Bidding Good Bye to the year 2009!

“If it didn't bring you joy

just leave it behind
Let's ring in the new year
with good things in mind

Let every bad memory
that brought heartache and pain
And let's turn a new leaf
with the smell of new rain

Let's forget past mistakes
making amends for this year
Sending you these greetings
to bring you hope and cheer”

These are some of the wonderful lines from a beautiful poem that I found while I was searching the Internet. Yes, it is true that the year 2009 is about to end, and the countdown has just begun. We have just few days before the year 2009 will hand over the baton to the New Year, 2010. Everyone must have some very good and few bad memories in the year 2009. So, let’s just forget the bad ones but just let us just ensure that we won’t commit those again in the New Year. So, what is it that we can do to ensure that we as Technical Writers can do better in this industry, and be upbeat with others? Is there any mantra to succeed, and have a dream job? What is the kind of job that we should look forward to in the New Year? These are some of the questions that you must be wondering while you are bidding farewell to the year 2009, and that whether the New Year will be good for the Technical Writing market. There are few things that you can do in any situation to have a dream job. Let us discuss some of them in this article.

1. Go networking!
Network! Network! Network!
This is the new mantra now for getting hired as a technical writer. And, by network, I don’t meant to say LAN, WAN, and MAN.. ..What I mean to say is that you need to join a social networking group in Technical Writing. Though, there are so many such groups available in LinkedIn, TWI, TWIN, and so on. But, it is you who have to decide which to choose from. Of course, the best one up till now is STC because it gives you an opportunity to interact with technical writers around the globe. It might consume your time when you busy with your work pressure and meeting deadlines. But, lest ensured, it will reap you results sooner or later. By networking, you might not get hired in your dream job but it will definitely give you a chance to expand yourselves as you will come in contact with many people, which will help you in your career growth. And to add to it, these social networking groups also include many reputed employers.

So, Go Networking from the day ONE of the New Year. Join a Technical Writing social networking group.

2. Jack of all, and master of ONE
You must have heard of this phrase many times now. But what is really means is that you need to master in one tool that you have been using throughout your career, and become an expert. But, at the same time, you need to gain some knowledge and hands on experience on almost all the major tools that technical writers use. Of course, you might be wondering that how is it possible to learn each and every tool when there are so many tools available in the market. But, you can at least learn those tools that are the most demanding ones in the market.

So, Master one tool but become a Jack of all the tools.

3. Build your resume
In order to have your dream job, you must create your resume in a manner that it impresses the employers first hand. And, to do this, you must include some of your best projects that you have undertaken throughout your career. Do not forget to include the following things while including the project details:

• Project name
• Project description
• Client you worked on for the project
• Domain that you worked on
• Skills / tools you used in the project
• And most importantly, the role you played in the project and the team size.
  

4. Stay ahead of the rest, and be qualified
Though, you might be working as a technical writer; but, you also need to ensure that you always stay ahead of the others as the skills sets change continuously. For instance, today you might be working in Framemaker but tomorrow there might be some other tool in the market that may become a “Hot” requirement for employers. So, you need to just take time out to find out the latest tools and techniques used in technical writing. As I said earlier, you can do this if you have joined any social networking groups such as STC or TWIN. You need to subscribe to any industry magazines where you can find any specific specialty such as software, hardware, or engineering. You must learn on the latest tools, and get yourself equipped with latest technologies in technical writing otherwise you might just fade away.

5. Get yourself acclaimed
Start the New Year by getting acclaimed in whatever you do whether it is into writing an article for a newsletter or volunteering for a position in a social networking group. Getting acclaimed might not necessarily find you a dream job but it will definitely give you a sense of satisfaction. Rather, it will also put you in contact with professionals in your field who can recommend you, and give you advice about companies and the career paths that you can choose from. Volunteer for a position that you feel it’s appropriate for you. For example, you can choose to interview a renowned personality whom you feel has brought laurels to the field of Technical Writing, and get it published in a magazine. You can also become a design a layout of a newsletter or a magazine if you are really creative or join a coordinating committee in a social networking group to organize various meet-ups, workshops, seminars, and so on technical writing.

6. Master the Interview
Job Interviews are arduous and it’s hard to match with the requirements of the interviewer. But, we can at least try our best by remembering the basics and stay confident in what we do at the present. These days, most interviews happen over the telephone so we will not know the facial expression of the interviewer. So, here we are with a drawback while facing an interview. The key lies in to believe in one self, and do not ever lie or amplify your skills. You should stay positive about your abilities. Remember, if you stay honest then you may get your dream job as compared to when you are dishonest with the interviewer.

Conclusion

Let us just summarize whatever we have discussed so far

1. Go networking!

2. Jack of all, and master of ONE

3. Build your resume

4. Stay ahead of the rest, and be qualified

5. Get yourself acclaimed

6. Master the Interview

While, there is no sure shot way to get a dream job as a technical writer but the things we discussed will get you at least closer to your dream job. If you apply these methods in the year 2010, then it might increase your chances to succeed in the career of technical writing.