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If you are indeed serious about changing careers, I would highly
recommend that you obtain additional college course work for technical
writing. A lot of universities offer certificate programs.
Since your background is not directly related, it would benefit you to
obtain at least a certificate. This would serve two purposes:
One - it would show potential employers that you are serious about your
career change, not just dabbling in tech writing.
Two - it would help provide you with the fundamentals that are used in
professional technical communications.
Many tech writers have a scientific background (myself included). The
critical thinking we learned in college is useful; however, don't
underestimate the value of a tech writing certificate. If you find you
are indeed serious about your career change, I would also recommend that
you obtain a Master's in a writing discipline. Some universities allow
you to transfer your certificate units towards advanced degrees.
In short, please be aware that authoring and editing a thesis does not
automatically qualify you for a tech writer position. It is a start;
however, you should build upon that foundation with additional writing
classes. It is assumed that anyone working in the science field has
authored papers. The difference in technical communication is writing
for varied audiences and working with subject matter experts,
translating their expertise into useable documents.
Good luck!
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-206117 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-206117 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
ethanreese -at- hotmail -dot- com
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 10:41 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: [SPAM] Career-changer portfolio questions (plus one additional
question)
Importance: Low
Hello all,
I am a career-changer that is looking to get into technical writing.
I've
been an environmental consultant for five years. I have an M.S. in
hydrogeology. While that's not exactly related to a lot of fields that
many tech writers seem to be in, I believe that my experience with
writing
and editing a thesis (including having to teach myself a digital
modeling
program for use with my research) has provided me with at least a little
experience that will be useful. The writing I do at work includes
environmental site assessment reports, summary-of-findings letters,
general correspondence, and other kinds of correspondence/documentation
that I make up as the need arises. While I don't have a background in
the
IT/technology industries, I feel I'm pretty competent with computers and
such. Sit me down in front of a new program and I can figure it out
pretty quickly - or at least get a good idea of how to use it without a
manual.
I'm facing the typical career-changer task of preparing a portfolio. I
am
thinking of including:
1) Sections from my thesis - including some of my custom figures made
Macromedia Freehand 8 and Paint Shop Pro
2) User documentation I would write for a freeware program I use to
calculate the volume of fuel/oil in underground storage tanks (it
currently has no user documentation)
3) Some pages I would be rewriting from the manual to my MP3 player.
The
manual was written overseas by non-native English authors and contains a
lot of "Engrish" such as, "Use a caution when handling the product to
not
drop as this may cause a hurt or damage to the product." It's not much,
but I figure it's at least *something* with a beginning format I can
start
with and modify the "Engrish" to something more fluid and direct. (In
Epinions.com reviews, the documentation was one of the biggest
complaints.
Maybe I should pitch a freelance job to this company to "translate"
their
manuals.)
That's about all I can really think of, other than using some of the
documents I generate at work (with appropriate changes so clients aren't
identified and such). How do these sound? Any other ideas?
My additional question was related to the international market and tech
writing. I'm currently studying Japanese and Chinese with more emphasis
on Japanese. Does anyone have thoughts regarding the global market and
which of those languages might prove more useful in the tech writing
industry? I'm mostly studying them for fun and in the hopes of visiting
those countries someday, but wouldn't mind focusing on whichever one
might
provide advantageous in terms of work opportunities (not to live over
there... but just to be the guy in the office that they can call on for
this or that because he knows X language).
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