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Harrison spake thusly:
>Will the work be satisfying in the long run? What is the career path
>for a tech writer? It's nice work now, but should I just go out and
>get some kind of engineering degree as well? Or move to marketing?
good, valid questions. i'd love to know the answers.
i had always seen myself doing research and working
in the academic world in language technology. i was
supervising the language laboratory at a state
university when i realized that i couldn't afford
the luxury of being a non-faculty academic.
tech writing was simply the first viable option that
hurled itself into my path -- i didn't choose it.
i've found myself enjoying my work (more so with my
current employer than with my last) but i definitely
predict my return to academia within a few years.
>I'd love to hear advice from any of you out there who have made or
>are contemplating this switch. I could still complete my
>dissertation in my "spare time" and go on the academic job market,
>but, well, the clock is ticking.
i hardly think of myself as being in a position for
giving advice, but i can vouch for the difficulty of
"spare time" grad school. i'm doing it now, and it's
not easy to reconcile.
the short answer:
my tendency is always toward breadth of experience;
i can't imagine a field in which diversity of work
history and knowledge wouldn't be useful.
-- Kate O'Neill, Technical Writer, Thru-Put Technologies
<kaethe -at- geocities -dot- com> or <kathleeno -at- thru-put -dot- com> http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/4065/kindex.html
"In the end, everything is a gag." -- Charlie Chaplin
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