New minor in technical communication

-- Jessica Hietala

There’s an option for students who want to enhance their technical writing skills with the new technical communication minor available fall 2009 at Metropolitan State University.

The technical communication minor will require 20 credits, which will include Technical Writing (WRIT 271), Document and Information Design (WRIT 372) and Writing and Designing for the Web (WRIT 573). An additional class or two will be added to the minor by the time it is offered.

“The technical communication minor is an enhancement to a student’s major,” said Victoria Sadler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Technical Communication Program. The minor program is designed to improve students’ practical communication skills by teaching them how to identify their audience and determine the best approach to communicate the information, whether it be a computer document, a Web document or a hard copy. The program will also help them communicate to their peers, bosses and clients.

Students who plan to work in a science lab will have to write about their research and apply for grants. The technical communication minor will help students in scientific fields by teaching them how to communicate through reports and proposals. Math majors will appreciate the minor if they plan on earning a Master of Science in Engineering or working in a technical field.

This minor is helpful to information and computer science students or to computer programmers who need to write documentation. They will learn how to gather data to write a more user- friendly program.

The minor will also be helpful to marketing students in the College of Management by teaching them how to identify their audience and produce the best documents to sell products. “A technical communication minor can also appeal to potential employers,” said Craig Hansen, Ph.D., Director, M.S. in Technical Communication.

The technical communication department also offers bachelor of arts and master of science degrees.

“The M.S. Program, as a graduate program, looks much more deeply into relevant theory,” said Hansen. “In the undergraduate technical communication major, students learn principles of technical communication. In the graduate program, students explore the thinking behind those principles, including their historical and cultural roots.”

Technical communicators work in the insurance industry, medical device companies, aerospace and defense industry, computer hardware and software companies, finance, law and economics. They write instruction manuals, create brochures, catalogs, news releases, presentations and proposals. Some technical writers work freelance for companies who find them positions for only a specific project.

“They tend to be curious, like new information and learning new skills,” said Hansen. “Finally, they have an interest in technology—not always affection for it, but a willingness to learn digital tools.”

In 2007 there were 46,740 technical writers in the United States, 1,080 of them in Minnesota, according to the Society for Technical Communication 2007 Salary Database. The database gives the median annual wage in Minnesota as $59,370. The majority of jobs for technical writers were in Professional, Scientific and Technical Services at 39 percent, followed by Manufacturing at 20 percent and Information at 15.4 percent.

“Can I recommend it—yes, certainly,” said Mark Clifford President for the Society of Technical Communication (2008-2009). He is the owner and CEO for Clifford Sells and is also responsible for business development. “It is one of the few fields where you have transferable skills; constantly learn new techniques, subjects and technologies; can make huge impacts for your company or clients in the way their information is presented, as well as improving their bottom line,” said Clifford,

Steven Jong, a Director at Large for the Society of Technical Communication, has a master’s degree in science communication and works as a documentation manager at Camiant, Inc. a manufacturer of policy control devices for broadband and wireless carriers. He is responsible for the technical documentation and the group of writers who creates it. Since Camiant is a small company he is also responsible for some of the writing. “If you like to write, you can make a good living as a technical writer,” said Jong. “You can’t say that about any other field of writing. It’s as simple as that.”

Lisa Pappas graduated with a master’s degree in technical communication. She is a Director at Large for the Society of Technical Communication and works at SAS Institutes as an accessibility analyst. Pappas works with software testers to look for accessibility issues, with development teams to fix the issues found and with sales to finish accessibility checklists used in procurement. Her responsibilities also include tracking procurement policy changes and emerging technologies that may affect sales and influence market demand. “I remember something poignant I heard from a Fortune 500 V.P.,” said Pappas, “when he graduated, communication was about 25 percent of his job. By the time he reached his current level, strategic communication was 75 percent of his job. I have found that to be true as well.”

A few creative writers started as technical writers. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. who wrote Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions was a technical writer. So were science fiction writers Philip Jose Farmer and Minneapolis born Robert Pirsig, who wrote the autobiography Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Author Amy Tan was a freelance technical writer before writing Joy Luck Club.

A student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication on the Metropolitan State Campus called TC3 offers students opportunities to network, to learn more about technical communication and to get training in computer software. TC3 is open to every student even if they decide not to major or minor in technical communication.

Technical communication connects people to technology. As Craig Hansen points out, “Our students often find themselves as intermediaries between specialized information and the people who need to use it—a role that only seems to grow in the 21st century.”