A crowd-sourced presentation from the 2013 STC Summit. These slides were presented by Jamie Gillenwater as part of a 5-minute lightning talk

1. 101 Reasons We Love
Technical Communication
Presented by Jamie Gillenwater
May 8, 2013 • STC Summit • Atlanta, GA

2. Image by darkmatter
http://farm1.staticflickr.com/22/35919132_e5c0a661ad.jpg
―For me as a technical writer, the act of
explaining—and, by extension, helping
someone do something—is the very
heart of what I do.‖
—@larry_kunz
―I get to help people and businesses
succeed.‖
—@barriebyron
―I'm helping people understand
complex subjects.‖
—Paul Lockwood
―I like to be helpful, it's in my very
being. My company's social media
policy is ‗Be helpful‘ which I'm glad to
strive for, even with API
documentation.‖
—@annegentle
―Watching someone learn and grow as
a result of what I wrote.‖
—@thegreatauthor
Lending a helping hand

3. Lending a helping hand
Image by darkmatter
http://farm1.staticflickr.com/22/35919132_e5c0a661ad.jpg
―I love it when things click. … If I can
produce documentation that makes a
user's life easier than it's a good day for
me.‖
—@paharvey
―Advocating for the user and solving
problems.‖
—@stubbornlywrite
―I love that I'm helping someone
transfer knowledge to others.‖
—@ywsanchez
―Making user look good and suck less!‖
(Inspired by the much-missed Kathy
Sierra.)
—@techwriterkai
―Helping customers get as much use
out of a product as we put into it.‖
—@techwriterkai
―My work helps people.‖
—@RDHComm

4. We‘re extroverts …
―Working with creative people.‖
—@gryphmount
―Because I like working with geeks!‖
—@clearwriter (said with love)
―Deal with people from different teams.‖
—@jwax
―Working with such a wide-range of people.‖
—@jweaver4
―It appealed to me much more than programming! I love
the people interaction.‖
—@cklinger
… and introverts.
―Not having to talk to stupid customers all the time.‖
—@stubbornlywrite

5. Our peers rock!
―Working with intelligent colleagues.‖
—@barriebyron
―My colleagues know how to use semicolons.‖
—@techcom
―Quality of the people who work in the field.‖
—@tek-right
―Meeting the most diverse, interesting, international bunch of people I could ever
want to work with.‖
—@techwriterkai
―Because the people in this industry are flat-out awesome.‖
—@clearwriter
―We're a funky bunch—an eclectic band of information design and development
misfits!‖
—@vinokoor
―The #techcomm discussions on Twitter.‖
—@vinokoor
―Tech writers are fun people to hang out with.‖
—@cebrouillard
―Getting to network with great colleagues around the world.‖
—@benwoelk
Image by Society for Technical Communication
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/22121_411619035583244_504743903_n.jpg

6. Our industry
―Creating the future of techcomm.‖
—@joegenolf
―The tremendous scope for growth.‖
—@AmrutaRanade
―The trends and evolution of the industry.‖
—@vinokoor
―Being at the forefront of information development and content
strategy.‖
—@scottabel
―The fact that technical writing is not limited to one particular field -
like software. It can be expanded to any field, which helps me learn
new things about new areas that I wouldn't have considered
earlier.‖
—AmrutaRanade

7. Image by vaXzine
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2007/2278300537_eed01c319b_o.jpg
Left Rightvs.
―I get to think on my job.‖
—@TechWriteNowX
―Digging around in HTML and CSS.‖
—@gstuckey
―I like being accountable to
facts, not marketing.‖
—@clearwriter .
―Tech comm
involves analyzing
and solving
problems.‖
—@gryphmount
―Living the life a wordie should
live.‖
—@J_F_Grady
―Sometimes you get to draw with
paper and coloured
pencils (or Sharpies)!‖
—@kmdk
―I get to combine my
love of technology
and my love of
writing.‖
—@cebrouillard
―I love working from
a blank page,
especially regarding
document design.‖
—Stephen Smith

8. Image by vaXzine
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2007/2278300537_eed01c319b_o.jpg
Or both
―[I] take advantage of both my
English and philosophy studies.‖
—John Garrison
―I get to be Arthur Conan-Doyle
for a living: half my time as
Sherlock Holmes ferreting out
clues and solving puzzles, and
half as Dr. Watson writing it
up for the edification of
others.‖
—John Garrison
―I love the creative and design
process involved in developing
usable information.‖
—@ywsanchez
―It balances my left and right
brain.‖
—@cklinger

9. Image by TheeErin
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2491/3811571966_71863afe72_b.jpg
We never get bored!
―Variety of projects‖ …
— @gstuckey
… ―in different fields.‖
— @Tormaka
―Just about everything that we
work on is new. It must be new, or
they wouldn't need
documentation.‖
Anonymous
―The work is often interesting.‖
— @techcom
―The challenges of meeting
customer requirements.‖
— @juliov27612
―The job changes daily.‖
— @techcom

