Professional Writing At Night

[Liz Bohn <Lbohn -at- UCSD -dot- EDU>]

Mon, 7 Aug 1995 08:26:31 -0600, HUNTER_W -at- UHDVX3 -dot- DT -dot- UH -dot- EDU wrote:

>My question is:  Would it be of any value to me to get my
>degree in professional writing at night (I have 8 classes left) or is
>work experience and a portfolio more important.  Thanks for any input
>you can give me.

A degree in professional writing at night?  Sounds intriguing.  But is it
*legal*?  heh heh. (Sorry about that; I couldn't resist.)

My experience is that the importance of a credential depends somewhat on
where you live.  On the east coast (Boston area), there are a number of
technical writing programs, and quite a lot of graduates of technical
writing programs. (Several of these programs have been around for years and
years.  Well, years anyway.) Therefore, more companies tend to expect
certification.

Here in the San Diego area, there seem to be lots of writers who enter the
market with English, journalism, or engineering backgrounds. (Yes, there
are some technical writing programs here, but they haven't been around as
long as the ones on the east coast.)

After you have good experience under your belt, reliable references, and a
good set of writing samples, I would think that the credential would matter
less.  When you're just starting out, though, the credential may well set
you apart from other applicants with similar backgrounds.

Liz Bohn

Liz Bohn                   "Suddenly Christopher Robin began to tell Pooh
Lbohn -at- ucsd -dot- edu              about... people called Kings and Queens and some-
                            thing called Factors, ... and how you make a
                            Suction Pump (if you want to)...  And Pooh said
                            "Oh!" and "I didn't know," and thought how
                            wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which
                            could tell you things."