While the field of usability has existed for decades, the number and quality of careers in the field have greatly improved in the last 10-15 years. The long-term prognosis for the industry is good: there are constant opportunities in almost every industry since new products and technology come out all the time, in usability as well as user-centered design, interaction design and user experience design.
#21673
From Independent Consultant to Business Manager 
Moving from being an independent contractor to being a business owner is a big step. It involves not only practical concerns, such as accounting, legal, and administrative ones, but also re-evaluations in goals and outlooks. Sometimes we need to work through barriers, or blocks, to achieving success as a business owner.
Fay, Brenda. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Management>Consulting
#29775
From Independent Consultant to Employer
Making the leap from independent consultant to employer is a complex process. When you become an employer you are no longer dealing with the same tasks that are familiar to you. When we decided to combine our efforts to start a training and documentation consulting company, we overcame difficulties, but made mistakes along the way. If you have been pondering the idea of starting a business, we hope that our experience can better prepare you for becoming a successful employer.
Dianetti, Angela and Jill McCauslin. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Management>Consulting
#21266
From Information Worker to Knowledge Worker: Emerging Technologies, Trends, and Skills Sets
The business landscape has altered significantly over the past ten years. Downsizing, rapid technological innovation, and a new business common sense that stresses return on investment and value creation has permanently changed the way employees do their jobs. For technical communication professionals, these factors present new challenges and opportunities. The panel discussion will present an open dialogue and discussion about career development, technical innovation, and formulas for success now and in the future.
Squire, Ross. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>TC
#24600
From Manager to Individual Contributor — Would You Rather be a Worker Bee?
Becoming an individual contributor again after being a manager can be one of the most important decisions of your career. I made the decision over two years ago, and it was right for me. Is it right for you?
Boutin, Carmie. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Management
#24195
From Not Working to NETWorking
Networking—whether done formally or informally, alone or as part of a group—can give you a competitive edge in getting (and keeping!) business coming to you as a contractor or independent technical communicator.
Keefer, Christine A. Intercom (2004). Careers>Freelance>Collaboration
#26593
From Sentence to Bullet: How to Style a One-Page Résumé for Traction
The one-page MBA résumé has become, in graduate management education, the self-representational document of choice. Sentences are out, bullets are in, details remain. The key is how to detail the bullet to describe, define, and deliver, in non-narrative form, professional achievements and accomplishments. In this paper, I examine samples of raw quasi-narrative descriptions and suggest restyled improvements for single-line bullets that more clearly, precisely, and effectively represent how authors describe their achievements. The raw data come from a data set of some 400 résumés submitted as a task in a studio-based broadcast course on business communication. The authors are mid-level managers in Latin America enrolled in a global MBA program. The paper examines the content and form of the objective, summary, and professional experience sections of the résumé and provides a set of tips for written language use in the résumé.
Staczek, John J. Association for Business Communication (2005). Careers>Resumes>Management>Business Communication
#31775
Technical writing exists to communicate and disseminate technical information. And it's clearly a different animal from some other kinds of writing…say screenwriting.
Harper, Judith. Between the Lines (2007). Careers>TC>Writing>Screenwriting
#23701
Writing spots were becoming fewer and farther between, and it was clear that I'd have to make a career change. I used to pick up temporary secretarial spots during lulls, but with the downswing in the economy and the proliferation of PCs, the demand for word processing gurus had dwindled considerably. Most of the writing jobs that did come my way over the last three years were dreadful. Job satisfaction had reached an all-time low.
Lookabaugh, Nancy K. MetroVoice (2002). Careers>Writing>Legal
#21269
From Technical Writer to Book Author
Technical writers conceive, plan, and write documentation needed by their company or organization, including user guides, reference manuals, white papers, reports, and proposals. This paper describes one career growth opportunity: that of authoring a book that is published by a commercial publisher and sold in bookstores. The rewards of writing a book for publication include satisfaction in the jinished book, reaching a wider audience, and working with a professional publisher The goal of this paper is to encourage technical writers to consider this career path and to give specijic, practical advice on how to achieve it.
Keene, Sonya E. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Writing>Publishing>Technical Writing
#31710
Fundamentals of Leadership: Communicating a Vision
Great leaders are not always born that way. Unfortunately, many management training programs don't sufficiently emphasize leadership development, but instead focus on fundamentals and the day-to-day tasks that confront managers within the organization. This article takes a look at how having vision and then communicating it is the foundation of leadership and contributes to the makeup of a truly great leader.
