Re: Career paths for technical writers

[Carol Gilbert <cgilbert -at- cal -dot- berkeley -dot- edu>]

My best advice is to be aware and take on new things or go offer to 
take on new things that seem to need doing. Tread lightly because no 
one will be pleased to see someone trying to take over their area, but 
in smaller companies, often the extra helping hands are appreciated.

For example:
Do your own QA of the content and the navigation of your company's Web 
site. I ended up Web master at one of my employers ultimately.

Offer to give a class on developing presentation skills (slide design, 
organization of content, whatever you do well).

Contribute news to your internal company newsletter.

Start a customer newsletter that can act as a forum for tips and tricks 
about using the product, answering problem questions, announcing 
forthcoming releases, customer case studies.

Start usability testing of the documentation and the product.

Talk to Marketing and see if they need any support.

Would Marketing/Sales like to see some white papers published? Maybe 
you can pull a team of people together to write one.

I think I have done them all at one time or another. There are numerous 
possibilities related to your understanding of the product and writing 
skills. Good luck, - Carol Gilbert

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On Monday, June 23, 2003, at 01:24 PM, Karen Casemier wrote: