Education and why you're not technical enough
Chuck Martin
past, what about programs that cover those areas: 4-year degree programs
that focus on the writing, that focus on the technical aspects, and that
focus on the business?
Beating dead horses can be....sometimes less than boring: I got a 4-year
degree in Technical Communication. The TC Department (one of only three
full-fledged departments in the country, is part of the College of
Engineering, not Arts & Sciences. There is not only a decidedly technical
focus to the degree, but the degree also requires an internship: you have to
go out and work in the field.
In my case, instead of taking the more "traditional" science classes on the
approved class list, I took a whale of Industrial Engineering classes,
classes on computer architecture, programming, data structures, and more
(including an incredibly valuable class on interface design, which
introduced me to the fabulous work of Donald A. Norman).
At an on-campus interview a couple of months before graduation, one
interviewer commented that the company (a very large computer company)
commented that they usually only hire people with Masters degrees. My
response was that you become a good writer by writing, and I had spent
several years doing just that. (It helps, once again in my case, that I had
indeed been a writer for several years, including many years writing on
various areas in the newspaper business.)
When I was in middle school, we had this program of "mini courses." The 7th
period every day, the last period of the day, was taken by small courses,
different every day (but the same each day of the week) on a variety of
subjects, lasting a semester. So, for example, every Monday we'd get an hour
of one subject, Tuesday would be a different subject, and so on. One mini
course I took was in Spanish; we learned a few words, and I can still
remember how to count to 10. But there was not the time to get in-depth in a
subject; the courses skimmed over the interesting and useful parts.
Most certificate programs are probably a lot like these mini-courses--except
that the schools offering the certificate programs promise a lot more on
completion. Certificate programs will provide basic concepts, but can't give
the experience of how to put them into action.
To be fair, the school where I got me degree also offers certificate
programs. But the depth of both education and experience I got from a
full-fledged degree program is far beyond that of any certificate program,
and the technical aspect is probably much deeper than most liberal arts
programs. So I believe that full-fledged 4-year degree programs in the TC
field are useful and produce people who have a decent level of competency
out of the blocks.
Oh, in case you're wondering, I went to the University of Washington in
Seattle. At Homecoming last fall, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the
program started by James Souther and Myron White. Now, along with a B.S.,
the department offers Masters degrees in Technical Communication and
Technical Japanese (the only one of its kind anywhere). But the learning and
experience I got here, along with the work I did at WinWriters (where I
started part time, worked as my internship, and continued working through my
senior year), gave me preparation that I could have received probably
nowhere else.
People who have put the effort into similar 4-year degrees I'd guess are
pretty well prepared for work in the field and deserve consideration when
hiring.
Chuck Martin
I got DSL this morning; my new home email is twr...@mindspring.com
"Andrew Plato" <intre...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:60856@techwr-l...
<snip>
| The problem (at least as I see it and care to pontificate about) with most
| certificate programs is they are the fanless underclocked Celeron of
higher
| education. Certificate programs and other university paths that promise an
open
| door to a career are really just marketing gimmicks and we all know that.
<snip>
|
| In other words, there is no quick way to be good at something. If you want
to
| be a good writer you have to struggle. That means writing, slaving,
struggling,
| suffering, and looking stupid from time to time. If you expect to walk
out of
| Dan Dorkenhausers Technical Writing Certification Programme and get a job
as
| Master Executive Senior Writer making $100,000 a year - dream the hell on.
You
| might as well sell ice to the penguins.
|
| Is a Liberal Arts degree useful? Hell yes. Any degree is useful because it
is
| an accomplishment that is not easily obtained (unless you attend Portland
State
| University). Yet a liberal arts degree does not make you a better
technical
| writer. I took all those liberal arts classes too. It was fun. But it did
not
| help me cope with Windows NT or know how to ask an engineer what virtual
| functions his pathetic excuse for Windows application calls. I had to do
that -
| many times before I got good at it. I also had to screw up royally before
I
| got it right.
<snip>
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stephanie barton
certificate program.
It definetely was *not* like some "mini-course." It also was not *all*
useful, for me at least. But it did make me a better writer and it gave me a
far stronger understanding of the process of tech writing. The thing about
that program, though, was that most people in it were already working as
tech writers and were there, like me, to try to improve their writing and
process skills rather than try to learn the fine points of a technical
field.
I don't think that four year programs in most fields prepare you for the
business world. Of course, I was fine arts major at my college, so I came
into this field from being a graphic designer. Maybe its just the liberal
arts schools. Maybe I'm just bitter because my husband went to West Point
and every company on the planet trips all over themselves trying to get him.
Maybe I'm bitter because I've met 20-year-olds who went to community college
but can pick up technical information like its burned permanently into their
brain and well, maybe I'm just bitter.
But I'm a better writer than my boss now.
""Chuck Martin"" <wri...@best.com> wrote in message
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