Re: Joing STC and breaking into Technical Writing

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

I think at your stage in the game, STC membership would be valuable. It
will not solve all your problems, nor ensure you a job, but it can help
point you in the right direction.

When I was entering this profession, I found the STC to be a very helpful
source of information about tools, techniques, and literature. I was able
to ramp up quickly using information I gleaned from STC publications.

As a newbie writer applying for my first entry-level tech writing job, my
membership in the STC gave me some added credibility on paper. (Some may
scoff at that, I'm sure, but when you're a newbie, every little bit
helps!)

When applying for the aforementioned job, I used the STC Salary Survey to
help me negotiate a salary $5K larger than any of the other entry-level
writers the company hired. To me, the salary survey alone makes membership
worth the price of admission.

While at that first job, publications that I received from the STC made me
aware of products, solutions, and methodologies that I pitched to my
bosses, resulting in raises and promotions for me.

I will admit that for me its value has diminished over time - not because
the STC has gotten worse, but because I haven't really *needed* it much
recently. As I've moved up in the profession, I've continued to maintain
my membership, and peruse their publications as time permits. I stay in
out of loyalty, I guess, because I feel like I got a lot out of it when I
joined. Plus, the members of the local chapter are REALLY nice, so it's
fun to catch one of their meetings every few months, if only for the
networking. I have not attended any STC conferences, due to the time
constraints of my job, but doubt I would bother even if available to do
so.

Is the STC perfect? Nope. Is it useful? For me it sure was!

But you've also located an EXTREMELY useful resource - this List. 

Peruse its archives, and communicate with its members. You'll learn a LOT,
trust me. I know I have.


Keith Cronin
Sigging for World Peace


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Buy ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0, the most powerful SINGLE SOURCE HELP
AUTHORINGTOOL for MS Word. SAVE $100 on the full version and $50 on upgrades.
Offer ends Oct 31, 02 (code: DTH102250). http://www.componentone.com/d2hlist1002

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.