Keeping Up with New Technologies: Professional Development for the Freelancer  

Online documentation... usability testing... multimedia—new tools and processes to support these and other technologies flood the technical communications field. All technical communicators face the challenge of keeping up with these developments. Freelancers, however, face a special challenge: they must be prepared to use any technology and must provide their own training. In this panel, four experienced freelancers discuss proven solutions to the professional development challenge.

Hayhoe, George F., Barbara J. Philbrick, Lynnette R. Porter, and David M. Taylor. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>TC>Technology

The WritersUA 2008 Skills and Technologies Survey

There is no question that the software development world offers a lot of excitement and challenging work. In the area of software user assistance we are particularly challenged by having to master a wide range of disciplines. From foundation skills like writing and editing—to the coding of content—to usability testing and user interface design, we find ourselves in a profession that is difficult to define. What is it that we really do? The objective of this survey is to take a snapshot of our collective professional life in an attempt to identify what we value in our daily work as user assistance professionals.

WritersUA (2008). Careers>TC>Technology>Surveys