents, and professionals within technical communication about the profession of usability. It starts with various research methods and sources of more information. Then the focus shifts to the profession of usability, discussing topics such as: user-centered design, the definition of usability, possible career tracks, educational opportunities, educational requirements, future trends in the profession of usability, and trends within the field of usability. The paper provides an overview of the profession and relevant issues surrounding it, as well as providing sources of additional information.

Berni, Kevin. Mercer University (2002). Careers>TC>Usability

Careers in Technical Writing

Contrary to what many people assume, work as a technical writer involves much more than sitting alone at your PC. The job requires plenty of contact with technical professionals, from programmers to project managers, to write and design documentation for software. Solitary? Not quite. Collaborative? Most definitely.

Hoffman, Allan. Monster.com (2001). Careers>Writing

Careers In Technical Writing: Advising English Majors

Headlines on high technology are attracting the interest of undergraduates who aren't sure what they can do with an English major, of graduate students in English who find college teaching jobs increasingly scarce, and even of college English teachers who are hearing tempting rumors of undreamt-of consulting opportunities. Those of us who teach English in growing centers of high technology find our students and colleagues curious about this lucrative but vaguely threatening new field for liberal arts majors, while technical writing classes designed for science and engineering students are attracting (or stealing) increasing numbers of these majors. This paper provides the necessary background on the technical writing field for college English teachers who need to advise English majors and minors about career choices. My description of the profession is based on my recent experience as a technical editor for over four years. I've brought together surveys in professional journals, occupational literature available in college placement offices, and 1980 census data, as well as the more current monthly publications of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both the statistics and my own observations confirm that, for English majors and minors with appropriate aptitude for and attitude toward the sciences, technical writing promises a potentially rewarding career.

Norman, Rose L. Modern Language Association (1986). Careers>TC

The Case for "Technical Communicator"  

While we understand how BLS could have stuck with the term 'technical writing' for so long, it's time to change this policy. To that end, STC proposes that the Standard Occupational Classification 27-3042, Technical Writer be replaced with 27-3044, Technical Communicator.

Martin, Maurice and Richard O'Sullivan. STC (2007). Careers>TC

Cell Phone Etiquette  

Lists fifteen rules for conscientious cell phone usage.

Robart, Kay. Intercom (2001). Careers>Workplace>Etiquette

Certification for Technical Communicators: The Time is Now

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) has been debating certification for technical communicators for over 37 years in one form or another. Despite many attempts locally, regionally, and nationally to move toward establishing a certification process for the profession, the issue remains on hold.

Jacobson, Peggy. STC Puget Sound (2004). Careers>Certification

Certification in Technical Communication    

The debate over certification of technical and professional communicators has occurred with periods of relative intensity and quiescence for more than twenty years. This article surveys the historical developments of the debate; describes the arguments for and against certification; surveys technical communication curricula and theoretical arguments for literacies, standards, and competencies; and examines various efforts to study certification, including a description of published documents regarding certification.

Turner, Roy K. and Charles Paine. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Careers>Certification>TC>Education

Certification of Usability/User Centered Design Professionals: Proposed Competencies

The proposed competencies for a Usability Professional have been derived from ISO 13407, ISO TR 18529 and the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).

Bevan, Nigel. Usability Certification Working Group (2002). Careers>Certification>Usability