At the second Vancouver Island Tech Comm Café, attendees enjoyed an evening of sizzling Indian food and great conversation.
We discussed which tools we use for writing. More than half of us at the meeting use Madcap Flare; the rest use FrameMaker or Microsoft Word. Flare has a 30-day trial and you can receive technical support during this trial. To “sell” your employer on acquiring new software, try using the software to create a sample document for your company.
We discussed how often in our jobs we’re expected to learn a new software program (with no training) and use that program to do our job at the same time. Every attendee has experienced this style of fast learning before.
This led to a discussion about technical writing skills and whether getting a job is based on skills and experience or who you know. Most of us thought that timing is a big factor in getting a job. You need to be in the right place at the right time. It also helps to network and get to know other people. Most people don’t just rely on job listings for getting a job. It’s mostly from knowing people and having connections.
We also brainstormed about other groups and organizations on Vancouver Island (Ladies Learning Code, VIATEC, Meetup, and LinkedIn) that are good places to meet other technical writers.
We discussed how we could keep our skills up to date as writers. Someone suggested that the trend seems to be that certification is preferable to formal training or courses. However, a huge part of maintaining certification is taking courses, writing articles, public speaking, etc. We decided that the STC’s certification program would be a great theme for our next meeting.
We knew our evening was a success because suddenly it was time for the restaurant to close and we were offered free chai tea on our way out the door.
Serena Beck has been a technical writer for 13 years and currently writes about blood and plasma hardware and software. She is the past president of the STC Canada West Coast chapter.