Re: MA in Tech Writing?

Subject: Re: MA in Tech Writing?
From: Elna -dot- Tymes -at- SYNTEX -dot- COM
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 1994 11:09:20 PDT

In article <941115181331_106513 -at- aol -dot- com>, <DavidaL423 -at- aol -dot- com> writes:

> A university recently accepted me into its MA in Technical and Business
> Writing program. The university is well-known and respected in my area. I
> already have a graduate-level Technical Writing certificate (and plenty of
> outrageous college loans to go with it :)!).

> I was wondering what the pros and cons were for continuing into a Master's
> program. Would it help me advance further in my career (aka: make it easier
> to get a higher paying Technical Writing job) or would it make little or no
> difference?

> I would like to have an MA for personal reasons (prestige, etc..). However,
> since grad schools are expensive, I need to be able to directly benefit
> professionally and economically from having an MA. I would appreciate any
> advice on this matter.

25+ years of experience in Silicon Valley has taught me that anything beyond a
BA/BS doesn't matter as much as knowing programming languages, applications,
various desktop publishing packages, etc. I happen to have an MBA and a lot
of experience both running small businesses and consulting for others; nobody
in the market for tech writers gives a fig about that. The single factor in
making me salable is a resume that is top-heavy with the right buzzwords.

If I were you, I'd go ahead with the Master's program, but grab every technical
class you can find in programming, engineering, usability, etc.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems


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