Letter From the Editor

By Cindy Reid

New Economy, New Career?

I know far too many unemployed technical communicators. I’m one of them, more or less—I haven’t had a full time paid position in nearly two years. As a matter of fact I am very tempted to add to my list “certified professional volunteer.”

Truth be told, not working full time has afforded me the unusual opportunity to get back in touch with things that have allowed me more fulfillment than I’ve felt in a long time—today I fill much of my time with volunteering, both inside and outside of STC, and take courses in subjects I’ve wanted to explore since I was six years old. I’m coming out of my INFP shell, and perhaps one of these days I’ll finally (at almost 40 years old) be closer to finding “what I want to be when I grow up.”

If you are considering altering your path in technical communications, you aren’t the only one. After all, it hasn’t been an easy one of late. I have no doubt that nearly every one of us knows someone who has lost a job over the last few years, or who desires a new career. For some, the economy is the impetus to such a decision. For others, it’s just time for a change. Here’s to the Pacific Northwest getting back that tingly feeling, soon.

This issue: Careers and Education

This issue is dedicated to helping those who are in the midst of rediscovering job aspirations, renewing forgotten skills, and those who wish to find an entirely new job (but hopefully still within the technical communications realm, which, lucky for us, is a pretty big realm).

The many contributors of this issue hope their articles will help you:

• Remember your inner four-year-old’s motivation
• Revamp your resume
• Understand some very important job trends surfacing in technical communications
• Track your job hunt and related costs
• Decide between contracting or working for “the dark side”
• Prepare for job fairs

Additional Resources

This particular issue wouldn’t stop growing. I hope you will take a look at these extra resources, which surfaced in the many conversations I had with our authors, and others.

Upcoming Issue

Our July issue focus is Writing Specific Documents. The Willamette Valley Chapter has an abundance of technical communications talent, and coincidentally, professionals with no fear of sharing. If you are willing to share your secrets of success, we would like to learn from your experiences, and even your mistakes. Consider the following ideas:

• Can you show the rest of us exactly how to write a manual, an online help file, a white paper, etc.?
• Which writing styles are best for different kinds of technical documentation?
• Which is more effective: online documentation or documentation produced in paper form? In what instances?
• Do you have tips for helping us actually understand the technical material we’re writing for others?
• What particularly helpful book has guided you to produce your best documentation?

NOTE: Indexing articles will gladly be received; however, we would like to reserve them for a future 2003 Galley issue, featuring the sometimes-perplexing world of indexing.

Please send your articles and article ideas to Cindy at cindycomm@attbi.com, or to Kevin at knccomm@hotmail.com by June 10.