Yourself, Inc. - Part II News & Views President's Podium

by Mike Sharp Originally published in News & Views March 2000 issue. Copyright 2000 STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter. For permission to reprint this article, contact the Managing Editor.

In the last President's Podium, I described how to figure how much to charge per hour for the net income you want or need as a technical communicator. This time I want to talk about another side of treating yourself as a business - managing the product you sell, your job skills. I didn't go to college with the idea of becoming a technical communicator. The major didn't exist then. Instead, I got into technical communication some twenty years after I graduated. Having gone into business for myself, I had hoped to do a little writing and a little training. The writing sold better than the training so that within a few months I was accepting another technical writing contract and on my way to a new career. I suspect that many of us got into the profession because someone recognized our writing ability, we accepted an assignment, and did well at it. One assignment led to another and pretty soon people were calling us technical writers (or later, technical communicators). We capitalized on a job skill that we already had. So far, so good. But then, the job began to change. And, it has kept changing. Make no mistake - the core of this profession is still communicating technical concepts clearly. Stringing sentences together correctly and logically is still integral to the job, but the explosion of technology over the last ten years has given us new tools to master. Ten years ago it was enough to know a word processor well. Today, highly employable technical communicators also know how to use one or more help authoring programs, web authoring tools, and have some acquaintance with the repurposing of documentation and designing and running knowledge management systems. You and I know that all the tools in the world can't help a technical communicator who has trouble organizing content into logical, accessible, correct English. Yet we face job requirements that are specified in terms of what tools we know. So to keep your employability at its peak, learn how to use help authoring tools; learn web authoring tools; find some way to create documents with these tools that showcase your proficiency. Never lose sight of your basic charge - to render complex concepts in clear, accessible writing that facilitates the understanding of a technical subject. But, while you're doing this, build your knowledge and skill with the new tools. You can learn new tools by reading about them, taking a course on the Internet, and attending relevant conferences and workshops. Watch News & Views for conference and workshop listings. This month's Career Day workshop on Saturday, March 25, is one such opportunity. If you need to buy software - even expensive software - consider the purchase as an investment in your future. Buy the software, then learn it. If you have access to the software where you work, even though you don't use it in your present assignment, try to invest some lunch hours or after-work hours to build your knowledge and skills. Plan now to attend the STC Annual Conference. Create an island of time so that you can immerse yourself in the information and resources that abound at this event. Put all of these strategies to work for you and you will soon find yourself more attractive to present and future clients and employers .

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Last updated: May 10, 2000 (mvh)