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Subject:Re: A question about education From:TSilvergirl -at- aol -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 17 Dec 2000 13:52:27 EST
Welcome, Tracey!
I've been on the list for around six months now, and there are certain
members that are less than patient/kind about questions from
newbies/students. I say this not to scare you off, but to warn you to expect
some "Check the @#$%^&*! archives" responses. The list is a good
resource--just beware dangling threads about personalities!
The archives from maybe a month or so ago contain a pretty good thread about
education with varied opinions. When I joined this list, I was planning on
majoring in English and minoring in technical writing. I've since decided to
bag that and go for the TW certificate program at a community college up the
road. I came to that decision from doing several informational interviews
with technical writers and finding out that the certificate program in this
area is very highly respected.
Have you done any informational interviews? I started by going to the STC
site and following the links til I got to the local STC; nine writers
contacted me within 24 hours of my post, so I think that was a pretty
effective way to go.
Back to bagging the English major: I decided that while I enjoy literature,
it's not necessarily useful for technical writing. For a list of truly
useful skills, check the archives from around late November; John Posada and
Mike Stockman wrote good responses to a thread initiated by Karen Zierch
about core skills for technical communicators. Once you've determined your
strengths and weaknesses in your skill set, I think you'll be better able to
determine how much or what kind of education would be most beneficial to you.
HTH,
Christy Turner
"...it's not the thickness of your skin that counts,
but the thickness of your asbestos Underoos!"
--Bill Swallow
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