Gina Blednyh launched the Technical Communication 2.0 group in Facebook in 2009. It explores the interplay between Web 2.0 and technical communication. It’s a terrific place to exchange ideas about collaborative technologies and new approaches to delivering information. In this interview, I ask her how Technical Writers can use Social Media and the types of content they are likely to deliver.

How Social Media Will Make You A Better Technical Writer

Ivan: Could you tell us about how you got started in technical writing?

Gina: I majored in English, but prior to that I worked for a software company. The field just seemed like an excellent fit for me.

Ivan: You’ve setup a new group for technical writers on Facebook. Could you tell us about this group? How does it differ from a BBS, for example?

Gina: Truthfully, I never participated in a BBS, though I used to lurk. For me, one of the primary differences is the openness and ease of use of a Facebook group–it’s not "just for geeks."

Since I just began the Technical Communication 2.0 group recently, I’m not sure yet if it’s the best way to go. For example, perhaps a group on another social networking site would be more effective. But we’ve had some good discussions already and people are posting useful information.

Ivan: Brian Solis recently said that Social Media will soon become Media. It will no longer be seen as a fad. What impact will Social Media have on how technical writer work?
Gina: Wow–this is a big question! And folks far more knowledgeable than me can provide a better answer. My take is that we technical writers might need to abandon certain ideas of who participates in developing good documentation.

We might also need to expand our ideas of where technical documentation resides.  For example, a community centered around a product might include documentation, conversations between users, and feedback (positive and negative) from these users about the documentation. I don’t see this as "bad" for technical writers, however.

If a community includes both positive and negative comments and is well managed, the result can be more customer satisfaction and far better material. I don’t believe that traditional Help systems and documentation will go away entirely, though.

Ivan: What other technical writers inspire you or help give direction to the way you work?

Gina: I’ve been lucky to work with some wonderful writers and mentors! The ones who inspire me actively engage with the profession but also think about opportunities outside of it.

They embrace change and think about ways that technical communicators can better partner with other departments. Basically, they look forward and don’t waste time reminiscing about how things were done "back in the day."

Ivan: Looking into your crystal ball, how do you see technical writing changing in the next five years?

Gina: Oy Vey! Another big question! I do see technical communicators producing more videos. And in general, I think that we will need to embrace the "technical" part of our job titles more than ever. Offering specialized knowledge will likely be an important quality to offer employers.

Technical Communication 2.0

You can find Gina in the Technical Communication 2.0 group in Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=208713908443

Your Thoughts?

What do you think? Does Social Media pose a threat to the future of technical writers or can we use it to our advantage? Share your thoughts below.

Do you feel loved? Many technical writers feel unloved. They feel they don’t get the respect they deserve. I hear this on LinkedIn and Facebook: “people don’t respect the work I do.” Well, if that’s the case, here are a few ways to get more respect and move into a more rewarding career.

Signs That You Get No Respect

Are you trying too hard?

Define Respect – first, you need to define what you are really looking for? What in others would demonstrate that they respect you? It is financial rewards, credit, acknowledgment or other things. Check that you’re not being over-sensitive or running yourself down. People who don’t respect themselves, never earn respect from others. It’s one long downward cycle.

Getting Bullied – if you feel you’re the butt of their jokes, getting run down, disrespected and ridiculed, then maybe, maybe, maybe there is some bullying going on here. You need to face these people and assert yourself. If you don’t, the same pattern will repeat itself at the next job.

Office Trolls – these people don’t respect anyone. They’re emotional vampires. Don’t take it personally. Even if you do a great job, you’ll never earn their respect. But here’s the thing. Would you want their respect, anyway?

Lack of recognition – if there is a trend/habit of certain staff getting rewarded, while you continually get overlooked, then flag it (be careful – this can back-fire if you’re seeing to be whining) or find ways to address it.

Or just accept that you work with a bunch of jerks!

