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Several colleges and universities (for example, the University of Central
Florida in Orlando)have Cooperative Education Programs that allow students
to intern, part-time, with a business (for pay). I began my first tech
writing job as a Co-op student. Also, check the college bulletin boards for
similar opportunities.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy J. Nguyen [mailto:knguyen -at- PICKSYS -dot- COM]
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 11:47 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: Jobs!!!
Hi All!
To the experience-seekers:
I am living proof that YOU CAN have no experience and get a techwriting
job! You just have to know where to research and be willing to do the time.
I applied for an internship with a large company and began working my last
quarter in college (English major). I secured the job by letting the
Documentation manager know that Tech writing was something I was serious
about, and I intended to stay an intern until I had learned what I needed
to know. I assured her, that I wasn't about to desert the company as soon
as I graduated. I think she liked that I was very bluntly honest because
the writing sample I turned in was far from technical. It was a paper on
Native American Lit.
I worked that internship for almost a year. While all of my friends were
finding jobs with benefits and more pay, I sacrificed the time and learned
as much as I could. I knew it would be worth it in the end, and 11/2 years
later, I can say it has been worth it. I like my job more and get paid more
than many of the computer science majors that graduated with me.
All I can say is check the large companies! Many of them have internship
programs and a couple of them (I've heard that Unisys is one of them) hire
people with no experience so that they can take a pre-junior and make
him/her into a senior.
I would go to all the large company websites and just start checking for
job openings.
