TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Rebecca Stevenson reports: <<I feel like I've hit a plateau as a tech
writer, and it's causing a certain malaise.>>
I have two words for you: "Peter Principle". <g> Beware the temptation
to seek advancement to a level at which you can demonstrate your
incompetence to be at that level.
<<I'm curious about what list members to do to ensure that they're
continuing to grow and get better at what they do.>>
Pay attention to your passions. What do you love about what you're
currently doing? What would you love to be doing in addition to that?
What would you like to stop doing? Once you know the answers to these
questions, you can start deciding what the alternatives are and how to
proceed. But if you don't ask--and answer--the hard questions, the
malaise will persist.
<<My current employment situation doesn't have any support mechanisms
for this sort of thing.>>
Have you talked to your Personnel or HR department? Sometimes there are
formal mechanisms for job or career change that simply aren't
advertised to staff, including the lower-level managers you may be
working with. And sometimes there are informal options that the HR
people can tell you about; for example, they're often the first to hear
that Joe in Marketing and Jane in Project Management are looking for
someone who can write to help them with a new project...
The other informal "mechanism" that works well involves keeping your
ear to the ground and talking to people. For example, when I found out
that some of my researcher colleagues were developing software, I paid
them a visit and asked whether they enjoyed the prospect of having to
write the documentation for it that I would eventually edit (our
traditional relationship up to that point). No, they emphatically did
not. So I offered to write it for them. ("I'd love to do the writing
for you. Ask Ernie (my boss) to assign me this task.")
That's how I became a technical writer, in addition to my editorial
work. Same approach got me work as a French translator, Web designer,
interface designer, instructional designer, and a few other things. If
you don't ask...
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