Expand your Horizons: Tech Writers Without Borders
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This presentation explores some common questions asked by people looking to break into or out of the field of technical communication and to stay relevant in today's job market. It then presents Tech Writers Without Borders, an exciting new initiative designed to provide technical communicators and those in related disciplines with hands on learning opportunities, a showcase for their skills, and a chance to change the world.
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Expand your Horizons: Tech Writers Without Borders
- 1. Expand Your Horizons Stuart Culshaw, Tech Writers Without Borders
- 2. + The journey ahead The cold, hard, truth We have a dream… FAQs A sneak peek into the future
- 3. + How do I break into tech writing? “Can anyone tell me how I might break into technical writing?” “For example, could I contact a software development company, or work with another tech writer who might sub out a part of a project? I have a lot of writing experience, including five years as an editor at McGraw-Hill. Thanks so much for your help.” Source: Technical Writer Forum LinkedIn group, March 24, 2016
- 4. + How do I break out of tech writing? “… Looking to hire someone with experience at creating instructional videos with a strong emphasis on technical infographics and animations. Should we be looking at tech authors who have expanded their role to include technical media creation? Or should we instead look at video content specialists who are able to present instructive material effectively? Or something else entirely :) ?” Source: Technical Writer Forum LinkedIn group, March 17, 2016
- 5. + How do I stay relevant (i.e. employed)? “I don’t have any technical writers anymore. These days, I want the UX to be good enough that documentation isn’t needed.” Source: “Software Technical Writing is a dying career…” Jim Gray, 16 June 2015
- 6. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing?
- 7. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing? Mobile
- 8. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing? Social Mobile
- 9. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing? Social Mobile SaaS
- 10. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing? Social Mobile Agile SaaS
- 11. + Are you ready for the Next Big Thing? Social Mobile Customer Success Agile SaaS
- 12. + So where do we go from here?
- 15. + Introducing…
- 16. + Tech Writers Without Borders Offering project-based learning opportunities for technical communicators and those in related disciplines to expand their skills and experience beyond their core competencies.
- 17. + Tech Writers Without Borders Offering project-based learning opportunities for technical communicators and those in related disciplines to expand their skills and experience beyond their core competencies. Helping non-profits improve the quality and effectiveness of their training procedures and instructional materials.
- 18. + Tech Writers Without Borders Offering project-based learning opportunities for technical communicators and those in related disciplines to expand their skills and experience beyond their core competencies. Helping non-profits improve the quality and effectiveness of their training procedures and instructional materials. Showcasing the value of technical communication skills and practioners and promoting best practices.
- 19. + We have a dream… We seek to create a global community of technical communicators who see volunteering their skills and sharing their knowledge as an integral part of their professional and personal development.
- 20. + Our first project Revising teacher training materials and building an online learning platform for the iNERDE S.T.E.M. summer camp program for children aged 9-12 in Mali and Senegal. http://inerde.org https://www.gofundme.com/sv2africa
- 21. + Whether you are looking to break into technical writing… or to break out … or just looking to make a difference… We invite you to join us on our journey Exciting agile learning experiences A way to keep your skills relevant and showcase your talents to future employers and clients Access to a growing repository of community learning resources A chance to make the world a better place
Notes de l'éditeur
- I would like to take you on a journey. A journey of exploration, one that I hope will inspire you and open your minds to some new opportunities…
- We’ll start by exploring common “frequently asked questions” – ones that you may already be asking yourself. We’ll make quick stop to take a cold hard look at reality Then we’ll take a sneak peek into the not-too-distant future, where we might just catch a glimpse of “The Next Big Thing”… And finally share with a dream of our own: an exciting project that Toni and I, and a small group of technical communicators from around the world have been secretly working on for the past few months – a project that I hope will inspire you and that maybe you might be interested in getting involved with. First though, a little about me… I actually left university in 1993 with a degree in European Business Studies. My first job after graduating was as a technical writer for a small French software company, even though I didn’t know what a technical writer was at the time. I certainly don’t think the company who hired me knew what a technical writer was either. I spoke English, I could write, so for them I was qualified. And I guess my French was decent enough, because I somehow landed the job over the phone. I figured: Why not? 3 months in Paris? Sign me up. It was only when I was several months into the job that I discovered this was an actual profession and got the company to enrol me in an evening class in technical communication at the American University in Paris. That’s when I realized that I actually reallly enjoyed the challenge of trying to explain technical stuff to people less technical than me. Since then I’ve been employed as a technical writer, technical translator, marketing writer, webmaster, intranet journalist, technical communicator, “senior” technical communicator (not sure when that happened), and since my previous company was acquired by IBM in 2009, I’ve been working in IBM’s European mergers and acquisitions team on internal communication projects. My business card now reads “Content Strategist”. Anyway, I won’t bore you with any more details of my career history (unless you end of sitting next to me at dinner tomorrow night ;-) Lett’s move onto those questions…
- I hear this question a lot. And it’s not a very easy one to answer. Like I said, I hardly know how I ended up here in the first place. You could certainly take a course or try to find a technical writer to mentor you or collaborate with you on a project. Even if you have a lot of writing experience, though, employers often want to see some previous experience in their particular field, or want you to have used a particular piece of software before they’ll even consider you. But how can you get the experience if they won’t hire you in the first place? There’s a bit of a disconnect there.
