I recently sat on a panel of professionals with English and communications degrees at my alma mater. We had a magazine editor, a newspaper reporter turned layout designer, a corporate trainer, and a tech writer (me!).
The students that attended our session were most interested in what they could do now so that they would be marketable when they graduated. Since we weren't focused exclusively on technical writing, the answers we gave were fairly general, but valuable nonetheless: * Take advantage of opportunities to be published while in school (school publications, freelancing with local publications, volunteer documentation for non-profits, etc.) -- in short, build a portfolio so that you don't walk into a job interview with a piece of paper that says someone else deemed you decent enough, but with your own body of work. * Consume what you want to produce! If you want to write magazine articles, read magazines. Want to be a reporter? Read newspapers. Want to be a technical writer? Poke through help applications and user manuals. Develop an eye for quality in the industry that you want to work in. * Intern! Co-op! Volunteer! Some sort of job experience by the time you graduate, with references that speak to you as a peer or employee, not as a student. That's probably the top three from our session. Good luck with your presentation! Will Sansbury www.willsansbury.com > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Lisa M. Bronson (TCP) > Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 11:18 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [TCP] speaking to a college group > > > Good morning, > > I have a speaking engagement at the local community college on Monday > night with a group of students interested in technical writing. I have > plans to tell them how I got started in technical writing, show them > the interactive 3D documentation I'm working on, and of course, tell > them about TCP. :) > > In the past, I've spoken at several high schools where one of the most > common questions is "How much money do you make?", but this is my > first time presenting to a college group. > > * If you had heard a speaker like this in college, what would you > have liked to know about the career? > > * If you *did* hear a speaker like this in college, what types of > information presented were helpful, and what you wish they would (or > wouldn't) have covered? > > * If you've been a speaker, your comments about your experiences would > be invaluable to me! > > > Thanks! > Lisa B. > > _______________________________________________ > > Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find > you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on > Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. > > > Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com -- your 3D documentation community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com or, via email, send a blank message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit the TCP site at http://www.techcommpros.com To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com -- your 3D documentation community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com or, via email, send a blank message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit the TCP site at http://www.techcommpros.com To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
