All the Write Moves
According to the Newton’s theory of inertia, an object remains in its current state unless acted upon by an external force. This tendency to remain in the current state is called inertia, which also translates to inaction and lethargy. No, this is not a physics paper. I was thinking why the technical writers would choose to move to a new role: this article reviews common reasons (why move), and discusses practices (when and how to move) to sustain consistent growth in one’s career and insulate it from potential layoffs. Be warned, the topic is emotional and so is this article.
Why Move?
Now, let’s identify the forces that act upon your career and force you to break free of inertia, by choice or otherwise. There are no prizes for guessing the biggest factor – growth in terms of role, payment, and recognition. Whether you’re in your first job or trying to befriend the board of directors of an organization for the CEO post, seeking growth is as universal as looking for a good spouse. The difference, everyone knows the latter is just too much to ask for!
Change is the only constant thing. It’s no different at work. No matter how well you stick to a routine, there are always surprises. The comfort zone is shrinking – the product you’re documenting is scraped without notice, cost-cutting measures are announced, co-workers leave, and so on. At some point where you cannot cope up with the pace, you may begin thinking about moving. That’s when you’re caught in a ripple effect – you lose interest in your current role, it affects your performance, you’re looking for a new role (often outside of your organization), and finally, things don’t work out any longer. Then, you’ve to move – there is no looking back.
When to Make a Move?
There are no rules to decide a good time to move to a different role. However, if your answer to any of the following questions (symptoms) is yes, it’s probably time you start thinking about it. Of course, if you really enjoy your work and none of these questions bother you, then you may stay put – you truly belong to a rare species!
- Are you too good at work (you’ve received multiple awards)?
- Have you learnt and done it all (you get bored of your work or you’re able to finish it quickly)?
- Have you been in the current position for far too long (everyone knows you and your work)?
- Do you have a burning desire to learn something new or work on a particular thing (experiment with too many software or tools, you browse through forums and RSS feeds all day long)?
- Is there an interesting role you wish to pursue (you like someone’s work)?
Now, How to Make a Move?
You’ve made a decision to move and you wonder how to deal with the next things to do. How about going through the pointers below? The pointers help you shortlist interesting roles and provide you with a few means to decide on the exact role you wish to pursue. In the context of assuming a new role, you may notice some of these pointers also guide you to excel at the new role, and avoid being laid off to a large extent.
Choose a Field (Domain)
Choosing your field of work is crucial. No matter what position or role you assume, you may find it hard to survive for long if the chosen field is not to your liking.
New field: Assume that for most of your career, you’ve been documenting engineering products. Just because an online software company has a huge market share, would you want to be hired by that company? You may be out of place, fighting for survival, while documenting products based on Internet technologies.
Better approach: On the other hand, assume that you had been learning and volunteering some of your efforts to document software while you were with the engineering company. You may do well if you’re hired by the software company. Your manufacturing domain experience may actually be an asset.
Related field: Continuing with the same example, after a while, you would be a specialist in documenting software products. You now have an option to choose a role of documenting hardware products that run on software. You primary role may not change. You may find such opportunities in your current organization or externally, in which case, you would move laterally.
Follow Trends
Most of us are deterred by the exponential spread of information and are intimidated by its magnitude. Fortunately, there are simple tools to work your way around it, and with a little effort, spot clear and emerging trends. Yes, anyone can analyze the market and crunch data. You just have to look for it – it is begging to be used to make informed decisions. Why follow the trends? The idea is to be at the right place (role, domain, company) – at the right time, as often as you can.
Try this: Google search for keywords like technical communication, writing, help authoring tool, documentation, and so on. Grab top ten results that show up and dig deeper – most of them point to many related blogs or portals. In an aggregator (such as Google Reader), subscribe to as many RSS (or atom) feeds as you possibly can. Go to the top level and view the topics of all subscriptions. Notice the common keywords and the direction of topics.
Though you do bump into speed breakers, or junk, more often than not, you’re bound to see the big picture. Consider this: you’re consolidating news, ideas, views and all other types of content from all over the world in one place. For example, the content comes from vendors developing documentation software, companies and managers buying the software, industry groups making standards for the future, and above all – from several other professionals like you who are ultimately affected for the good or otherwise. Isn’t it amazing what you could do with little thoughts and ideas?
Sharpen Skills
With trend analysis over a period of time, you get a sense of in-demand skills (tools, domains). However, the fundamental knowledge always remains as essential as ever. It is, therefore, important to identify and aim to get a good grip of fundamentals, as well as be in sync with the next big thing. Always sharpen your skills regardless of whether you working, or otherwise.
When I’m reading a blog or a book review, I often read the profiles of the authors upfront. I do the same thing with published articles, especially, the Intercom and the Technical Communication Journal. In the STC publications, the brief bio of the authors mentions their current and past roles, education, honors and achievements, and a reference to their websites or blogs. In the case of the journals, there is also a list of referenced works. For me, that is a ton of information about successful professionals, how they shaped their careers, and their fields of interest. Many of them are my role models – I just have to choose and follow something that interests me!
Shortlist and Experiment
There is no sure method to choose from the various roles that interest you, and there is no such thing as a perfect role. The only best way to find is to experiment rapidly, and eliminate choices that don’t excite you. Some things you can do to get the feel of the role and the tasks involved:
- Get your hands dirty; download trials; work on it (write documentation, setup content management system, and version control).
- Discuss with professionals (forums, groups, and blogs).
- Know the pros and cons.
- Know the potential career growth paths.
- Find potential impact of recession (identify trends and news).
Making the Write Move
You’re the best person to make decisions for yourself. Read as much information and talk to as many people you wish to, but don’t let anything influence your decision. Nobody knows you better than yourself, isn’t it?
Well, it seems to be an era where the Jacks of all trades flourish and do well. Being a specialist certainly has its merits, but greater risks and isolation. It doesn’t seem like a good time to place all your eggs into one basket, neither is it wise to have eggs all over the place. Rather, be a specialist at one or two things (tools, language), and be familiar with four to six other things (online help, domains, open source) that are doing well in the market. It certainly looks like we’ve too many eggs on our plates! In my friend Panda’s words, we cannot change the world; we’ve to change ourselves.
