Making the Transition From Techcom to Marcom

At first glance, technical communication (techcom) and technical marketing communication (marcom) appear to be very different genres. Where traditional techcom strives to help people use products, marcom seeks to make people realize they need products.

Simard, Christy. Writing Assistance (2007). Careers>TC>Technical Writing>Marketing

Making the Transition from Technical Writer to Manager

This article is a collage of ideas and experiences from some people who've made the leap from writer to manager. Although it's not a step-by-step guideline, it provides some compelling insight as to what individuals might expect as they transition into the management ranks. Even if you are an experienced manager, you might find these ideas helpful.

Capri, Steve. Writing Assistance (2007). Careers>Management>TC>Technical Writing

Managing Career Enrichment for Technical Writers  

This paper explores how technical publications managers can create a department that provides career enriching opportunities and direction for technical communicators. The paper describes in detail four major ways: by providing training opportunities, by providing diverse assignments, by allowing participation in management issues, and by providing customer contact. The paper describes the benefits of each enriching opportunity to the technical communicator and to the manager.

Krasner, Arlene J. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Management>Writing>Technical Writing

Managing Conflicts within a Team of Writers  

As much as you may try to avoid it, conflict among your employees is bound to rear its ugly head from time to time. While you may not be able to resolve all conflicts, with the right approach, you can manage many of them.

Prabhakar, Rahul. Intercom (2006). Careers>Management>Writing>Technical Writing

Managing Conflicts within a Team of Writers

It is quite challenging for a manager to integrate a diverse group of intelligent and creative professionals into a single, cohesive unit. As much as you may try to avoid it, conflict among your employees is bound to rear its ugly head from time to time.

Prabhakar, Rahul. Blogspot (2006). Careers>Management>Writing>Technical Writing

Managing Technical Writers by Wandering Around  

Technology has reduced the need for managers to act as communication conduits. Instead they must add more quality to the work of their employees by wandering among them. Effective wandering means forgetting the telephone, using bull sessions, becoming a fifteen-minute manager, giving employees a vision, and looking at their work.

Dicks, R. Stanley. STC Proceedings (1993). Careers>Management>Writing>Technical Writing

Managing the Communication "Process": The Emerging Role of Technical Writers and Documentation Managers  

Current trends in Corporate America are changing the traditional role of technical communicators and creating new challenges and opportunities. Re-engineering the corporation, Total Quality Management, ISO 9000 compliance, and the continuing onslaught of the Information Age are all bringing formally 'invisible' technical communications functions into the limelight. It's not just writing and editing any more! As communication professionals and managers we need to upgrade skills and re-focus our efforts to become 'information managers.'

Anton, Kathy and Teresa J. Tarwater. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>Management>Documentation>Technical Writing

The Marketing of Technical Authors

In May 2004, I did a presentation to the London group of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators on the future for technical authors. This article expands one of the topics discussed - how to promote and market technical authors.

Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2004). Careers>Writing>Marketing>Technical Writing

Marketing the Wily Technical Writer

If the world really is run by C students, then you have to ask yourself a question: How do I market myself in an ocean of average? Today's competitive job market can be a hard nut to crack. How do you stand out in that crowd?

Knowles, Michael. Writing World (2001). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing

A Mixed Bag of Job Prospects for Tech Writers

One of the areas the 2001 ITAA survey looks at is supply and demand. Of the estimated 258,332 jobs that IT hiring managers predict they will add this year, only 1,799, or less than 1%, are for tech writers. This is down a whopping 91% from the year 2000 where the 20,773 available tech writer jobs accounted for almost 5% of the total. The news may not be as bad as it sounds. On the supply side, there is an expected shortfall of 1,008 qualified candidates in filling the open tech writer jobs.

Welinske, Joe. WritersUA (2001). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing

Momma, Don't Let Your Babies be Tech Writers

If you have the stomach for it, technical writing can be the path to a full-time writing career. I did it for three years before switching to general business writing, which offers more variety. If you decide to go technical, be sure to keep reading the work of authors you admire so your day job doesn't make you forget everything you ever knew about 'real' writing.

Wormald, Karen. Absolute Write (2001). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

New Manager's To-Do List  

The transition to technical publications management can be difficult.

Williamson, Marty. ComTech Services (2002). Careers>Management>Writing>Technical Writing

New Roles for Technical Writers: Web Masters "Oh My Gosh, Now I Own the Web Page!"  

In my presentation, I share my experience as a new web master, focusing on how technical communicators are well-suited 10 becoming web masters. I discuss what to prepare for and how things change when you become the webmaster.

