Professional Development Stem Overview  

The Professional Development stem emphasizes the growth of technical communicators as individuals, leaders, and team members. This emphasis includes the skills needed to plan and achieve career objectives, aid personal growth, enhance professional development, and succeed in leadership and management roles within the chapter and Society.

Cascone, Steven M. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>TC

Professional Portfolios: Showcasing your Technical Communications Skills  

A portfolio is a technical communicator's most important marketing tool. It showcases talents and abilities while giving prospective employers or clients an opportunity to learn about the candidate's skills and career direction. Often, communicators either do not have a portfolio or have not presented their works in the best possible manner. Professional portfolios are as indispensable as a resume. As the focus of technical communication expands, the need for multiple media to present a communicator's work is inevitable. Rather than a portfolio, multiple portfolios--in hard and electronic--formats are necessary to successfully portray your skills and career direction.

Coker, Louellen Sue. STC Proceedings (2005). Careers>Portfolios>TC

Profielen en Competenties op het Vakgebied Technische Communicatie

Het vakgebied technische communicatie bestaat eigenlijk al veel langer dan vaak wordt gedacht. Al in 1974 introduceerde Jan Veering, destijds lector aan de Technische Hogeschool Delft, dit vakgebied in het weekblad Intermediair, onder de titel - Technisch schrijven: een boeiend en verantwoordelijk beroep'. Toen reeds signaleerde hij dat dit vakgebied een zelfstandige professie aan het worden was, en niet zomaar een aspect van het werk van een ingenieur, wetenschapper of technicus. In de tijd die daarop volgde heeft deze professionalisering zich sterk doorgezet, waarbij het niet alleen ging over communicatie over techniek, maar vooral ook over communicatie over het gebruik en de toepassing van technische producten of systemen, en zelfs over communicatie van organisaties die technische producten, diensten of systemen produceren.

van Bart, Peter, Anneke Klaasse, Cees Landman, Brigit van Loggem and Michael Steehouder. STIC (2007). (Dutch) Careers>TC

Proving Worth: What Technical Communication Managers Must Do to Prove the Value of Their Deliverables

Technical communication managers are often required to prove the worth of their deliverables over and over again. To do this, managers must execute two tasks persistently. First, they must prove the value of documentation to those interested in the bottom line and, second, they must make that value true. The trick to increasing value with internal and external users is to identify areas where documentation can save time and money, to create agreement that the documentation can save time and money, and to ensure that the documentation does save time and money. Find out how.

Kirk, Hannah. Writing Assistance (2006). Careers>Management>TC

Re-Evaluating Your Skills

Given our current economic conditions, it is proving very difficult for a lot of technical communicators to find new positions as either contractors or full-time employees. It is important now, more than ever, to look closely at the core skills we have and can offer our future employers. Almost all of you that I have talked to are technical communicators who develop online help and hardcopy documentation. You are writers, editors, and managers. Many of you understand the intricacies of the tools of the trade like Adobe FrameMaker and RoboHelp from eHelp. You understand the products so well that you can troubleshoot the problems faster than the product support teams.

Bates, Michael P. STC Northeast Ohio (2001). Careers>TC>Assessment>Adobe RoboHelp

Recognizing Creative Ways Employers Use Technical Communicators: The Insight Award  

The Hoosier Chapter of STC created a brand new program for recognizing employers who use the skills of technical communicators in expansive ways. Entitled the 'Insight Award,' it is a new type of STC competition that recognizes companies rather than individual technical communicators or technical publications. The panelists of this presentation discuss how the award program was developed, the procedure and criteria used in the judging, problems and planned improvements in the process, publicity and results of the competition, and benefits of the award for STC members and organizations.

Armbruster, David L., Debbie Groulik, Nancy J. Hoffman, William D. Leavitt and Amy Perry. STC Proceedings (2002). Careers>TC>Management

Reinvent Yourself: Applying Marketing's Textbook Rules

What happened to the days where we didn't have to put in any effort to look for a job, recruiters were calling nonstop, and offers were being thrown at us on what seemed a regular basis? What happened to 10 jobs for every resume? What happened to big sign-on bonuses, large paychecks, and the feeling of being wanted? Have the tables turned?

Dorfman, Susan. MetroVoice (2002). Careers>TC

Reinventing Yourself for the New Millenium  

Organizations are changing their model of employment. The current trend is toward one comprised of a small, highly leveraged, multi-skilled internal staff complemented by an external staff of independent contractors. The Information Age is in its twilight, giving rise to the Age of Knowledge. The Internet has made us all members of a potential virtual workplace, and Web careers abound for technical writers.

Szatkowski, Carol A. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>TC>Planning

Report of the Committee on Scientific and Technical Communication (SATCOM Report)

The Committee on Scientific and Technical Communication (SATCOM) was established in February 1966 by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to investigate the present status and future requirements of the scientific and engineering communication with respect to the flow and transfer of information, principally in the U.S.A. The work of the Committee is closely related to that of the Joint UNESCO-ICSU Committee for a Worldwide Science Information Service.

