What's the Best Thing You've Done to Grow Your Career?
Next week I'm participating on a career advice panel for technical writing students at a local college. In my attempt to gather some useful advice, I'd like to know the best move you've made to grow your career.
For me, one of the best things has been starting my blog and podcast. It's kept me active and engaged in the latest trends of the field. Of course, it has also taken a lot of my time, which I might devote to other things. Still, engaging in tech writer web 2.0 world has certainly been worthwhile.
At the last STC Summit, I attended a panel that explored this same topic (growing your career). One person said that if you find yourself stuck in a company, not moving anywhere, then it's time to move on. For some reason, that person's advice stayed with me. I'd been at a great company but didn't feel that I was going anywhere, and I was trapped with an outdated tool set (RoboHelp and Paint Sho Pro 7). When I moved on, it helped me expand my skillset and knowledge. I started creating new kinds of deliverables and moving into areas that I wanted to go (such as creating video tutorials).
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About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
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Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.