Gillihan, Dana L. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Web Design>Writing>Technical Writing

A Non-Management Career Path for Technical Writers  

Writing groups are challenged to find ways to attract and retain quality writers. After several years writing for a particular company, the job can become boring and stale. If writers are not interested in management, they may feel like they are trapped in dead-end jobs. To further their careers and keep the job interesting, they might move into development, usability, or QA. Or they might move on to another company. Either way, the result is the same—the writing group loses a talented writer. This paper discusses a solution—a technical career path. Our paper outlines the benefits of a technical career path and provides suggestions for proposing the idea to management and implementing this program.

Silvi, Deborah H., Susan Stotzer and Jamie West. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing

Nurturing a New Writer

Technical communicators represent one of the most mobile groups of professionals I'm aware of, with some sources claiming that the average time between changing jobs is as low as four years. This means that many of us will soon find ourselves in the position of working with newcomers, whether permant staff or 'temps,' and this means we may face the problem of how to mentor or supervise someone new to our workplace. This article discusses how to work with someone who already has the basic training, but is nonetheless naive in the ways of your particular organization.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Careers>Mentoring>Writing>Technical Writing

Offshoring: Strategies for Prevailing in the Global Marketplace for Technical Writing  

Offshoring will not go away. Technical communicators can improve their prospects by taking offshoring into account as they envision their futures. After defining offshoring and outsourcing, this paper presents a brief history of offshoring and the myths associated with it, followed by a reporting of observations made by practitioners in the field. The conclusions of this report include recommended strategies for technical communicators to consider as they move forward in their careers.

Highby, Marie. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>Offshoring

Oh, Oh! The Job Ad Says OO  

More and more job notices request some knowledge of object-oriented programming concepts. So, what are object-oriented programming concepts, why are they so special, and what documentation challenges do they create. This seminar answers your questions about the real meaning behind those job ads.

Gallagher, Susan W. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Writing>Programming>Technical Writing

The Personal Narrative of a Technical Writer

When I graduated with an Honours degree in English from St. F.X., I had no idea that I would find work as a freelance technical writer; in fact, I had next to no idea at the time what technical writing was. In short, a technical writer produces the literature of engineering, technology, software, and systems development.

Currie, John. St. Francis Xavier (1999). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

Providing On-the-Job Writing Training to Nonwriters  

Professional communicators today must often work with writing done by coworkers who have little or no formal writing training. This situation opens a long-term opportunity for professional development'from negotiating with management to developing tactful-but-truthful mentoring methods for the nonwriters. The mentor will develop skills in goal setting, curriculum development, and possibly even classroom-style teaching. This interactive workshop will lead participants through a 10-step process for becoming a successful writing skills mentor and give successful tips and techniques for evaluating and attacking writing problems.

Edgerton, Rebecca J. and Jill Nicholson. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Mentoring>Writing>Technical Writing

Providing On-the-Job Writing Training to Nonwriters  

Professional communicators today must often work with writing done by coworkers who have little or no formal writing training. This situation opens a long-term opportunity for professional development–from negotiating with management to developing tactful-buttruthful mentoring methods for the nonwriters. The mentor will develop skills in goal setting, curriculum development, and possibly even classroom-style teaching. This interactive workshop will lead participants through a 10-step process for becoming a successful writing skills mentor and give successful tips and techniques for evaluating and attacking writing problems. This workshop is an expanded version of the 90 minute workshop given last year to rave reviews.

Edgerton, Rebecca J. and Jill Nicholson. STC Proceedings (1999). Careers>Mentoring>Writing>Technical Writing

Published Tech Authors Only Need Apply

It seems Microsoft is foregoing technical writers for technology writers. Apparently they want technology journalists writing the online help for the next version of Windows.

Creative Tech Writer, The (2003). Careers>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing

The Question No One Asked Me at the Career Advice Panel, Thank Goodness

Tonight I participated on a career panel for technical writing majors at Utah State University. In preparation, I tried to think of answers to questions they might ask. The one question that I was sure some student would ask is this: 'If you were to do it over again, would you choose technical writing as your career?'

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

Recruiting Spree for Technical Writers

I had a chance to interview three technical writers in Pune, the oasis of technical writers. All of them were techies doing technical writing. I am into EDA technical writing these days (one of the toughest areas of technical writing—this is rocket science, buddies!) and naturally technical acumen is a strength. All of them were new to technical writing (and perhaps even writing) as was evident from the fact that none of them brought in writing samples.

Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>India

Sell Your Technical Writing Services  

Times are changing. Before 2001, when you went to sell your technical writing services, you might have checked a job board, read a newspaper, or called the manager of Human Resources and then referred to a written job description. In 2004, things are different.

Walsh, Tina K. Intercom (2004). Careers>Freelance>Writing>Technical Writing