This document provides advice on how to market oneself as a technical author. It discusses presenting your skills and experience on a CV, networking, and demonstrating your value in the workplace. The key points are: tailor your CV and applications to highlight relevant skills and keywords; network actively on LinkedIn and at conferences; and continuously communicate your contributions and measure impact to overcome perceptions that documentation is unnecessary.
How to Build Software If You Can't Write CodeRussell Wallace
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The Job Search Standup is a programme at General Assembly designed to help our full-time students as they prepare for a new career in web development.
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This session covers pitching, CVs, Github, Networks, Portfolio, Blogging, Cover Letter
How to Build Software If You Can't Write CodeRussell Wallace
You've got a great app or website idea, but you don't know how to code...what do you do? This deck walks you through how to build your vision successfully and avoid the common pitfalls that non-technical startup founders face.
The Job Search Standup is a programme at General Assembly designed to help our full-time students as they prepare for a new career in web development.
The Job Standup is a tailored to GA web development and UX courses, during which the students participate in job readiness trainings, share their experiences in the job market, and offer support and strategies to each other.
This session covers pitching, CVs, Github, Networks, Portfolio, Blogging, Cover Letter
This is a presentation I delivered as part of the Rock the Technical Interview workshop at the University of Waterloo for Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and other students. It covers 20 quick tips on having a successful technical interview, especially for a role as a Coop student.
How to Kickstart Your Career as an IT Business Analyst - Free Information Ses...Requirements Inc
In the Session, you will Learn..
The Roles and Responsibilities of a BA
BA Job Prospects
How a typical day in the life of a BA goes
Challenges facing new BAs
How to overcome those challenges
Presentation for Product Women's Resume Writing for Product workshop event. Presented at Brainmates Product Women with Petra Gross, GM of Digital Product from WooliesX
The free webinar is an opportunity for young and experienced technology professionals to receive insider insights on the recruitment process, helpful information on global opportunities, and personalized guidance on how they may improve their application. Through this Live Event, Arthur Lawrence hopes to uncover many of the myths that surround the IT consulting industry.
The Career Workshop will help attendees prepare for a job search. Attendees will share experiences and challenges that they have encountered, and will be provided with insights and guidance to help them navigate the often-challenging job-seeker landscape.
The workshop is divided into information-sharing sessions and activity-based sessions that help attendees get a combination of classroom-style learning mixed with hands-on interaction. In addition to discussions of cover letters, resumes, and portfolios, we will brainstorm approaches to common interview questions, including the behavioral-based questions that are being used by many companies today. We will also learn how to research and negotiate salaries for full-time and contract employees.
How to get a job as a Product Manager and how to keep itamitbaliga
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RED ACADEMY is a unique Vancouver-based technology academy created for the designers, creators, developers and digital marketers of tomorrow.
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This session covers pitching, Pitching, Selling, Marketplace, Branding, Future of Work, Content Marketing, Design, Mindsets, Tips, Hacks & More.
How to Earn Online - Guide to Getting Jobs from Odesk, Elance, etc.coeline
Tired of working 9-5? Would you like to be your own boss, set your own work times, and eventually build your online biz? Read on and learn more about jumpstarting your online career. This PowerPoint presentation was prepared for you to understand the best ways to land your dream contracts through freelance sites and other job portals. In the long run, you might also want to create your virtual team. :)
Presentation by Louellen S. Coker about creating professional portfolios at the October 8-9, 2010 Professional Conference on Communication in Nashville held by the Middle Tennessee Community of the Society for Technical Communication.
Resume and Cover Letter Workshop - October 2013James Park
This is a presentation that I have prepared for the Korean Commerce Student Association of University of British Columbia, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I was the presenter for two career development workshops - Resumes and Cover Letter, and LinkedIn.
This is a presentation I delivered as part of the Rock the Technical Interview workshop at the University of Waterloo for Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and other students. It covers 20 quick tips on having a successful technical interview, especially for a role as a Coop student.
How to Kickstart Your Career as an IT Business Analyst - Free Information Ses...Requirements Inc
In the Session, you will Learn..
