The short answer is… you don’t! 
Last Friday, I had the distinct privilege to be part of a special field trip for kids from Meeting Street Academy (See Rachel’s blog post for more background on the special event). In short summary, I was to explain to four and five year olds what I do for a living. Hmmm… technical writing in the eyes of a child.
Here are some things I thought of… (and yes, please feel free to laugh at my feeble attempt)
- Do you like to read?
- What books?
- Do you like to make up stories?
- Do you like playing on the computer?
- Add that all up and you can be me!
See in my mind, I was trying to explain how a kid their age who loved reading and stories somehow became me as an adult with this career that involves playing with things and writing about it. I even showed them the *books* we write and how they have pictures (screen captures).
I really wanted to explain how curiosity was important in my education and career but wasn't exactly sure how. However, I think in general I was supposed to show them that it’s important to read, to learn how to write, and to stay in school. I loved how they liked to raise their hands to ask questions, that’s a good sign! Being eager to learn is definitely a part of technical writing.
I’ve given plenty of talks about technical writing before (to college age kids) but this experience gave me a chance to see what I do through the eyes of a child. And, I laughed. It’s not exactly possible but I think just seeing someone who has a job they love and enjoy is important. I hope they continue to see positive examples of people who applied their learning to a cool career. If one of them happens to take on technical communication, all the cooler.
How would you explain your profession to a child?
Being the new guy on the team and having limited exposure to “true” technical writing definitely makes me feel a bit intimidated especially when there are individuals with 5-10+ years of experience under their belts. Immediately, I felt as if I needed to catch up and learn about the technologies, methodologies, and any other of the “-ies” words. This fire under my uhh…seat, wasn’t due to any pressure from the team, in fact, they encouraged me to learn at my own pace and not to feel rushed to get into anything. Phew…that’s reassuring.
Well, fast forward to two weeks later, and here I am writing this post, reiterating what I had learned about being a technical writer and user assistance.
First being a technical writer:
I mean technical writer…sounds exciting doesn’t it? I am sure plenty of us grow up saying, “Daddy I want to be a technical writer when I grow up!” However, in all seriousness, it is really an interesting and diverse position. This post about Unexpected Characteristics of Technical Writing summed it up pretty well. And here is my summary of that summary:
- Requires a good amount of social interaction
- Skills in:
- writing
- graphics
- troubleshooting
- coding
- project management
- usability
- etc…etc…etc…
- Knowledge of the software (hopefully this is obvious)
The last bullet was my biggest reason for becoming a technical writer. I love to learn, so what better way to learn and truly understand a product/software than to write how it works? I just learned the basics of a new software tool that we use and now I am excited to use it.
Secondly, user assistance:
After reading the article, What if Readers, Can’t Read?, I was certainly intrigued on how user assistance is shifting. Mainly, because I fit his statistics (as most people my age probably do).
For instance, an average college student buys a text book worth $100, but never opened it. Wow! I thought I was the only idiot who did that…that makes me feel better.
Here are some more shocking stats:
So what does this all mean? We have to adapt to the change of times. I know we are currently doing so by updating our Online Help Files on our new Infinity Platform. We are also constantly researching and understanding the new technologies that will make our jobs more efficient and make our users happier.
As I still have a lot to learn about a lot, I hope you will follow me on my journey to understanding the challenging and changing fields of technical writing and user assistance. And, help keep that fire under my seat going. Who knows maybe you’ll notice a few sparks under yours?
Each quarter we enter the respondents of our online survey in a drawing for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. The 4th quarter winner for 2008 is John Kraus of Evangel University. Congratulations, John!
We received 93 responses in Q4 and 284 overall for 2008. Our survey ratings and statistics remained consistent throughout 2008 and we continue to receive valuable client feedback.
And remember, to be entered in our 2009 first quarter drawing, complete our online survey. It takes only a few minutes. To send us feedback about our user guides or help file documentation at any time, email documentationcomments@blackbaud.com.
One of my esteemed co-workers shared this awesome article with me last week and now I want to share it with other writers of user assistance content in the field. If you haven’t read it yet, Mike Hughes’ article Straight Talk: Surviving Tough Times as a User Assistance Writer is a great read and quite thought-provoking. When I can squeeze in some time, I really want to thoroughly read it and make some notes about his main article points. There is a lot to digest in his post.
It came at a great time for me as I’m learning our team’s updated writing style. I’m learning how we’re tackling one of the article’s main points, how do you keep improving your user assistance content to meet audience needs while also being efficient with your resources and time?
Hope you enjoy the article!