- OK, so here’s another question that I’m hearing more and more frequently. As the frontiers between many “tech comm related” disciplines are redefined and become increasingly blurred, new opportunities are certainly opening up for those in our field who are able to make the most of their transferable skills. But this also means that those in related disciplines with complementary skills in communication, may also be vying for the same jobs.
- So the real question you should be asking yourself is How do I stay relevant…? So this is the cold hard stare at reality that I mentioned… In his June 2015 article entitled “Software Technical Writing is a dying career (but here’s what writers can do to stay in the software game)”, Jim Gray writes : “I had lunch recently with a fellow I worked for several years ago […] “Times have changed,” he said. “I don’t have any technical writers anymore. These days, I want the UX to be good enough that documentation isn’t needed.” In the old days, companies invested in good user manuals in the hope that this would help cut down on the support calls, and while good doc can certainly help with that, all this effort was seen as a cost and a burden. These days, many people evaluate a product, not by how good its documentation is, but by how little documentation one needs to use it effectively. We can choose to view this as either a BIG problem. Or a BIG opportunity.
- Either way, it’s clear that the technical communicators need to stay ahead of the curve if they want to stay employed. But how do we know which way to turn next? We are at a crossroads… And it isn’t just a simple choice of left or right…! Well, tomorrow’s colloquium speakers are going to try and answer that question for you. Let’s have a sneak peak at some of those issues now…
- The recent rapid advances in user interface and experience design, driven in part by the needs of mobile device users, mean that in many cases, people just don’t have to read the doc any more. Or if they do, they want a far better experience with the doc than in the past. The ease of use of mobile devices has raised user expectations, as much as it has reduced their attention spans.
- Then there’s “social media” platforms, like Linkedin and Twitter, and forums, and expertise networks like Quora.com and stackoverflow.com that, with just a few keystrokes in Google, can provide you with the answer to just about anything.
- Another important driver of change, certainly for those in the software documentation field, has been the move to Software as a Service (SaaS). In the world of Software as a Service, the customer has not bought your software, they have subscribed to a service. There is much less up-front investment required, and it’s important for companies to keep their customers engaged with their solution and ensure the it continues to meet their needs, long after the initial sign-up. Otherwise, it’s much easier for a customer to drop your product completely if something else comes along that does the job better. The best analogy I have found for this new approach is like the difference between hunting and farming. Selling software is no longer about “making the kill” and moving on, it’s about nurturing, growing, and deepening the client relationship over time.
- One big advantage of these hosted software solutions is that it is potentially much easier (and cheaper and quicker) for companies to roll out new updates to meet evolving customer requirements (compared with need to launch a new version, produce and ship CDs, etc.) It is therefore not uncommon these days for companies to be pushing out new features on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis (continuous delivery). This need for speed has profoundly impacted the way software is designed and built over the past few years – and not just software but any kind of product It has also profoundly affected the way products are documented (or not, as the case may be). As software development has become more “agile”, documentation teams have been doing their best to keep up.
- One thing is sure, though, companies are now placing a much higher importance on keeping the customers happy and making sure they are successful with their solution – both in the early stages of adoption (or “on-boarding”), but also over the long term – so that they continue to renew and generat ongoing revenue for the company. So here’s where there is a glimmer of hope for those of us in tech comm roles… Let’s think for a second what core skills might be important to help nurture those demanding, impatient customers? Understanding the customer’s needs Talking their language Deep product knowledge Ability to communicate clearly and precisely… These are all key skills that technical communicators possess – and you probably do too. We just need to move beyond the confines of the traditional technical communication discipline. We need to expand our horizons, think about the bigger picture while also focusing on the one thing that really matters - ensuring the success of our users (well, that, and ensuring that we have the metrics and results to prove that we are actually contributing to the success of our users). That’s a big aspect of this emerging discipline called “Customer Success”. It requires much greater customer intimacy – a much better grasp of analytics and usage tracking and metrics – and for tech writers who have not had a great deal of exposure in the past to real customers and users, this potentially represents a huge change. If you have not yet heard of the term “Customer Success”. Google it. Now (well, after my presentation at least…) I’m not a gambling man, but if I was, and if I were asked to put my money on “the next big thing” that will affect our profession, it would be the discipline of Customer Success. Except that this ALREADY UPON US. Seriously, we have a lot of catching up to do.
- So where do we go from here? I don’t believe there is a single path, but at the end of the day, to quote one of my favorite sayings: “The journey is the destination”… The important thing is to keep moving. To keep learning and developing your ability to adapt and grasp new skills quickly to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise.