The Roles and Responsibilities of a BA
BA Job Prospects
How a typical day in the life of a BA goes
Challenges facing new BAs
How to overcome those challenges
Presentation for Product Women's Resume Writing for Product workshop event. Presented at Brainmates Product Women with Petra Gross, GM of Digital Product from WooliesX
The free webinar is an opportunity for young and experienced technology professionals to receive insider insights on the recruitment process, helpful information on global opportunities, and personalized guidance on how they may improve their application. Through this Live Event, Arthur Lawrence hopes to uncover many of the myths that surround the IT consulting industry.
The Career Workshop will help attendees prepare for a job search. Attendees will share experiences and challenges that they have encountered, and will be provided with insights and guidance to help them navigate the often-challenging job-seeker landscape.
The workshop is divided into information-sharing sessions and activity-based sessions that help attendees get a combination of classroom-style learning mixed with hands-on interaction. In addition to discussions of cover letters, resumes, and portfolios, we will brainstorm approaches to common interview questions, including the behavioral-based questions that are being used by many companies today. We will also learn how to research and negotiate salaries for full-time and contract employees.
How to get a job as a Product Manager and how to keep itamitbaliga
Qualities and skills that are needed for a Product Management job, both soft skills and hard types, are described well in this presentation. It also showcases some validated, practical techniques as to how you can transition into Product Management without having prior experience - for aspiring and first time PMs.
RED ACADEMY is a unique Vancouver-based technology academy created for the designers, creators, developers and digital marketers of tomorrow.
MAKE YOUR MARK is a tailored to 3 cohorts spanning Digital Marketing, Web Development and UX Design. Students get ready to showcase and flex their new skills in the workplace, share their experiences and offer support and strategies to each other.
This session covers pitching, Pitching, Selling, Marketplace, Branding, Future of Work, Content Marketing, Design, Mindsets, Tips, Hacks & More.
How to Earn Online - Guide to Getting Jobs from Odesk, Elance, etc.coeline
Tired of working 9-5? Would you like to be your own boss, set your own work times, and eventually build your online biz? Read on and learn more about jumpstarting your online career. This PowerPoint presentation was prepared for you to understand the best ways to land your dream contracts through freelance sites and other job portals. In the long run, you might also want to create your virtual team. :)
Presentation by Louellen S. Coker about creating professional portfolios at the October 8-9, 2010 Professional Conference on Communication in Nashville held by the Middle Tennessee Community of the Society for Technical Communication.
Resume and Cover Letter Workshop - October 2013James Park
This is a presentation that I have prepared for the Korean Commerce Student Association of University of British Columbia, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I was the presenter for two career development workshops - Resumes and Cover Letter, and LinkedIn.
Do you feel like you are the captain of your career, or more like a galley slave—chained to a job that you don’t like, or perhaps one that pays slave wages?
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“My career has had its highs, its lows, and everything in between. I learned from each win and each challenge, and I’ll share my life- and career-changing realizations with you in this entertaining and informative session.
As a mentor once told me: ‘Learn from the success and failures of others—it’s faster than making them yourself!’”
Want to increase your standard of living?
View the slides to this webinar!
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Networking for job interviews
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In-House Content Strategy - MinneWebCon April 2013m3ggiesue
Your organization's content needs help, and it's your job to fix it. But where do you begin? Change from within can be daunting. It may seem like the problems are too big for one person, or one team, to fix. Luckily, you can start to make a meaningful impact with just a few small changes.
This session will offer tips and tools for creating a content strategy from within your organization. You'll get a handful of easy-to-implement, start-today tactics, as well as insight into effecting meaningful longterm change.
How a Product Manager Pivots Into a New Domain by Microsoft Sr PMProduct School
Main Takeaways:
You don't need to start in a given domain as the biggest expert in that domain - you just need to lead with curiosity.
You can be effective by having good core PM skills and remaining focused on a key set of repeatable questions and processes focused on understanding the business space &, most crucially, who are the customers and what are their pain points & needs.
You also have to start by understanding the org you're moving into - especially who are the key domain experts to partner with early and what is the org's understanding of Product Management.
