So You're Thinking of a Career in Technical Communication Part II

The certificate program was fairly intense - I was attending at least two evening classes per week, on top of my early morning shifts of full time work. My part-time studies went on for about two years. My overall impression of the academic component of the program? I felt it did a pretty good job doing what it was designed to do - to prepare its graduates with applicable knowledge and job-specific skills to work in technical communication. And if I hadn't studied in the program, my current employer wouldn't likely have taken a chance with me. To get your feet wet, I highly encourage you to try at least one or two core courses at any reputable post-secondary institution that offers a technical communication program. And an extra thumbs up for programs that offer a co-op or industry project component to provide its students real-world work experiences. Believe me, you'll need every edge you can get to break into this field.

So we go back to the question of "Why?". Why would you ever want to commit yourself to a purpose of writing manuals that everyone seems to avoid reading? And no, you're not going to win a Pulitzer with that fax machine manual you just proudly submitted to your boss! Technical writing (i.e. communication), unlike other types of writing, serves a very strict purpose - and that's to instruct a reader how to perform a specific task, or a series of tasks to get a job done. If we go back to the fax machine example, the task could be as simple as sending a fax - or as complex as configuring business intelligence software for a client. And because tasks are never one and the same, there is definitely creativity involved when determining how information is presented and written for the reader. Without going into too much detail, I'd like to list three important important tech-comm attributes that I feel are key to the success and happiness of a technical communicator. Please keep in mind this is drawn from my experiences working as a noobie technical writer at a B.C software company for the past year.

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You do not have an aversion to technology and enjoy teasing things out

If you ever loathe the idea of having to go into your Windows Control Panel, or get a splitting headache with an inexplicable urge to drink heavily from learning how your new iPod works - you may want to avoid the technical communication field. Even if you don't know what the difference between a URL or link is - or what a Crystal report does - don't worry - they're all terminology and concepts you can learn fairly quickly. Your intrinsic desire and curiosity will be key.

You've actually used a technical manual, online help, or training video on a regular basis

Never trust a skinny chef. Success won't happen if you don't believe in what you're doing - and technical communication takes no exception here. And yes, you are a non-believer if you'd rather have someone teach you how show you rather than googling instructions for yourself. Non-believers and hacks produce crappy work - and crappy manuals produce frustrated customers.

You enjoy meeting and communicating all sorts of people at the office

I was told by an instructor that the writing and editing component of technical communication is only 50% - the other 50% goes to information gathering. And often times, this information stays in the head of your colleagues at the office. These people are commonly known as subject matter experts (SME) and your access to their knowledge will be a strong determining factor in the success or failure of your projects. So it'd be a good idea to get to know them (on a face-to-face basis if possible) and establish relationships early in the game. Interviewing and talking to your colleagues should come natural to you and should never feel like interrogation.
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If you're still curious about this field of work, there is perhaps no better way to research this further than to chat and mingle with technical communication professionals at this year's Documentation & Training West conference in Vancouver. Web 2.0 and its impact on communication will be the conference's theme this year. And yes, if you haven't figured it out by now, one of the goals of this blog is to get word out to anyone who is in the field and especially to those who are interested in learning more about the craft.

If you've been googling about technical communication, you've probably come across blog content from Darren Barefoot, a local Vancouver communication professional. His writing career history is quite fascinating and goes to show you that technical communicators aren't always confined to writing manuals. You can read more about him at his personal blog site by clicking here. Darren will be making an appearance at the conference with a 60 minute presentation titled Social Media 101: Everyone's a Technical Writer. He'll also be hosting a workshop that teaches the latest Web 2.0 tools.