Re: Getting Experience

[Jill Burgchardt <jburgcha -at- PESTILENCE -dot- ITC -dot- NRCS -dot- USDA -dot- GOV>]

I sent the following to Eric and intended to cc the list, but didn't.
Here it is now.

>Eric refers to volunteer tech writing as "an interesting
>catch-22" because of the non-profits' need to qualify volunteers
>and the time spent on non-writing tasks.
>
>I really don't think the hoops are that hard. I didn't say it
>took months of work, but it does take a willingness to work on
>one or two small efforts. Trust is incremental. Plus, what you
>learn in 4-6 hours in the trenches of an organization will help
>your writing for/about that organization. (BTW, I consider both
>examples Deb Ray gave as indicators of organizations to stay
>away from. But, I consider those examples as much the exception
>as walking in and writing is.)
>
>Also, I find opportunity within nonprofits has more to do with
>proving myself as dependable than proving myself as a writer.
>Hence, with a little effort it IS open to someone who is a new
>writer.  Any method of building a portfolio, even made up
>samples, is going to require some effort.
>
>I don't know about other areas of the country/world, but here in
>Colorado many institutions have "service learning" as part of
>the curriculum.  In other words, students are expected to do
>volunteer work as part of earning their degree.  Why not combine
>the mandatory volunteer work (yes, that's an oxymoron) with
>finding a writing opportunity?
>
>Bottom line:  I would STILL answer the question by recommending
>volunteer work.  And, I'd encourage those of us doing volunteer
>work to keep an eye out for newbie tech writers who could use a
>little encouragement.
>
>Jill Burgchardt
>jburgcha -at- pestilence -dot- itc -dot- nrcs -dot- usda -dot- gov