Harris, Kerri. Writing Assistance (2006). Careers>Management>Collaboration>Business Communication
#30003
The Future of Technical Documentation 2000-2010
The need for TCs with traditional writing skills will remain fairly stable, but the need for TCs in total will grow. The new technical communicators will come from the world of game design, where they know all about 3D-vector animation, and they will come from the world of TV and video production.
TC-FORUM (2000). Careers>TC>Documentation>Video
#13055
Future Travels of the InfoWrangler
Some of the questions most commonly asked by professionals in a given field are 'where is the field headed?' and 'how will that affect me?' In this article, I give one person's view of where the fields of technical communication, training, and marketing communications are headed and how that might affect people working in those fields.
Carliner, Saul. Intercom (1998). Careers>Information Design
#18354
General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews
Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. Usually open-ended questions are asked during interviews. Before you start to design your interview questions and process, clearly articulate to yourself what problem or need is to be addressed using the information to be gathered by the interviews. This helps you keep clear focus on the intent of each question.
McNamara, Carter. Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits (1999). Careers>Interviewing
#22040
A template for technical writers developing new personal resumes.
#10830
Getting a Job as a Web Developer
The most extensive training I took was in C programming. I learned C and then wrote two simple CGIs to show that I could apply that knowledge. At the same time, I practiced with Photoshop until I had several graphics of publishable quality for our Web site. Once I had done that, I was promoted to Webmaster.
Kyrnin, Jennifer. About.com (2001). Careers>Advice
#18204
This panel discussion focuses on how finding and getting a job in the ’90s has changed over the past five to ten years. The number of electronic sources of job information is growing rapidly. Major online services such as CompuServe and America On-Line link to these sources, as well as run their own listings. Many sites let you post your resume electronically. New techniques are needed to create electronic resumes.
Sharp, Michael V., Roger E. Masse and Jan D. Shelton. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>TC
#21404
Getting a Technical Writing Job, Even If You Have No Experience 
Technical writing jobs can be hard to get if you have little or no experience. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting hired.
#11804
Shared Medical Systems Corporation (SMS) recently combined its 66-person technical writing group and six-person performance-centered design team to form a new department called User Performance. With more and more clinicians—often novice users—interacting with SMS systems, SMS recognized the need to place an increased focus on usability.
Drake, Frederic and Frances L. Fleek. Usability Interface (2000). Careers>Usability
#30634
Getting Hired: What Employers Really Want
We began to work on an event to gather professionals and employers to help us figure out what UX employers really want.
Sanchez-Howard, Olga. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Careers>Usability>User Experience
#21276
Getting into Government Consulting
From Washington, D.C. to Olympia, Washington, there's a rich potential for user experience consultants of all flavors to provide services to government. In this article I'll share some thoughts directed toward you, the independent consultant or small firm that would like to work with government.
McMullin, Jess. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Careers>Consulting>Government>User Experience
#20227
As businesses struggle to stay in business, many are short–changing vendors or woefully delaying payment. Zeldman laments the difficulties of getting paid.
Zeldman, Jeffrey. List Apart, A (2002). Careers>Consulting>Web Design
#10345
Getting Professional Help: Why Contractors and Independent Consultants Need Lawyers 
This article begins with the premise that there is no such thing as a standard contract and goes on to explore some of the ways that the attorney/client relationship can have unexpected benefits for technical communication consultants and contractors. The conclusion is that these communicators should seek legal counsel to protect themselves and their businesses.
Glick-Smith, Judith L. 'Judy' and Carol Stephenson. Technical Communication Online (1998). Careers>Consulting>Legal
#31435
Getting Real Results from Employee Engagement
I remember the day I turned on the car radio and found out that my company was merging with a competitor. Over the coming weeks, every employee made mental and emotional decisions on whether to stay engaged with their work and the company, or to just to show up and collect a paycheck.
Schmidt, Jeff. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Careers>Management>Public Relations>Workplace
#14138
Getting Started in Technical Writing
This summary provides a collection of tips and advice for getting started in the technical writing profession. The following categories are included in this summary: Finding and Getting That First Job; Types of Technical Writing; Types of Technical Writers; Degrees and Technical Writing; Transferring to Technical Writing from Other Professions: From Journalism; From Teaching; From Academia; From Marketing; From Law; Essential Skills; On Being a Technical Writer.
#31044
Getting Started on Your Assignment
This is the first of a series of articles on BA consulting. This is some of my perspective on starting your consulting assignment as a BA, and understanding the organization that you're working with. This first article: Start your BA assignment with a bang and will be followed by two additional articles discussing requirements basics, followed by closing the project.
Furey, Jim. BA Collective (2007). Careers>Consulting>Business Communication
