Today’s post was born out of a response to a reader who wishes to remain anonymous (FYI, I did receive her permission to share this as long as I didn’t include her name). Nice to know you folks think I know what I’m doing. 🙂
Letter #1
First, I’ll share her first note:
I came across your blog post “The Tech Writer as Event Planner” from January 21, 2016. Your post validated the direction that I would like to take with my career. I am an event planner working towards transitioning into technical writing. I am confident that I have the skills and abilities to make the transition, but I am needing some guidance to achieve my goal.
Most technical writing job postings that I have seen are tech based, but I am more knowledgeable in the hospitality, retail, and customer service industries. Is there a place for a technical writer in the industries that I am familiar with or would it be more beneficial to delve into the tech industry?
Also, I have been trying to figure out how to become connected with people within the industry. I live in a less populated state and have reached out to some local companies, but there does not seem to be a big demand for technical writers. Are there any online networking forums, websites, or organizations that you would suggest I contact?
Any guidance or advice that you may have is very appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to help others.
- Training
- Proposal writing/business development
- Sales & marketing
Tourism:
- SKÅL International (SKALUSA)
Letter #2
This was a follow-up to my response.
Thank you for this great information, I have some research to do! Also, thank you for mentioning that you have had multiple career changes. I think this is number 5 for me…Instructional design is the direction I would like to take. At this point, I am unsure what steps I need to take to achieve my goal. I have experience editing and writing marketing materials and have limited experience in writing training materials. I feel that I need to learn training theories and terminology to be taken seriously. To learn new skills, I typically find an educational program to complete. I am debating if it is more beneficial to get a master’s degree, a certification from an instructional design association, or learn from webinars and online training. In your experience, have you seen any advantages or disadvantages for these options? Are there any other options that you would suggest?
Thank you for discussing this side of technical writing.
I happened into a job in the hospitality industry after completing my degree in English with a minor in tech writing (sadly, it was a couple years before tech writing became a major at the college I went to).
I manage a small Resort, and run the entire marketing department…which consists of just me.
I found that the courses I took in business and technical writing enabled me to write the kind of copy that was engaging, rather than long-winded or fluffy. It was interesting how my English courses encouraged the exact opposite, and I always found them very difficult. Why write more than necessary about a given idea or topic?
I will be using the connection recommendations that you provided to see what other opportunities are out there. Thanks!
My pleasure. Thanks for reading!