Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
March/April 2003

President's Message

by Melody Brumis
EBSTC President

I finally get to write about my favorite mythological beast—the Renaissance Technical Communicator. By definition, the Renaissance Technical Communicator—RTC for short—has wide interests (some useful to their career, some not) and is expert in several areas. The RTC has been termed mythological because for years now I’ve heard that we must become “specialists.” Where I sometimes get stuck in an interview is when they ask, “What is your specialty?” Like a short-order cook, I may answer if it’s Tuesday, then turkey; Wednesday, then hot pastrami; etc.

Since the newsletter’s topic is Trends in Technical Communication, I will go retro and say the RTC, like bell-bottoms with wide belts, is back. How do I know? I know because I am one. I also know because while I’ve heard titles referring to specialists—like APL writer—bandied about, I’ve never met one.

OK, so work with me here. If in fact the RTC is back and—key point here—working, then what do you need to know to be one? I researched this by IM’ing another RTC, and these are our findings:

RTC Requisites

• Technical Writing (strong research, editing, analysis, and production skills)
• Web Skills (including graphics—the in-house graphic artist is mythological)
• Online Help (HTML Help or whatever the latest fad is; keep up with fads)
• Communication (e-mail, IM, VM, conversational, get along with everyone)
• Management (be able to manage yourself, your project, and/or your team)
• Attitude (be able, willing, and ever-ready to do what others do not want to do)

Are We Becoming Extinct?

You may now say—hey, this is interactive!—“I have all that and I am still not working.” All right, perhaps, and I am just saying perhaps, you have not emphasized your RTC abilities. Like many a good and strong Server Writer, which I am slowly becoming (see definition: “expert in several areas”), you may emphasize that you are a specialist, not an RTC. Companies, in tough times like we’re in now, may only be able to hire one FTE (or contractor) to write about a variety of subjects, post documents on the Intranet, and develop the online Help.

If you can do all that (and take the minutes at meetings too), great! If not, you may want to take time to develop your RTC Requisites. Although I promised myself that I wouldn’t proselytize (one big word I never get to use) about STC in this article, you may want to exhibit your skills by taking on a volunteer task. A good web site, say, is still a good web site and portfolio piece, pro bono or not. So now, finally, I’ve been able to expound on the RTCs who are slowly surfacing from the primordial ooze. One STC friend asked me this week if I thought technical communicators were becoming extinct. I said no, but perhaps the specialists we all tried to become are gone, for now.

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