Expert: Leslie - 2/28/2005

Question
Hi Leslie
I hope you can help me with this.
I received a certificate in technical writing about seven years ago and have worked full time and on contract as a technical writer up until last April. My resume is fairly good and I always seem to get interviews but I can't quite get the job. I have come to the conclusion that it could be my lack of technical training (eg familiarity with computer programming, etc). I am considering taking a programming fundamentals certificate course covering such things as object oriented programming, java, just to name a few.
Any suggestions from you? Have you run into this before? What are your qualifications other than writing?

Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.
Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely
Carolyn

Answer
Carolyn,

I can empathize with your situation. I too have had difficulty getting technical writing work, and for the same reason that you have - technical expertise. I was working for awhile on Sun and Microsoft projects with some sucess; however, I ran into problems.

The people who are working, and who were working with me, had been writing this material for many years. They had no more education than I had, but had a knack for writing marketing material mixed with the current jargon of the trade. If I had a problem, it was that I wanted to make the material understandable to an ordinary person. My fellow writers explained that I was missing the point.

I cannot say why you are having problems getting work. I think, in part, the current job market is glutted with technically trained personnel. Because so many qualified technically trained people have no jobs, they are taking positions, like the technical writing, to stay in the field. The people who hire techncial writers believe that writing is not the primary skill. They value a person's ability to understand the technology. While this situation seems silly to the critical thinker, these same people are evaluating the writing.

Taking the course could not hurt. As you know from your experience in writing, every bit of information adds to your ability to meet the customer's needs. I don't know, however, other than having a piece of paper stating you have completed the course, that you will be better off. The firm for which I work is hiring only certified personnel in the areas that they want. These certified professionals do everything from writing the material to teaching it. You may consider taking a certification test in some area.

I have two degrees in communication and 20 years in developing training, primarily technical training. Go figure.

Good luck, Carolyn, if you have any luck with your course, I would be interested in knowing about it. BTW, I have been watching DICE.com. They are something of a bellweather for techical jobs. Maybe you can glean something from what you find there.

Leslie