- And so this brings me now to the top secret project that I mentioned earlier… that Toni and I, and a motley crew of technical communicators from across the globe have been working on for the past few months. It is something that has inspired us all.
- This project is all about breaking down barriers, removing roadblocks, expanding horizons, improving collaboration and sharing experience, and making a difference in the world.
- I would like to introduce you to Tech Writers Without Borders
- The vision for TWWB has been shaped by 3 main desires: The first of these is that we want to offer technical communicators something more than just webinars and conferences and networking dinners (not that we have anything against those…). We want to offer opportunities to put our existing skills into practice and to learn new things, not by listening to other people tell us about them, but by actually doing them. We want to bring together groups of volunteers from different disciplines to work collaboratively on short-term communication projects. The whole process will be run as a learning exercise, with team members sharing their skills and learning from others on the team. These teams will follow an agile project approach to self-organize, set their goals, and divide up the work. We’ll provide training on agile best practices and participants will be encouraged to contribute their own tutorials and training modules to our online course catalog.
- Secondly, and this is where things start to get really interesting, we want to use our skills to make a difference in the world -- by helping those who help others – in the spirit of Doctors without Borders (médecins sans frontières) – although a more relevant role model in this case would be the organisation “Translators Without Borders”. Are you familiar with Translators without Borders? TWB members, all qualified translators, donate some of their time, for free, to translate content for selected non-profits, NGOs, and other humanitarian organisations. We felt it would be an interesting challenge to implement something similar for tech writers.
- The third reason we felt this crazy idea was worth pursuing was our desire to showcase the wide variety of skills that technical communicators possess and to explain and promote best practice approaches to information development and delivery. An important aspect of our work, therefore, will be to carefully document our projects, our outcomes and methodologies and use these to demonstrate the value of what we do to potential employers and the wider public.
- What we are looking to create is a different kind of professional community. One that spans boundaries and continents and job titles and languages… One whose members are keen to explore new disciplines, who are hungry to acquire new skills and put their own skills to good use. A community whose members understand the importance of “giving back”, who understand that it’s no longer about what you know, but about what you share. We want to build a LEARNING COMMUNITY, where members can learn from each other and, more importantly, LEARN BY DOING. More importantly still, we want to build a community that is exists primarily to serve the needs of others. A community that, in so doing, accompanies its members in their own personal and professional development. It’s early days and we haven’t yet figured out all the details yet, but we’re on our way: We have a website and LinkedIn group We are building a training portal… We are reaching out to academics and training providers and people such as yourselves We are reaching out to recruiters to identify the skills gaps We also have our first project underway…
- iNERDE is a US-based non-profit organisation created by a group of nerdy engineers and scientists from Mali and Senegal. These nerds have a vision – to empower youth with opportunities. And their STEM Summer Camps teach African youth problem-solving, innovation, entrepreneurship, integrity, self-confidence, teamwork and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills. They are now preparing for their third round of Summer Camps in Mali and Senegal in 2016, and we offered to assist them in reviewing and revising their teacher training materials and building an online platform to provide their teachers and assistants (or “empowerment agents”) with early access to the curriculum and thus facilitate their preparation ahead of the next summer camp. I don’t know about you, but I think I’d like my next business card to read “Empowerment Agent” VIDEO We learned of iNERDE through a personal friend of mine. This is my friend Michael. He is the most awesome nerd I know. He is a volunteer at iNERDE and his job title is Chief Nerdy Development Officer (how cool is that?) and he is also on a journey. He is leaving behind his life in Silicon Valley and moving to Mali to assist with coordinating iNERDE’s summer camp programs and year-round support for local teachers. You can check out this link to learn more about his inspiring story. But you don’t have to go to that extreme to get involved, and you don’t have to move to Africa. You can contribute from wherever you are. Have writing or editing skills? Video or drawing skills? Graphic or web design skills? Teaching or training skills? Translation skills? Are you, or do you know anyone who is a subject matter expert in one or more STEM disciplines? If so, we’d be really excited to have you join one of our teams. Perhaps you know of an organisation that either yourself or a friend, family member or colleague is involved in and that could benefit from some of these skills? Let us know, or ask them to contact us and perhaps we’ll be able to help them on a future project.
- So in conclusion… If you are looking to break into the technical communication field, or break out, to chase your dream job, or just make a difference in the world… We hope this is something that might interest you… Working on one of our agile project teams could provide you with an opportunity to get hands-on experience to demonstrate to potential employers that you have what it takes to meet their requirements. We can bring you into contact with people from many related disciplines and you will have the opportunity to learn from them and showcase what you know to increase your confidence and credibility when applying for new and interesting job roles. So whether you consider yourself a technical writer today or not, and whether you may or may not want to call yourself one in the future… if you are interested in putting your skills to good use and make the world a better place… and if you’re up for a bit of a challenge… we invite you to join us on this journey. Who knows where it might take us?!
- Thank you! Website: www.techwriterswithoutborders.org LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/8437644