Southern Ontario Tech Communicators

[Candace Bamber <cbamber -at- CCINET -dot- AB -dot- CA>]

Hi
I've been lurking on this list for a while and finally decided to leap in
and ask for some help with a problem.

I'm relocating to southern or southwest Ontario (from Edmonton, Alberta).
I'm excited about it, because I'm from Ontario and all my family is still
there, but a little nervous because I have no professional connections. I
have some questions about the technical communications "scene" in my
home-to-be:

1. Is there anywhere besides Toronto (we haven't decided exactly where to
buy a house yet) where there is a concentration of technically or
industrially oriented companies that are in good enough shape that they
might actually hire someone? For example, I know there's plenty of industry
in Hamilton, but the big industrial companies have been having hard times
and proably have no money for things like documentation updates, or
developing special training packages.

2.  Are tech communicators having a hard time finding jobs? How fierce and
numerous is the competition? Do you need a Master's Degree to get in the
door?

3.  I am a member of the STC. What are the contact addresses/phone numbers
of the chapter(s) in Southern Ontario? What kind of programming are these
chapters running?

My specialty is develping multimedia and text-based industrial training
materials. Beyond that, I'm versatile, and have been working as a tech comm
(not always full time) since about 1985.

Thanks very much for any insight.

Candace Bamber
cbamber -at- ccinet -dot- ab -dot- ca