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Subject:RE: Joing STC and breaking into Technical Writing From:Steve Shepard <STEVES -at- YARDI -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 4 Oct 2002 10:34:03 -0700
Bruce Byfield responds to JayWright:
> Well, you shouldn't ignore any chance to network. Still, the STC is a
> relatively poor place to network. In my experience, its
> meetings tend to
> attract a majority of newcomers to the field - and relatively
> few with
> hiring authority. In other words, many attendees are likely
> to be in the
> same position that you are. You may hear of possible openings,but so
> will a lot of other people.
While I would agree with Bruce to a certain extent, I guess I am one of the
exceptions. I am a member of STC and a manager with hiring authority. I also
attend local chapter meetings. The last four tech writers I have hired have
either been through local STC contacts or from the contacts at the UCSB Tech
Writer Minor program. Three of them have turned out to be outstanding
writers. The other one is just coming out of "entry level" phase is probably
going to be very good as well.
Now, I will say that recently a lot of people coming to chapter meetings are
unemployed tech writers looking for work. So don't be surprised if you find
the same thing. In fact, at our summer picnic, 2/3 of the people there were
out of work or going to lose their jobs soon.
> The best reason to belong to the STC is for the
> socialization.
I agree. It can also be a sanity check to be able to talk to others in the
field. Especially those with similar levels of experience.
> Just don't expect any great outpouring of job leads. If you find any,
> consider them lagniappe.
I echo Bruce's statement. Part of the reason is there aren't a lot of jobs
out there at the moment. But, you never know when a contact will pay off.
One of my best tech writers I met at open house thrown by the professor in
charge of the Tech Writer Minor program. When I had an opening 8 months
later, she was hired.
Steve Shepard
Technical Communications Manager
Yardi Systems, Inc.
819 Reddick Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
805.966.3822
steves -at- yardi -dot- com
www.yardi.com
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