What to do next

Be active – if your work environment doesn’t see the value in what you do, then get out there and start looking for alternatives. Remember, it’s always easier to get a job when you have a job.

Re-Positioning Yourself – technical writers with 5+ years experience should/could be looking at re-positioning themselves as Content Strategists, Web Content Consultants and other roles where your ‘knowledge’ in more valued. This is where the real money is. It may take you 12-18 months to make this transition but once there the rewards, respects, and career development make it worthwhile.

Perception – Technical writing is often seen by mgt as a service, in the same way that testing, customer support etc are services, i.e. useful but not *always* essential. As long as you’re a writer, people see you as providing a service. And the services industry is very far down the food chain.

Interesting places to look – if you have a taste for adventure, Brazil, Australia, India, China, Poland, Dubai, and others in the Gulf are actively seeking experienced IT professionals. While there are many barriers to moving to these counties, such as language, food, families, health etc, US multi-nationals with offices in these locations can be very supportive of people willing to give it a try. Google, Oracle, IBM, and most of the Nasdaq 100 have offices in Asia. If you’re interested, call them or visit their website. It can’t hurt to look.

What do you think?

What suggestions would you give to someone who wanted to develop their technical writing career or re-position themselves, for example, to move out of documentation and into a new field?

You’ve just been fired. The Technical Writing Dept is closed. What do you do?  This is a fact of life for many people today. Indeed, there is now a real fear that US technical writers will continue to lose their jobs to offshore companies, e.g. India & Poland. And it’s true; it’s the shape of things to come, I’m afraid. But rather than moan about it, let’s look at what you can do to re-invent yourself and find new, lucrative opportunities.

Ivan Walsh's page on Linkedin

I use LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanwalsh) to keep my finger on the pulse with other tech writers. One of the discussions that keeps coming up (in different threads) is the future role of technical writing, especially how they need to ‘re-invent themselves’ or risk getting left behind.

7 Steps to Reinventing Yourself

The first thing is that you have to change your perception of yourself. You’re not a name tag – stop thinking of yourself as a technical writer.

You’re a person who makes a living by developing technical documentation. Stop looking at your job description. Honest, let it go. What services can you offer that others can’t? If you’ve worked in tech comms for 10 years, you must know something that a graduate doesn’t, right? What is it?

1. Define your core strengths – what’s the one skill you have about all others that you can really sell. It may not be writing. For me, it’s creating videos with Camtasia.
2. Develop a social network plan – create base-camps on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media channels. But work especially hard on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanwalsh). This is where the real action is, especially if you want to network. I can’t push this enough. You have to be on LinkedIn.
3. Identify three people you trust – create a small team and go hunting for work. It’s easier to combine your strengths than go alone. This is the single biggest mistakes that people make. Don’t go it alone. Find people that you trust (or can learn to trust) and start a dialogue with them. Baby steps.
4. Endorsements – use these to build credibility and attract new clients. Remember LinkedIn, well these go a long way here. Use these recommendations to build trust. There are 3 of you so it should be easier to swap/exchange contacts and make things happen.
5. Differentiate – if everyone is doing social media, you can be sure there is a gap elsewhere. Here are some ideas.
   1. Adobe PageMaker templates development
   2. PDF to Word conversion
   3. Structured Authoring classes (valuable to business analysts)
   4. Visio diagramming (very popular with consultancy firms as they do lots of business process engineering)
6. Find a project – don’t worry about the money. The key is to get a real live project that you can work together as a team. Use this to land future work.
7. Start now – even if you are fully employed now, you can start today. Get networking. See who you can work with and how you can work together.

Opportunities I see in Asia today

I was asked recently if technical writers today are ‘no more than a commodity’? I know what the person meant; they felt they were being treated like one.

My response was that (said in a very gentle way…) they need to redefine their position as a technical writer or they will fall further and further down the food chain. Not nice, but true.

I did some consultancy with for a large US home appliance-maker here (fridges etc) in Beijing to help them knock their docs into shape. Most were written by Chinese university graduates, smart kids, but who’d never lived in an English-speaking country. The docs, reports, & (some marketing) material all reflected this. There was a lot of rework involved.