How Product Manager Pivots Into a New Domain by Microsoft Sr PMProduct School
Main Takeaways:
You don't need to start in a given domain as the biggest expert in that domain - you just need to lead with curiosity.
You can be effective by having good core PM skills and remaining focused on a key set of repeatable questions and processes focused on understanding the business space &, most crucially, who are the customers and what are their pain points & needs.
You also have to start by understanding the org you're moving into - especially who are the key domain experts to partner with early and what is the org's understanding of Product Management.
Webinar slides from the ARCS Australia Independent Consultants Interest Area Meeting 21 September 2017. Presentation by Hayley Webb, Social Media Brand Manager Healthcare Professionals Group
Webinar slides from the ARCS Australia Independent Consultants Interest Area Meeting 21 September 2017. Presentation by Hayley Webb, Social Media Brand Manager Healthcare Professionals Group
The Connect Your Community (CYC) program provides broadband training, equipment and support for 26,000 low-income individuals and their households in seven separate communities.
CYC is funded through a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Being in the final year, we are preparing staff to search for their next position.
The Connect Your Community (CYC) program provides broadband training, equipment and support for 26,000 low-income individuals and their households in seven separate communities. CYC is funded through a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Being in our final year, we are preparing our staff to search for their next position, post-CYC.
Copy of the slides from our recent marketing and branding presentation with Clockstudio to the ladies of the Highland Business Woman's Club in Inverness
Similar to TCUK 2012, Bryan Lade, How to sell yourself as a Technical Author (20)
TCUK 2012, Bryan Lade, How to sell yourself as a Technical Author
1. How to sell yourself as a
Technical Author
Bryan lade
TCUK Conference Oct 2012
2. Topics
• A bit about me
• The authoring world (UK)
• Author types & traits
• CVs and applications
• Networking
• In the workplace
3. A bit about me
• I am NOT a writer!
• Started career as an Engineer
• Previously been a: Product Manager, Project
Manager, Technical Manager, eCommerce Dev,
Marketing Manager, Business Dev Mgr,
Operations Director (now @ 3di Information
Solutions Ltd)
• Managed project to re-write the RS 20k page
catalogue (2005)
• Have managed 100+ Technical Communication
projects…
4. Managing Technical Communication
projects
• Every project unique
• Every project has its own specification, typically a mix of…
– Consultancy
– Authors
– Information Designers
– Project Management
– Quality
– Software / tools
– Processes
– Timescales
• I’ve worked with many authors on many projects!
5. The authoring world (UK)
Companies that
recognise technical
authoring
Companies that don’t
recognise technical
authoring
6. The authoring world (UK)
• Small and relatively unknown discipline in the UK
• Only two Degree courses: SH and Portsmouth
• The majority of business professionals have never
heard of “Technical Authoring”
• UK culture is that stuff gets written by others;
Project Managers, Product Managers, etc
• Don’t assume people recognise or understand
your discipline!
7. Generic Technical Author traits I have
seen – more than once!
– Poor personal communicators (email!)
– “NO ONE LOVES ME, NO ONE VALUES ME!”
– “I know best”
– Some can’t actually write
– Blinkered to the bigger (business) picture
– Weirdest dress sense (a telling sign?!)
– Practical, not creative…
– Useless at marketing
8. Author Types
• Permanent, Contract, Freelance
• Good, bad, indifferent!
• Sole authors, team authors
• Need to be told, need to tell
• Techy, processy, reporty, marketingy (and
those that think they can do it all!)
• Fell into it, pursued it
9. Permanent, Contract, Freelance
• Permanent:
– Safe & long term
– Commitments
– Constrained by location
• Contract:
– Usually willing to travel
– Good authors work a lot
– Bad authors work little
• Freelance:
– Multiple projects on go, Project Management skills, flexible,
consultative – offer solutions
You are one of these by nature, though can change over time
10. Technical Authoring – the basics
Make sure you really understand what you
(should!) do – it’s your foundation, your motto
• You represent the user experience
• You bridge the gap from product development
and design to the user
• You are not the Subject Matter Expert, but you
get the concepts of a product or service
• You articulate what “good” looks and feels like
• You make complicated things easy to use
11. CVs & applications
• Your CV showcases you as an author!