10. We have quite a hat collection
―Technical communicators are web designers, writers, artists, social
media strategists, content strategists, e-learning and m-learning
specialists– often all at the same time!‖
—@techcommgeekmom
―I get to pretend I'm an expert, answer the complex questions, and not
come off as arrogant or pedantic.‖
—@viqui_dill
―I love being able to wear multiple hats. Sometimes, I'm a writer.
Sometimes, I'm an editor. Sometimes, I'm a graphic designer.
Sometimes, I'm a web designer.‖
—@stubbornlywrite
―Producing a variety of content (text, images, video).‖
—@gryphmount
―Wide range of tools, techniques and topics!‖
—@tek-right

11. Challenging work
―I love being able to make sense out of the senseless.‖
—@gimli_the_kitty
―This is one field where I know I have challenges in different areas of the
business.‖
—@juliov27612
―I get to explain hard things, using simple words, short sentences and
even pictures.‖
—@viqui_dill
―I have freedom in making design decisions for clients.‖
—@juliov27612
―Highly technical, challenging material.‖
—@LoisRP

12. Little details
―I've become almost
obsessed with typographic
errors. A typo seems to
jump out … and I want to
correct it. Orthography is my
obsession.‖
—Rob Miller (via Larry
Kunz‘s blog)
―Deal with big picture +
details.‖
—@jwax
Image by Nic's events
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nics_events/2349632625/sizes/o/in/photostream/
―Enjoying measurable,
tangible results.‖
—@barriebyron
―I'll start with a concept, hone
it, move things around, hone it
some more until I've reached
the finished product.‖
—Stephen Smith (via Larry
Kunz‘s blog)
―Outlining and organizing
information.‖
—@kwilter87

13. Hobbies
―Nitpicking.‖
—@larry_kunz
―Getting to make the things I edit more ‗right‘.‖
—@J_F_Grady
―Making formatting work.‖
—@juliov27612
―I can be inventive and experiment with new
technology (mobile delivery) and old standards
(DocBook XML).‖
—@annegentle
―l like research.‖
—@leahysheila70
―You can wrestle and tussle with language to get your
point across clearly, concisely and in an aesthetically
appealing way.‖
—Sarah Maddox
Image by Felix7634
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/M%C3%A9rignies_golf_putting_green.gif/1280px-
M%C3%A9rignies_golf_putting_green.gif

14. We‘re professional
students
―I'm constantly learning.‖
—@TechWriteNowX
―I get to pretend I'm a beginner. I get to ask
the simple, obvious questions, and not feel
bad about it.‖
—@viqui_dill
―I love the challenge of constantly having to
learn something new.‖
—@ywsanchez
―Learn new products, methodologies,
processes, and technology all the time.‖
—@jwax
―Learning something new every day.‖
—@J_F_Grady

15. Geeks are cool.
―[I] love authoring software tools that are available.‖
—@leahysheila70
―Working with digital content.‖
—@kwilter87
―It's one of those geek jobs that, in the end, is actually cool.‖
—@techcommgeekmom
―Getting to play with technology. Inner Geek.‖
—@benwoelk
―Love finding new ways, other than books, to convey ideas,
such as interactive Flash movies.‖
—@lancerobert
―All the other geeks are jealous because they can do really
fantastic stuff, but they can't write or create a web page, or
anything like that. They need us as their translators, which
makes us more omnipotent!‖
—@techcommgeekmom
Image by dullhunk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/7378166158/

16. Translating for the common man
―Synthesis. It begins with listening, then continues with sifting, weighing,
restating, questioning, and reshaping to form a whole that is greater than
the sum of its parts.‖
John Hawkins (from Larry Kunz‘s blog)
―Making the world a better place through enlightened understanding from
reading technical communication.‖
—@thegreatauthor
―Converting arcane technobabble into information people can actually
use and understand.‖
—@lancerobert
―The ability to make technology understandable for the layperson.‖
—@benwoelk

17. Work perks
Image by Roger Karlsson, © Free-Photo-Galler.org
http://www.free-photo-gallery.org/photos/coffee-stain/
―Well paid (can be, at any rate).‖
—@tek-right
―Tech pay without the tech hours.‖
—@davewilks
―I love it when I see an aircraft, and I
can turn to the person next to me
and say, ‗Yeah, I wrote the manuals
for that.‘‖
Anonymous
―I can justify business trips around
the world.‖
—@j_gillenwater
―Benefits, paid vacation.‖
—@normanconquest
―Working primarily from home, it
allows me to balance my home and
professional priorities.‖
—@cklinger
―Flexibility.‖
—@LoisRP

18. Among other reasons
―I get to feed the insatiable appetite of my curiosity genes.‖
—@kmdk
―Playing with tools and applications and simplifying them for
others.‖
—@shweta_hardikar
―Uncovering what the real underlying design of a client's
information should be.‖
—@juliov27612
―I love it when I'm on an airliner, the passenger next to me is
nervous, and I can say ‗Relax, the plane is safe. I wrote the
manuals for it.‘‖
Anonymous
―Contributing to cool and innovative software.‖
—@davewilks

19. Now for some
audience
participation

20. ―Technical communicators are superheroes in
disguise. Or perhaps we are just the super
ninjas that fix everything under the surface of
all content in the world.‖
—@techcommgeekmom
Images by Vegas Bleeds Neon
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Placeholder_male_superhero_c.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Placeholder_female_superhero_c.png