Gryphon Mountain is the online home of Ben Minson—technical communicator, writer, and cartoonist. This blog discusses tech comm and other writing topics. More »
In today’s world of technology changing in the blink of an eye, ongoing professional development isn’t an option for technical communicators, it’s a requirement. Over the past decade the field of technical communication has grown and gained more respect as a legitimate profession, and the complexities of the job and skill base required of technical communicators have also increased. Some of what’s new we can learn on the job—if we have a job—but sometimes we need to obtain the skills to stay vital in other ways.
When it comes to professional development in tech comm there are a lot of options. If you’re gainfully employed, enjoying what you do, and just need to brush up on the latest tool, then probably just a training seminar or a short online class is all you need. But if you’re not employed, or employed in a different capacity than you’d like to be, then you might want to consider a bigger educational commitment to make yourself more marketable as a technical communicator in today’s world.
In 2008 I stepped out of the working world to go back to school to earn my master’s degree in technical communication. While I’d started my career as a technical writer in a software development environment, I’d changed roles along the way, and by 2008 I was wondering how I’d gotten on the train I was on and, more importantly, how I could get off of it. I decided earning an advanced degree was the right decision for me, so in January, 2009, I took the plunge and started graduate school as a full-time student.
I started my current job five years ago this week. Reaching the level of senior technical writer brings me to ask whether I’ve got the smarts to go along with the time I’ve clocked.
A Narrow View of Tech Comm
When I graduated from Utah State University two months before starting as an intern, I thought technical communication consisted mainly of writing manuals, help systems, and the occasional tutorial. I thought the main activities were writing and creating images for print or Web.
My definition of a technical writer didn’t differ much from most people’s if at all.
I hadn’t heard the terms CSS, single sourcing, structured authoring, DITA, social media, Agile, RSS, SEO, or content strategy. Some of these things were either relatively new or not dreamed of at that point.
I belonged to the student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, but the chapter members mainly learned from each other. There was only so far we could go that way.
Near the end of May, the Intermountain Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication installed the officers for the 2010–11 year. I handed the presidential position off to Paul Pehrson (otherwise known as Doc Guy), who had been my vice president.
The last year wasn’t as amazing as I’d hoped, but we did a few things right.
Filled Leadership Positions
When I ran for president, we had no current president (due to circumstances that I won’t explain here). Our treasurer/programs manager/competitions manager was keeping things going, with help from the immediate past president. I had just taken over a few months previous as the webmaster because the previous one became unable to continue. Our ship was staffed by a skeleton crew and was probably close to being decommissioned by the central office.
Ben: Welcome to our second installment of Interview with a Gryphon. Today, Gryp and I are discussing a subject that has a lot of technical communicators enthusiastically speaking up.
Gryp: You mean how that Sauron guy forged one HAT to rule them all?
Ben: You’re getting a few universes confused here.
Gryp: Me? You’re the one talking to a mythological creature.
Ben:*Ahem!* We’re going to talk about a discussion about the Society for Technical Communication that was started by Kristi Leach and carried on by Sarah O’Keefe and numerous others in comments on their posts.
Gryp: Wow, links within your dialogue. That’s pretty slick.
Ben: If you’re good, some day I’ll teach you how. So Gryp, the discussion is largely about old ways versus new ways of doing things. For example, big central conferences versus smaller conferences or unconferences with more open formats. Or top-down leadership and formal structure versus online communities and more volunteers. Would you like to comment on what you think about STC’s current state in this area and their efforts to make changes?
Tom Johnson of I’d Rather Be Writing interviewed me about Don Moyer’s STC 2010 Summit presentation on using drawing in tech comm. (You may want to turn up the sound—I’m a soft-spoken kind of guy.)
I saw an unintentional exercise in usability while sitting in an STC Summit education session on Tuesday in the Hyatt Regency hotel. It’s expected conference behavior, at least at STC conferences, that if you decide within the first 15 minutes that a session isn’t what you expected or that it won’t meet your needs, you can get up and go to a different one. I was sitting at the left end of one row near the door and watched a couple of people leave this particular session, and each person’s interaction with the closed door was not optimal.
Some of the session rooms were set up using relocatable walls. The doors in the walls were designed, I assume, to not take up any more space on the Z axis than the rest of the wall to make storage more tidy. This means that the person who designed the latch mechanism had to figure out an alternative to a knob or handle.
The result was a three-inch-wide button with the word PUSH printed three times around its perimeter (see the photo). You disengage the latch mechanism by pushing the button.
Whatever it accomplished, this design didn’t really meet people’s needs, or at least it didn’t meet conventions so that most people would understand how to use it.
I came away from Leadership Day of STC’s Technical Communication Summit with a much different mood than a year ago.
Last year, I was the incoming Intermountain Chapter president. I missed the beginning of Leadership Day where then-president Mark Clifford took the chapter presidents and SIG managers aside and dropped the bomb labeled “$1.2 million shortfall.” The rest of Leadership Day, most of which I attended, held a tense atmostphere. People were upset and probably panicking to some degree. I felt somewhat overwhelmed as a new chapter president stepping into office and being handed these problems.
I wouldn’t say that I doubted the Society board over the following twelve months, but I tried to voice my concerns where members of the board would hear them. I admit that my dissatisfaction with the board stemmed from a perception that they weren’t open and transparent enough. They solicited ideas from all members, but I didn’t see much communication back that described which ideas the board was discussing. I wasn’t alone on this.
This year, the proceedings of Leadership Day left me with a feeling of greater confidence in STC and its board. I believe that STC is moving forward with more strength and a clearer vision. We still have problems to solve and obstacles to remove, but I believe the board has made huge strides. I’ll tell you about four things that are reassuring for me.
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