6-7 years ago, NI created a website, in partnership with Texas Tech University, that walks you through A Week in the Life of a Technical Communicator. Because the design is so 90s, and because the "star" of the web site is no longer with NI, in January 2006 a group of writers decided to update the site with a more "modern" look. (Wow, that's a lot of quotes here.)
The result is a new-and-improved A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer (notice the title change) web site. The goal of this site is to explain what we do all day. We have two audiences in mind: 1) prospective employees and 2) students who are unaware of what technical writing is - or at least what we say it is, because the job title can mean many things depending on where you work.
Creating the site was an interesting exercise in collaboration and group work. It took us longer than we'd anticipated to decide who to "feature" on the site, come up with a design, write the content, decide on the page navigation, and so on. We unveiled the site on Sept 8th, 2006, after nine months of planning and implementation. Some of the group members are currently writing an article for the STC's Intercom magazine based on the effort.
Anyway, check it out!
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very cool! a couple years ago, recruiters came to UTSA and did a presentation including the "week in the life" thing. i am graduating in may and currently in the process of trying to get hired as a tech writer there. :)
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ReplyDeleteAwesome, well, good luck with the application process :-)
ReplyDeleteRyan, the update is great. I had fun reading the different accounts of being a tech writer at National Instruments. I interviewed in 2003. While I had a great phone interview and completely aced the first editing test, I bombed the in-person interview and a second editing test. I got nervous, as I'm apt to do when interviewing, and I was simply inexperienced. I had never held a job before and NI felt quite intimidating. Ah, c'est la vie! I can still appreciate it from afar.
ReplyDeleteVita, good luck!