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FacebookWhat’s the Best Thing You’ve Done to Grow Your Career?
March 27th, 2008 | Posted in Technical Writing 19 Comments »
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 I’d been at a great company but didn’t feel that I was going anywhere, and I was trapped with an outdated tool set (RoboHelp and Paint Sho Pro 7).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).
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 … Go here to see the original:
This is the prfect time for me to comment…I have been working on handhelds for the past year and a half and seem to lose interest in that. Not that I am tired of writing the same content (they call it leveragibility:)), but would love to enhance my skill set and move ahead.
I compare working in an organization as a school for the next organization. You need to realize when you are stagnating in a position and take corrective action for the same. I am on a look out for a change in a place where I get freedom of expression ( though this comes at a later level), but alteast consideration of ideas.
You need to let go of your inhibitions and move ahead if you know you are just burning the midnight oil …to burn it all over again after few months
I think one of the best things you can do is to put the time in to present yourself in a professional manner. Take yourself seriously before you expect others to do the same. Nice article, thanks. Scott
Without a doubt, the best “move” I made in regard to my technical writing career was completing a graduate degree in communication. The sheer number of programs (broad-based professional programs to specialized technical programs) make a graduate degree possible for every practicing technical writer. And the networking opportunities within a graduate program are extremely beneficial.
Aside from the blog and podcast that I do with Aaron, three things that I’ve done are:
1) Writing articles and blog posts. A chunk of that effort hasn’t been directly related to my work but it’s kept me sharp and has shown potential employers and clients my flexibility
2) Learning as much as I can, whether technical skills related to the job, knowledge that could be useful in the future, or just about writing in general
3) Keeping on top of trends/technologies. Or, at least, keeping them within my field of view.
It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, but I’ve found all that to be worthwhile. I might not use a lot of the knowledge or skills that I accumulate immediately, but it does come in handy down the road.
Blatant plug alert: You might want to check out a trio of blog posts that I did on expanding your horizons (here, here and here).
The best thing I did for my career was learning about XML. I was able to take an XML class in college, and the skills I gained in that class were primary qualifications I needed to get my first job. (My first employer was looking for somebody that could covert .jsp help files into XML-based help files.)
After that, the best things I’ve done are (1) stay on top of the technology that is interesting to me and is directly related to my career, and (2) be flexible and don’t shut doors before you have to.
Staying on top of technology keeps me on the breaking edge of tools and technologies used in the industry. Being flexible helped me get my second job; I was contacted by a recruiter and I almost dismissed him out of hand, but I listened to him and ended up in my new position when I hadn’t even been considering a job change.
A real basic one is to join the STC. When I recently relocated to a different state, I scanned the local STC job board and got the first position I applied for. It’s worth the cost of joining right there.
They also have lots of networking opportunities, and many chapters have learning events and other resources to take advantage of.
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Getting away from writing and into architecture. I still do a lot of writing, but my main focus now is building systems to handle and deliver the information; the writing follows that. It’s made my career fun again. I was on the verge of quitting until I found out about XML and info architecture a few years ago.
[...] Johnson is asking “what’s the best thing you’ve done to grow your [...]
[...] What’s the Best Thing You’ve Done to Grow Your Career? [...]
[...] What’s the Best Thing You’ve Done to Grow Your Career? [...]
I just started my technical writing job last year. Like you mentioned in another post, keeping a technical writing / work-related blog can help with job marketability. The other day, I saw a technical writing job post from Google. The post requests a resume along with some writing samples. I’m not looking for a job right now, but if I were to apply for this position, I’d just point them to my blog with links to a few posts that demonstrate my interest in technology and keeping up with the latest trend.
Susan’s last blog post..How Fast Can You Type?
Professional social networking – particularly LinkedIn is quite interesting alternative to leverage one’s interest in the domain. I’ve found broadening my knowledge about the telecommunication systems I describe greatly practical as I can improve the existing, sometimes confusing deliverables.
I want to thank you all for your responses to this question/topic. I’ve really enjoyed reading them. I really agree with those who said the cure to overcoming stagnation is to move into something that you might find more interesting, such as XML or usability or information architecture or instrucional design. Life is too short to be bored. There is so much out there one can do.
Tom Johnson’s last blog post..The Best and Worst of Times with a Hard Headed Woman
I’m with Mike on the graduate degree; for me, having a graduate school degree in technical writing has opened a lot of doors. Beyond that, what has helped me is:
Thinking. – In a long-term tech writing position, it’s too easy to settle into a groove and keep doing things the same way because “that’s the way we do it.” Stepping back and evaluating if your work is effective is vital.
Listening. – Essential to working with your subject matter experts, and finding out what users really want in their solutions. I’ve worked on cultivating my listening and interviewing skills.
Asking. – Ask if you can help out with that translation, that usability review, evaluating new online help systems. Pipe up and say, “I also do freelance work…” This is also my solution to avoiding the “stagnation” issue.
[...] What’s the Best Thing You’ve Done to Grow Your Career? [...]
[...] I don’t know. I learned much of what I know about technical writing from my first job. I learned most of the tools on my own, and picked up style and other techniques by looking at manuals, trying different techniques, and in general reading from various sources. A course could be highly beneficial. Read this comment by Mike, which he left on a post I wrote called “What’s the Best Thing You’ve Done to Grow Your Career?”: [...]
The best thing I have done to grow my career is not working at The Home Depot.