Degrees and Jobs

[Robert Maxey <Bob_Maxey -at- MTN -dot- 3COM -dot- COM>]

>I am not a Technical Writer. I have no TW degree, and have had no actual
>job where my function has been TW; I have just fallen into that role,
>and have been writing procedures, etc. for about 2 years. I am worried
>that if I try to get into the TW filed after this nightmare is over, I
>won't get a job, and I'll have to go back to "Systems Support Analyst",
>which I am trying to get out of. (That's why I've taken on jobs with a
>TW focus).

Same exact situation here. Everything I do on a daily basis, requires a
degree of some flavor - actually, any degree will do you, for anyone who
applies for a technical writing position where I am. I suggest that you
start writing freelance, and building a name for yourself. That will help.
That is what I am trying to do, and then I will leave Utah, starve for a
while, learn, write a best seller, sell it to Spleenberg and...well,
perhaps not.

I think it is strange that good writers often can't get hired, but someone
doing something unrelated, with a degree, gets hired and then has to be
trained. I know of a truly gifted self-taught engineer who can't get hired
to work in a production environment, but they did hire a Chemical Engineer
who had no production experience, little knowledge and had to be trained
from the bottom up. Seems rather silly to me.

Don't get frustrated, write, write and write some more. Work freelance and
good luck to you.

Bob Maxey
3Com


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