Technical Writers

[Farang]

I have a B.A. in liberal arts and was thinking of maybe acquiring some technical skills through a two year program in a technical college (really could be done by next spring). I am trying to get an idea of how much of an advantage this would be in a variety of potential career paths and one that came to mind was technical writing. If I got, say, an aviation mechanic degree would I be able to get my foot in the door anywhere? Or is the standard to have a degree in engineering or some other science field?

So far it seems with the technical degree I would be limited to the line of peon > supervisor > manager > director within a specific field, just trying to see if it would have benefits elsewhere should I be sick of being a peon.

 

[FleshLight]

Most techincal writing positions I've seen require an English degree

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Most techincal writing positions I've seen require an English degree

Really?

Most folks I know that do them say they look for tech folks and then train them to write. A lot easier than trying to teach someone who is a writer how to be an engineer.

This was from control process engineers though for waste disposal.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Most techincal writing positions I've seen require an English degree

Really?

Most folks I know that do them say they look for tech folks and then train them to write. A lot easier than trying to teach someone who is a writer how to be an engineer.

This was from control process engineers though for waste disposal.

This has been what I have seen also. Even if they wanted an English degree, everyone knows liberal arts in writing intensive and I could just pick up a technical writing cert (like 3-4 classes).

I feel like a dumbass going back to technical college but I could see a lot of options coming from it.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

I am a technical writer with 1.5 years experience.

I also took an Arts degree in university (Sociology/Psych), so I was in your position a few years ago.

It is a common misconception that you need to have a specific engineering/science degree to be a technical writer. Traditionally many technical writers have been engineers/programmers/developers, etc. who transitioned to the role because of their expertise, but it is now more common to actually train and be educated as a technical writer, and then work in almost any industry.

The reason for this is that technically trained people (engineers/programmers/developers) are knowledgeable, but have difficulty communicating their knowledge to end-users in usable layperson terms. Technical writers close the gap by learning about a product or process from these technically trained people (subject matter experts) and then writing documentation that an average user can understand.

Education

Look into technical colleges in your area, and see who offers a technical communication program. I took a program part-time in the evenings while I worked, and finished my certificate in 1.5 years.

Keep in mind that technical writing education will teach you a completely different brand of English than university (simple, and broken into concepts and procedures), so be prepared for a bit of a shock.

Take advantage of an industry placement/co-op work experience if it is offered.

Career

Upon completing the program, you will have skills you can use in a tech writing job in any field, including writing, editing, writing tools (Framemaker, Word, RoboHelp/Flare, XML) and technical skills (basic photo-editing).

You will likely start as a tech writer, but you can progress to:

Technical Editor
Web Content Writer
Usability Consultant
Instructional Designer

Even if your career moves away from the technical communication field, you will find your strong communication skills to be invaluable in other roles.

Hope this is helpful. Feel free to PM me with questions.

 

[Farang]

Thank you so much. Technical writing isn't really my goal but I want to see how valuable a technical degree could be, and it seems it would open a pathway towards those four positions you listed on top of everything else. I also noticed the aviation mechanic program includes technical writing courses so that would be a head start as well. I think the writing program through U Washington here costs around $5k and takes a year or so, so if I ever got tired of fixing airplanes I could just do that.