Laetus in Praesens (1970). Careers>TC

Revealing Your Hidden Value  

Have you ever felt as though technical communicators don’t get the proper respect for the work they do? This isn’t just a problem of identifying with the comedian Rodney Dangerfield. And I’m not just asking whether you go home at the end of the day with your feelings hurt, although job satisfaction is certainly an important factor. But even more important, you need to have the respect of your boss and co-workers to be effective in your job and to advance your career.

Laurent, J. Suzanna. Intercom (2003). Careers>TC>Assessment>Formulas

Rising from the Mat: Job Openings for Technical Communicators  

When faced with the reality of the thrashing our industry has taken over the past few years, should you feel any less optimistic about your future? Not a bit. In fact, today there are more reasons for technical communicators to be optimistic about their prospects for continued employment than there have been since December 2000.

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

The Role of the Technical Communicator in Quality Programs: A Case Study  

Most companies are trying to improve their products, services, and processes. As a result, numerous buzzwords are flying around these days: TQM, ISO 9000, IEEE, SEI, standards, procedures, methodologies, models, registration, and compliance. How can the technical communicator assist in the assessment and selection of a quality program and policy? This paper takes a look at the steps the Telecommunications division of Carnegie Group, Inc. (CGI) took to establish its quality program and the role of the technical communicator in this process.

Cerroni, Karen A. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>TC>Quality>Standards

Running a Chapter Employment Information Service  

This panel discussion summarizes various methods of distributing employment information to chapter members, including necessary equipment, advantages and disadvantages, and helpful hints for each method.

Masse, Roger E., Michael V. Sharp, and Jan D. Shelton. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>TC>Community Building>STC

Salary Survey    

The Society for Technical Communication recently surveyed its members regarding their current salaries and benefits. The questionnaire was Web-based, and STC sent invitations to more than 12,500 technical communicators. More than 2,000 questionnaires were completed, for a response rate of 16 percent.

STC (2004). Careers>TC>Salaries

Salary Survey Results (2003)  

To better understand the Rocky Mountain region’s technical communication market, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication surveyed its members in December 2003. We received a 34 percent response rate (down from a 52% response rate in 2001). This online survey was the first of its kind for STC RMC. In this report, we profile our representative members and summarize independent contractor responses. Results reported as 'employed' are respondents that are employed but are not independent freelancers.

STC Rocky Mountain Chapter (2004). Careers>Salaries>TC

Sarbanes-Oxley and New Opportunities  

Harkness explains how technical communicators living in the United States can benefit from the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies to strictly adhere to accepted accounting practices.

Harkness, Holly E. Intercom (2004). Careers>TC>Legal

Selling Your Skills: Tips from a Technical Interviewer  

Demonstrate your skills. Make your information relevant. Provide justifications to accept you with no obvious reasons to reject. Present your best work. Show enthusiasm and interest.

Roach, Jane. STC Four Lakes (2002). Careers>TC>Interviewing

Send Jobs to India? Some Find It's Not Always Best

Even as the prospect of high-skilled American jobs moving to low-wage countries like India ignites hot political debate, some entrepreneurs are finding that India's vaunted high-technology work force is not always as effective as advertised.

Porter, Eduardo. New York Times, The (2004). Careers>TC>Outsourcing>Offshoring

Seven Habits of Highly Effective STC Members  

Much has been said about Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People since its publication over a decade ago. Corporations buy the book for their managers, and everyone from politicians to authors to CEOs to entertainers sings its praises. Recently, a colleague sent me an article—'Seven Habits of Highly Effective Writers,' by Kathryn Riley—that provides an insightful interpretation of Covey’s seven habits as they apply to writers. Riley’s article has inspired me in turn to create my own seven habits of highly effective STC members. Following are seven sure-fire ways to get the most out of your STC activity (and the key word is activity).

Taylor, Rebecca S. Intercom (2003). Careers>TC

Software-as-a-Service: Changing The Benefit Packages IT Organizations Offer

If you work in the information technology industry, for instance, especially in the software industry, chances are you are accustomed to having the same days off from work as everyone else: bank, religious, and national holidays—and, if you are creative about your planning—vacation days that you take before and after these holidays to create an extended break, usually coinciding with times others in your life are also away from work and school. But, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model will likely change all that. And, the changes don’t bode well for family vacations or extended holidays with your sweetheart.

Abel, Scott. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Careers>TC>Software>Online

The Special Role of the Technical Communicator in the Small or Startup Software Company  

I decided to present an Idea Market session on the role of the technical communicator in a startup company because that was exactly the role I had recently taken on. In my previous experience as a technical writer I had worked in established companies as part of a team of writers. The questions that I brought to the Idea Market were the questions that I had had to face. This paper summarises the discussion that took place during my Idea Market session at Forum 2000, but begins with a brief report of the informal survey I conducted as part of my research before the conference.

Farbey, David. Tripod.com (2000). Careers>TC>Software

STC Career Information Center

Looking for a job as a technical communicator? Trying to fill a technical communication position within your company? As a resource for our members, STC provides a jobs database for use by both employers and job seekers. In addition to the employment information in this site, many chapters provide information on employment opportunities in their locale. Please conduct a chapter search to find contact information for chapters in your job search area.

STC. Careers>Job Listings>TC