Despite the poor quality of these docs, the company has committed to this strategy and will continue to invest here. In the end, the documentation will improve.

Why?

Because western tech writers are coming here, learning some Chinese and working in the trenches. What they’ve learnt will be passed to the Chinese writers in time.

But, for US writers (and those in wealthy western countries) , they need to find ways to move out of the services/commodity area fast — otherwise their salary will continue to fall/stagnate and the opportunities will continue to dry up.

Takeaways

Don’t follow the crowds. Find an area where you can specialize and then dominate it. If possible, extend this into your social media network but keep some things to yourself as others may try to come in and steal your thunder.

3 often works quite well, e.g. a designer, coder and writer. Of course, you can always scale up later.

For me it’s all down to where and how you can ‘add value’.

If you don’t make daily efforts to push forward, you’ll fall behind.

Twitter.com/ihearttechdocs | Facebook.com | Flickr | LinkedIn | Delicious | Google Reader

Yes, I’m that terrible person who interviews technical writers and asks those awkward questions. Here are some of the things I’m looking for when I interview people.

First, companies expect that graduates will have the same (more or less) writing skills – that’s a given. So, what they’re looking for are other qualities.

Such as?

• Problem solving skills – describe a problem you had and how you overcame the issues. Be modest & don’t tie yourself up in knots.
• Collaboration – demonstrate how/where you collaborated with others. I don’t mean email or twitter but, for example, how you took responsibility (“the project was running behind schedule, so we decided to hold a workshop…”) and how this resolved the issue at hand.
• Technologies – talk about an area you have some expertise. Show how this solved problems (always be the person who solves problems and gets things resolved!) and the benefits it offers.
• Memberships – if you’re a member of the STC or local IT group, talk about it. Paint a picture of someone who is savvy, interested in the community and likes to interact.
• Goals – they want you for the long term. Hiring is expensive. Interviews cost money. Describe your career path and where you want to be. Discuss how this company helps you realize your goals.

Can you see the difference this makes?

Instead of hiring a person just because they’re out of work, the company is getting someone who shares their vision.

Interviews – other things to remember

• Who does the interview – many companies don’t have a technical writing team. This means the IT manager (or PM) will do the interview. If this is the case, do your prep work and expect questions about code, schedules and other area.
• Privacy — HR people may ‘hint’ or suggest that you discuss your lifestyle. Keep it simple but be polite.
• Tests – many companies will ask you to do a 45 min test. Expect this. Don’t be alarmed if they pull this out of the bag at the end of the interview. They shouldn’t do this but some people are like that.

Things not to do at your interview

I’m looking for someone to write documents – someone who is low maintenance. You need to be that person. With that in mind, don’t:

• Arrive late – give yourself time to part the car, find the office, have a drink and calm down, especially if it’s a long drive to get there. Have a light snack (e.g. banana) before going in.
• Wear heavy cologne or perfume. In a small room, it can be over-whelming
• Eat garlic or other such foods before the interview. See above. Mouth freshener never hurt.
• Run down your previous employer. If reflects poorly on you and makes you look petty. Talk them up.

“It’s a great company but I want to move into XYZ, so I thought I’d speak to you.”

Be the type of person you’d like to hire.

Steer clear of the following:

• Religion
• Politics
• Gossip
• Extreme ideologies
• Age
• Family

None of these are their business. Allude to them, e.g. your family, if you wish but keep it brief. Don’t get too buddy-buddy. This is an interview. Keep it professional.

and then…

• Ask questions. This is the single biggest mistake interviewees make. They don’t ask questions. They think that being silent shows respect. Of course it does, but open up. You must have questions. Ask them. I want to hear what you think of the company.
• Show your interest. I used to print out the company annual report and discuss sections with the interviewers (when looking for work) – this blew them away.
• Quote things for their site.
• Talk about the company — as though you already worked for them.
• Social Media — have you joined their Facebook page? Do you follow them on Twitter. If not, why?

