Re: How to I get into this field?

["Peggy" <pegasus148 -at- comcast -dot- net>]

Bingo!  That's how I got in the field.  I was an administrative assistant 
for many years.  I also was fortunate to work with technical writers who had 
many years of experience and were willing to train me.  Now I'm pursuing my 
Bachelor's degree in Professional and Technical Writing and I'm learning so 
much I didn't know.

Peggy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: How to I get into this field?


>
>> I have a BA in English and would like to get into technical writing but
> need to know
>> what steps I should take.? What is required?
>
> Some further thoughts from an old timer...
>
> A lot of good tech writers I've known came into the field "sideways". That
> is, they gravitated toward tech writing from within a general clerical or
> administrative function because they were the people in the organisation
> (almost any organisation!) who had a knack for it.
>
> A knack for what? A knack for clear, concise, results-oriented writing. 
> Some
> experience in teaching, training, research, report writing or journalism 
> is
> often a precursor.
>
> Many years ago I started being a tech writer before I even knew the name 
> for
> what I was doing. I was in a clerical job in the financial services 
> sector.
> We knew we needed to have policies and procedures documented, and training
> guides written (or rewritten because they'd been done badly). There was no
> money in the budget to outsource. We knew our business needed it, so we 
> just
> did it.
>
> I found I was good at it and it suited me.  Once I found out that there 
> was
> a recognised profession for people who did what I enjoyed doing, I steered
> myself in that direction. Along came the PC revolution in the business
> office, and, with a little technical savvy, I was home free.
>
> Once you get to that point, you can think seriously about what subject
> matter areas you want to develop expertise in -- or not. There has always
> been a need for generalists as well all specialists in technical
> communications.
>
> One final word of advice. Attention to detail is important. Taking care 
> with
> punctuation marks will save you from having to make excuses for 
> carelessness
> when someone asks why you used both a period and a question mark to end 
> that
> sentence.
>
> --
> Mike West
>
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publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical 
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
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Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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