Lately I’ve been experiencing a deep disatisfaction with my previously chosen career (chemical engineering), mostly for the lifestyle that it has entailed (long hours in remote locations). It pays well but I can tell I’m going to burn out if I try and do this forever.
What I have found since university is that I’ve gotten the most satisfaction from writing, be it for report writing, or for a website that I write,essentially movie criticism, a real passion for me. Now I’ve been working with the other people that write and maintain this site to try and make it paying, but I can’t rely on this and Technical Writing seems a bit more practical. I’m willing to go back to school if needed, but I’m wondering what’s the best way to go about this. A straight English degree? Communications? Journalism? With degrees in Chem Eng and Chemistry, do I even need to go back?
You shouldn’t need to go back if you have degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry and you have the writing skills. Granted, you may be limited to technical writing jobs that involve chemistry for a while.
Your degrees seem sufficient. Most tech writers just have degrees in the science they decide to write about. Many even cross over.
Back when I was deciding what to go to school for, one of my initial choices was to be a technical writer. Then I realized that you make more doing research in a lab (say with chemistry) than you do writing. However, many technical writers do it as a part time job or freelance.
I’ve been a tech writer for nearly 20 years. Most of my work has involved computers in one way or another, but I’ve also worked with automotive manuals, speech copy, and various promotional materials. If you can write well, specialized skills like yours should help you good some good jobs – freelance or full-time – in the chemical industry.
I’m a member of the Society for Technical Communication, aka STC. You may want to check out their Website for info about tech writing and various job opportunities.www.stc.org
IMO the best education would be a degree in communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (expensive, though). They may also have programs for working professionals, but I’m not sure.
Other options would be Carnegie-Mellon or the University of Washington.
I’d second the STC - find the local branch and go to one of their meetings. This will let you talk with tech writers and find out if this is what you really want to do. Another option is subscribing to the techwr-l mailing list at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/index.php3. The site itself is also rather useful.
Many colleges offer Masters degrees in tech writing (or at least professional writing) if you wanted to take that route, but it isn’t necessary. The advantage of that is it gives you opportunities to do some writing, and the degree looks nice on the CV/resume and gives you some legitamacy.
Your engineering background carries a lot of weight in technical writing circles. Network via STC or IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) chapters in your area and build up your portfolio.
The best schooling to enhance your skills would be an intro to psychological counseling or something similar. You will be working with folks, and teams riddled with people who need lots of compassion and understanding. The better you can get them to communicate, the better your written output will become. And your clients will request your services more frequently.