Don’t think of yourself as just a technical writer. You’re a potential asset to the company and if THEY make the right decision, they will hire you!

See the difference?

What the most difficult question you were asked at an interview? What is the biggest mistake you made at an interview?

Jing Pro lets you make a high-definition video recording of what you see on your PC, which you can then email, Twitter, send to Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube. It’s brilliant. But, there’s a catch. There a free versions (which does most everything) and a premium version.

So, if the free version is so good, should you upgrade?

There are some limitation and restrictions on Jing Pro.

Jing  Pro Limitations

Here’s a few to start with.

Tip: Complete list of features is here.

1 It doesn’t let you edit proxy settings within the JING application. So, if you are behind a firewall or need to reconfigure on the road, it may get tricky.

2. You can’t use it as a standalone app without connecting to Screencast.com.

3. You need to be online as it’s web-based. Fine at work but not much good when you don’t have web access or if the web goes down.

4. When it does go down, you need to re-enter your username and password again. This became such a pain for me that I stopped using it and went back to SnagIt.

5. There is still a 5 minute limitation. So, if you’ve video is more than this, you’re out of luck.

Jing  Pro Advantages

The Pro version is fine if you don’t want to upgrade to Camtasia Studio but want an easy-to-use video-capturing software, for sharing videos on YouTube/Facebook.

Jing is very good at what it does and for $15 per year is not so expensive.

For light-weight users, the Free version should be fine. You can take nice screenshots, small videos and upload to Screencast.com which also offers 2 GB of storage space.

On the downside, the Free version support only SWF format while Jing Pro supports SWF ands MPEG-4 video, which is required for YouTube HD.

Should you buy the Pro version?

No.

Of all the limitations the 5 minute restriction is the biggest barrier. Actually, this is the main reason I have not signed up. If this was raised to 15 minutes, then yes, I’d signup. But 5 minutes is too short!

Simon makes this point on the blog: “In the above “94 Comments” 5 min is mentioned over 50 times … I think that you should listen to the user group and as I stated before: “drop the time limit on the Pro version and you will make conversions of people from free version to Pro version, and at the end of the day some $$$”

Matt adds “great job with the Jing project. The idea for allowing users to cut down videos to 5 minutes is a good alternative. The problem you may face is losing the beauty of simplicity that Jing offers and still leaves the 5 minute constraint.”

But the bottom line is that the 5 minute time limitation is a show-stopper.

Leonardos Bardelotto says that “5 min is bad, but they want to sell the Camtasia for bigger time and much more money.”

I agree.

This is the real limitation on this product. I‘ve flagged it on their site. Most others seem to agree and have encouraged them to make it free to get more market share.

There are so many free apps out there that charging for this – and the overheads that go with it – don’t seem to justify this decision.

But, it’s they’re product.

What do you think? Have you tried it yet?

PS: here is a quick list of the key features

• Screenshots directly to Snagit where you can edit the image.
• Publish it Screencast.com where you can store, file, organize and track the videos.
• Edit Jing created screencasts in Camtasia Studio. You can also combine multiple videos into a single video, or string several together with a table of contents.
• Create different Jing folders on Screencast.com, by topic/project/client.
• Adjust the video’s size to fit your blog or website.
• Centralize conversations and comments with the new commenting feature.
• Annotate captured images with arrows, callouts, text and highlights to add emphasis
• Narrate Jing-recorded screencast videos for even greater clarity before sharing
• Generate HTML code to so you can embed it on your blog or website
• Customize the sharing buttons so those they use most are only a click away.
• Screencasts are delivered in HD-quality video for the Web
• Jing logos and links are removed from the start and end of newly-recorded videos.
• Publish directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler and MSN Video, Flickr
• Jing Pro produces MPEG-4 AVC video files for Flash delivery with H.264+AAC compression.