Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
November/December 2004 | Home

Transition, Change, A Rose by Any Other Name…

by Laura A. Phillips
DMV Associate Editor

As everyone knows, we are undergoing changes to meet the future demands of our changing workplace. In Technical Communications, August 2004, Barbara Giammona wrote an excellent article addressing areas of change for technical writers and the issue of repackaging ourselves. She quotes Judy Glick-Smith in her article, “My message to people is that you’ve got to keep learning and figure out how you add value. That is an ongoing process. It’s how you keep being able to do what you love. You constantly need to repackage yourself—that’s the trick!”

I found this quite interesting as I have reinvented myself on numerous occasions to meet the requirements of various jobs. I have made the transition from a biotech researcher, to a product manager, to a network supervisor, to a technical writer for software, to a senior technical writer in high tech, back to the biotech industry, and now I’m back in the Silicon Valley as a senior technical writer in the high tech networking industry.

Reinventing Myself

For a long time—13 years—I was fortunate to work for a large pharmaceutical/clinical laboratory on the East Coast. The company had numerous internal postings that allowed employees to move from position to position within the company. After working the late shift for 10 years, I learned of an opportunity that became available on the day shift to develop diagnostic kits for internal use. However, I needed to relearn the areas of the laboratory that I was assigned to, so I purchased several textbooks and spent time educating myself on the subject.

To make the transitions between positions I’ve held in the past, I’ve always worked very hard to educate myself on the technology, industry, and market applicable to my new position. Going from a product manager for a computer-based immunology product to a network supervisor was a little bit of a stretch, but computers and technology seemed to come pretty easily to me at the time. I purchased several books on networking applications and brought myself up to date on Windows NT servers. On-the-job training, as well as trial and error, were very good teachers for installing server applications.

So how did I make the change from a network supervisor to a technical writer for Java software development? After I was relieved of my responsibilities as a network supervisor, I was in the job market for quite some time. I researched all of the applications and knowledge necessary to become a technical writer, and I had previously written marketing materials and procedures as a product manager. That’s when I realized I liked writing better than marketing as a product manager. To prepare myself for writing about Java applications, I taught myself enough Java to be able to recognize code and do some simple programming.

The Technical Techie

Making the leap into high tech was a bit challenging, however. From my networking experience, I thought I knew enough about the Internet, firewall appliances, and complex networking topics to easily write about setup and deployment of firewall devices.

Well, this was not as easy as I expected. I quickly learned that there are two types of writers: technical writers and technical technical writers. I had to become the latter in a very short time. Where to turn? Again, I relied on purchasing books on firewalls, networking protocols, and other topics to educate myself before talking to engineers. I also made friends with the IT department to use them as SMEs for the new features, and developed relationships with engineers who didn’t mind explaining things to me once they realized that I had spent some time educating myself.

Making Transitions

In summary, the most important aspects of reinventing yourself are the ability to keep learning and the ability to remain flexible in our ever-changing roles as technical communicators. The Technical Communications article also quoted Vici Koster-Leonard, who said, “Those interpersonal skills need to be a core skill of our profession—someone who grows, changes, goes out and tries new things.” Interpersonal skills are also a key to making transitions easier and fun.

What will keep you from reinventing yourself and transitioning your skills? You need only the desire for new skills and changes in your role as a technical communicator. If I can transition from one type of industry to another, then anyone who invests in their skill set can make transitions as well.

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