RE: Begging for help in West Virginia

["Sella Rush" <srush -at- MusicNet -dot- com>]

> Anyone, is that still a correct perception? I know of some 
> Silicon Valley engineers who headed to RTP in search of work. Austin & 
> Seattle used to be hot spots too, but I've heard those areas lost a lot of positions.

Seattle Update:

Washington now has the highest unemployment in the country (August numbers), so I think you can officially take us off the hot-spot list. Oregon finally beat us to the #49 spot.  The big drag of course is Boeing, not only laying off people but also maneuvering to send jobs out of state (and country) when they do recover; but the technology sector is also a big loser right now.  Our huge tech industry was supposed to insulate us from the vagaries of Boeing economy, but right now were facing up to a double whammy.  Good news is things aren't getting worse, but they're not getting better and aren't expected too this year.  Sound like a good destination to you??

Tech writing tie-in:  we just got a new receptionist temp at our company.  He's a twenty-something tech writer with 2 years of experience and no job prospects whatsoever.

Advice for Daniel:

0. Get out of West Virginia. (Unless you've got military background--my limited knowledge of the state seems to recall a mildly decent defense industry there--EWA?)  When listing former hot spots that might still be warm, don't forget about Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and possibly Denver. (I personally love parts of WV, but I never had to get a job there.)

1. Pay attention to John Posada's post.

2. Be creative.  Even in boom times, newbies needed to find creative ways to get experience they could leverage into a first official writing job (check archives if you don't believe me). As John mentioned, the key is to know what you're writing about, so a good path to pursue is looking for non-writing jobs with a writing tie-in in an industry you're interested in. That way you're learning and you may get a chance to show your writing stuff.  

Actually, most jobs have writing tie-ins.  Examples of non-obvious jobs:  customer service, tech support (a great way to learn technology and do writing, I've been told), word processor (I started as a glorified WP, which led to some editing work and my first official tech writing project), marketing, public relations, training, etc. Don't forget proofing, print production, and copyediting gigs, which can all be steps in the right direction.

3. And if you do have to take that factory or counter job, that's just paying the bills.  Be creative about getting writing experience.  That receptionist I mentioned?  He's got connections with some small startups that throw work his way--not enough to pay the bills but all grist for the portfolio.  Look at your hobbies, look at non-paying gigs (charities are a mixed bag--you've gotta stuff some envelopes before you get to do sexy stuff like writing).  Get a column going in a newsletter or local weekly. The internet is still a gaping maw for written content, even if not a paying one.  Writing book or movie (or game or child toy or hybrid tea rose or...) reviews might not be tech writing, but it is good practice writing to audience and deadline, and over time would be a valid credential. Which leads me to:

4. Keep writing. Stay in practice. Get better at your craft. Read about writing. Look at other's writing and analyze it. Realize that a BA in writing puts you in the senior apprentice category unless you've already built a solid non-academic portfolio.

5. At the same time, though, figure out what you want to write about and aggressively pursue knowledge and experience in that area.  If you're looking at the computer field, you better be or become the guy in your family/crowd that everyone goes to to figure out how to hook up that new printer or put their recipies in a database.  

6. More importantly, you need to learn *how* information is disseminated in your chosen industry--the types of writing and skills you need for each. In software, you must know how to create user guides, online help, web content, etc. (Technical know-how past a certain level will become important as you progress in your career.) In hardware or networking, you need to know how to write a troubleshooting guide.  Marketing material has its own peculiarities. If you go into engineering or architecture, there are very specific types for documents you'll have to write.  Can you say environmental impact statement and functional specifications?

It all comes down to creating your own opportunities.  You can't sit around waiting (not to imply that you are) for that fortuitous employer who hands you a pencil and a hat that says "Writer" on it. Very few of us on this list went from high school to college to BA to tech writing job. But that's a whole other argument.

Sella Rush
Tech Writer III
MusicNet (thank god they're letting us remove the insipid company tag line)
(206) 269-6115 Direct
srush -at- musicnet -dot- com 

(Can a person be fortuitous???)

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