• Your CV will rarely be read
– No typos!
– No bad grammar!
– No waffle! (clear concise communication!)
• Does your CV reflect how and what you write?
• Upload your CV regularly – old ones will not be found
• Think of your CV as a database that will be searched – needs to be
keyword rich
– Documentation / information types
– Industries
– Technologies
– Tools
– Software
– Processes
– Location
12. CVs & applications
Your turn – see if you can determine what your
keywords for your CV will be?
Mine? – assuming I stay in this profession:
Director, General Manager, Operations Manager,
Interim Manager, Consultant, Documentation,
Technical Authoring, Technical Writing, Technical
Documentation, Degree, Content Management,
Technical publications, Information Design, User
Support Information, Online Help, eCommerce
(expand), Catalogue production (expand)
13. CVs & applications cont’d
• Recipients will be looking to gauge if you are a
contractor or permy by nature
• Avoid: Old fashioned feeling, too long, too short,
typo’s, poor grammar, etc. GET IT CHECKED!
• Samples & support information - make sure they
are good
– “I work under NDA, don’t have samples” utter rubbish!
• Introducing yourself: please, please, please, make
application covering emails relevant (please do
one!)
• If you are going to build a web site, please do a
good one or get it done by a professional
14. Going to build a web site?
Make sure you get the basics right:
• Pagerank?
• SEO?
• Blogging
• Use social media to link and raise awareness
• Structure & submitting for search (spidering)
• Keywords? (competition)
• How will you use it? Push or Pull - do you expect
people to find it?
• A good web site can be invaluable for contractors
and freelancers
15. Networking
• Don’t leave networking until you need it
• LinkedIn (& Twitter?) – invaluable – do it – know it
– Grow your network regularly
– Many people headhunted
– Groups = intelligence
– Your profile needs to reflect your keywords
– InMail?
• ISTC, local area groups, Conference!
• Do communicate your availability regularly:
– “If you don’t ask you won’t get”
– Telephone
– Email
– Social media
16. Networking - LinkedIn
• Top keywords in the sub
header
• Make connections
• Summary must be
keyword rich
• Get recommendations
• Make recommendations
• Complete your profile
17. In the workplace
Two golden rules you must be aware of:
• Most colleagues will not give two hoots about
technical documentation
• Most colleagues will therefore see you as an
unnecessary cost
Selling the value of what you do is not easy.
…and it’s all about cost…and cost!
18. In the workplace cont’d
Before, at interview and throughout:
• Gauge expectations:
– Do they really care / who cares?
• If they “don’t care” – make a point of speaking to them. Often.
– Do they know what good looks like?
• Articulate it – competitor analysis?
• You can’t sell something without benefits (tangible)
• Business “change” will alter the above – watch for
it!
19. In the workplace cont’d
• Communicate!
– “they don’t care/understand!”
– Do you really help them to? (poor comms?)
– Who do you need to communicate with?
– Frequency and how?
• Email updates
• Team meets, get invited to others, go present
• Wiki, web
• Samples (noticeboard?)
• Document specifications – get more input
• Person to person
Your turn – what do you do now and what could you do?
20. In the workplace cont’d
Measure (and communicate)!
– Quantitative or qualitative – do something
– Customer support
– Speak to customers
– Web stats
– Usability testing
– Translation benefits
– Legal requirements
Cost benefit ideally, but customer satisfaction if not. Your
measures should be aligned with agreed business objectives
Your turn – what do you measure and what could you measure?
21. In the workplace cont’d
• It’s a hard sell:
– Your colleagues and peers typically won’t care
unless you make it relevant and worth caring
about
– But if you measure & communicate, you can
change this
For more details please refer to Rachel Potts
excellent article in the summer
Communicator, “Measuring success”
22. In summary
• Don’t assume that anyone knows anything
about Technical Authoring or what you do
• Take time to get your CV & support information
perfect and make those applications relevant
• Network – now
• Find your value, find your supporters and
communicate your value and successes
23. Any questions?
Thank you and enjoy the conference
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