I received the following question from a reader. If you would like to respond, please add your response in the comments below. I’m a college senior graduating this May with my degree in Technical Communication. Do you have any tips for an aspiring content strategist? What skills or knowledge set would I need to have to pursue a career in content strategy? I know that … more »

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Best Careers 2011: Technical Writer – US News and World Report. It doesn’t amaze me that technical writer is listed in the top 50 careers. Technical writer appeared as a top 50 career in 2006 and 2009 in CNN Money. Each year there’s a lot of controversy about the description, but this year, some things are especially intriguing. US News … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 50 min. This is a presentation I gave at BYU Idaho last week to students interested in entering professional writing. For the accompanying slides, see this post. For the overall question I was trying to tackle, see Students Contemplate Whether a Technical Writing Career Will Be Fulfilling.

This week’s question comes from Mary in New York: I am a loyal reader of your blog and have gained more from it than all the seminars and continuing ed courses I’ve taken–which cost me a good chunk of my salary. Recently, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend which I hope you might consider blogging about. I’m an experienced technical writer currently looking for work, and … more »

Recently a reader wrote me asking for advice on changing careers into technical writing. I asked for some colleagues to respond. Bill Albing, an information architect in North Carolina, and Alyssa Fox, a technical communications manager in Texas, responded to the question. With permission from Bill, Alyssa, and “Cedric” (the name I’ve given the reader), I posted the conversation here.

I enjoyed David Farbey’s post on the name we should call our profession. Aligning our name with the most profitable business model makes sense. If you look at indeed.com for jobs as a “technical communicator,” you won’t find hardly any. Look for “technical writer” and you find a ton. So what is the benefit of calling ourselves technical communicators, when no one is hiring technical … more »

Even if you aren’t watching the NBA playoffs (professional basketball), you’ll probably get the point of this post. Watching a pro basketball team, one thing you realize is that each player has a special position and strength, and they play those strengths rather than their weaknesses. For example, even when Kenyon Martin has an open jump shot 20 feet away, he often doesn’t take the … more »

This is a guest post by Thomas Curnyn, a technical writer in Dublin, Ireland. He currently works for a software company specializing in school administration and scheduling software. He’s been at his job for the last 5 years and has been a writer for 10 years altogether. Tom wrote quite a while back about writing tests (10 Alternate Tests for Evaluating Technical Writing Job Candidates … more »

What Doc Managers Look for in a Résumé? | Technical Communication Center.

Technical writing careers are often a mystery to those on the outside. What do technical writing jobs involve? What is the industry like? What is the career path of a technical writer, and what challenges do technical writers face? Carmen, a student in a technical management program, found me by searching for “technical writers” on Yahoo.com. Fulfilling an assignment in a Career Development course to … more »

After a five-month hiatus, Aaron and Scott at DMN Communications returned to the podcasting scene. In this Sep 9 podcast, they discuss whether technical writing is calling or just a job? By calling, they refer to treating tech writing as if you were destined to be a tech writer, as if it was a sacred duty you were compelled by almost a higher power to … more »