Re: So...how do I break into tech writing?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

John Posada wrote:
> 
> Get into this field because you like it and will be good at it and
> you will make money. Get into this field to make money and you will
> probably fail.
> 

Of course, it depends what your standards are. If you're an
unemployed English Phd., the money in tech-writing can look very
good :-)

Seriously, though, I agree whole-heartedly with John. It's
possible to make excellent money at tech-writing, or to use it as
a stepping stone to management, but it would be very foolish to
expect either of these things, especially for the first few
years. You'd only disappoint yourself, and miss some of
interesting experiences you'd get from the work at hand.

However, if you are ambitious, then you need to find a
speciality, learn all you can about it, and then slowly work your
way into it. That's what most of the high-end writers seem to
have done (the ones, I mean, who haven't mutated into managers).
The odds of an overnight dot-com success are simply too small to
be worth factoring into your life plans.

-- 
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com | Tel: 604.421.7189

"It takes your sweat as well as art,
To dig a channel for the human heart."
-Oyster Band, "The Early Days of a Better Nation"