Tech Support: CSUS offers education and opportunity for aspiring technical writers

• Allison L. Shaw is a Sacramento-based freelance writer
  First printed in The Sacramento Bee on January 25, 2004

Jim Korczyk is pursuing a master's degree in technical writing from Utah State University. Jim is a member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). Jim teaches Writing for the Web for the College of Continuing Education at California State University, Sacramento. But Jim can't troubleshoot a flashlight.

"The greatest myth about technical communication is that it's technical," claims Korczyk. As he explains it, technical writing is much like technical anything else; like the difference between technical skiing and recreational skiing.

"Technical communicators deal with the intricate considerations and attributes that go into writing, like audience analysis and choosing the writing style that will captivate them," explains Korczyk. "There are engineers to be technical about the product. Your job is to be technical about the writing. It's really a form of translation between what the engineer tells you and what the audience really needs to know."

STC defines technical communication as the "process of gathering information from experts and presenting it to an audience in a clear, easily understandable form." These experts include engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers and anyone else with specialized knowledge in a field of study. Technical communicators then gather that knowledge and reshape the information so that an audience can access and understand it.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

"To be a good writer you have to be a good listener," says Charlotte O'Hara whose 10+ years of technical communication experience include positions with Kaiser Permanente and Delta Dental. "You have got to have good project planning and project management skills and you have to be more of a people person than you might think."

When Caroline Drakeley, CEO of InfoPros, hires a technical communicator, she looks for someone with keen attention to detail who knows what kind of questions to ask when conversing with the experts.

"You do need some technical background, not in technology per say, but a technical understanding of what you are writing about," explains Drakeley. InfoPros employs web designers, technical writers, trainers, instructional designers, project managers, graphic designers and computer programmers with backgrounds in everything from environmental issues to financial and law. "As long as you are willing to learn about something, you can write about it."

A Little Help from the Trends

While the technical communication industry will always be rooted in good English and strong documentation, new fields are emerging as the media change.

"Technical communication really encompasses so many fields including online help, PowerPoint presentations, web sites, multimedia, PDF books, face-to-face training, and computer programming," says Eric Butow, CEO of Butow Communication Group. "Right now a lot of the jobs that I'm seeing are in instructional design."

As technical communication jobs evolve, those with skills in other communication fields are more likely to be successful. "You really do need to have some higher end IT skills like HTML programming," explains Drakeley. "You should know how to use Adobe FrameMaker and Web Works Publisher and you should know your PC inside and out."

Combine those IT skills with good organizational and structural skills and the field is wide open.

"Any place is a good place to be a technical communicator if employers interpret the value of technical writing," says O'Hara. "Call yourself a 'business analyst' or an 'information engineer' if that's what the job postings require. Just go out and find your niche."

And such niches exist wherever information is found.

Find Your Niche

As increasing threats of computer viruses and high profile hackers expose the weaknesses of information security, technical communicators are filling the integral role of creating user-friendly documentation.

"The media and some security experts would have us believe that hackers are the primary culprits, but the main reason for most computer security problems is that clear, comprehensive security policies are not in place, or, if they do exist, they are often ignored or not articulated well enough for staff at all levels to understand and implement," says Brian Still, an Internet consultant and lecturer in the Department of English at Texas Tech University.

"A technical communicator is ideally suited for understanding technology and making it understandable to different audiences. Technical communicators also have familiarity with assessment and planning strategies and the know-how to support the awareness campaigns to stress the importance of adhering to the policy," explains Still.

In 2002, in response to the accounting scandals that leveled Enron, Tyco and WorldCom, congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley act that requires the management of all publicly owned companies to document and evaluate the effectiveness of their internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. Tech writers are now working with subject matter experts to identify the risks involved in each process and the internal controls in place to mitigate those risks.

Another aspect of Sarbanes-Oxley involves documenting controls of financial software. To meet these requirements, each institution must take vast amounts of technical information and make them understandable to a large group of people. Technical communicators can take the lead in evaluating gaps in documentation, updating data dictionaries, capturing processes, consolidating metadata repositories, editing for consistency and developing style guides and glossaries.

Closer to home, California State University, Sacramento, is using technical communicators to bring flexible training opportunities to public, private and government organizations.

"When we built Earthwork Inspection and Drainage Inspection courses for the Construction Division of Caltrans we used a technical writer to observe the pilot course and then utilize information from the instructor's PowerPoint slides, lesson plans and class activities to create a guide that the participants could use during and after the course," says Jenni Helfrich, a senior program manager for the CSUS College of Continuing Education.

Helfrich also sees opportunities within academic settings for technical writers to translate classroom-style curriculum into online learning formats, write responses to requests for proposals (RFPs) and grant opportunities, and develop text for websites.

"We have several state agency clients that need a small yet informative website to showcase their programs or projects. They may also have complex data that needs to be presented to the general public, but lack the skills to pare down that information and present it in an understandable context for their readers," explains Helfrich.

Sacramento Outlook

Sacramento is an excellent area for technical communicators because of the healthcare industry and the government offices. "It's also a financial hub and the proximity to the Bay Area is good for potential telecommuting opportunities," says Drakeley.

Although the technical writing industry in general was hard hit by the dotcom devastation of recent years, the market is picking up again. "Technical companies are still pretty depressed but more jobs are coming in from non-technical companies," claims Butow. "I've done work for EDD, a financial aid company and Healthnet. They all had software that was written for their specific needs that required documentation."

Butow also encourages writers to look to the finance, healthcare and medical fields for writing work. "They are probably going to have customized software that requires documentation and trainers to explain it to their employees. Technical writers can do that kind of documentation and provide the training services to support those products," he says. "A lot of companies in Sacramento also work with state agencies and that's an advantage that most regions don't have."

Communicate with Confidence

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the employment of writers and editors is anticipated by increase by more than 36% through the year 2010 with an increase in demand for those with a background in law, medicine and economics.

The 2003 STC Salary Survey lists the mean salary for technical communicators in the U.S. as $61,670 with entry-level positions starting around $43,000. The mean salary for those in Washington, Oregon and California was $70,000.

If you like those odds, listen up. Pursuing a career in technical communication requires networking, training and experience, and Sacramento has outlets for all three.

Butow, who is the First Vice President of the Sacramento Valley STC chapter, advises both career changers and experienced writers to latch on to STC www.stcsacramento.org. "This will help you get your bearings, make connections and find out who is doing what. Networking is the best way to find jobs," he says.

For hands-on training, turn to the Technical Writing Certificate Program at CSUS www.cce.csus.edu. This eight course program is delivered completely online and can be completed within one year. The free introductory course is offered January through June and upon completion students can jump right into the Technical Concepts and Tools course beginning February 11, 2004. STC members receive a 10% discount with proof of membership at the time of registration.

"The CSUS Tech Writing program is an excellent way to be able to meet new people in the field," says Drakeley. "Universities are only now starting to teach this material in their degree programs so the Tech Writing certificate gives people who have already graduated a way to get into the field."

Drakeley also recommends taking advantage of InfoPros' three-month internship program as a test run or visiting their job posting site for technical communication jobs throughout the United States. www.infopros.com. "If you can think and you can write, you can be taught the rest."

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