Gordaen's Blog

At the end of January, I completed my student teaching internship as a senior English teacher at a local high school. Throughout February, I have been looking at job opportunities across Washington, particularly west of the mountains, and the process has caused me to do a lot of thinking. What do I really want to do?

I looked through a list of over fifty video game companies (an industry that has always been interesting to me) in the area, visiting each of their sites to check for relevant job openings. I found myself drawn more toward the jobs with a heavy writing emphasis, and I began to broaden my search. Using sites like Monster and CareerBuilder.com, I discovered my interest in technical writing jobs. They combine my love of writing with my broad technical background, and I have relevant experience with the writing side and, in many cases, the technical side (web development, satellite communications, etc.).

Interestingly enough, the professor I had for a technical writing course at WWU sought me out when another professor needed a technical writer for documenting a new machine/system he had developed with a small team. The job was intriguing, but I was already working for University Residences at the time as a web developer, which was an ongoing job (the technical writing one was through the completion of the project). I responded with my appreciation for my professor thinking of me, but I declined the offer. Now I wonder if that would have been a better fit for me. As a web developer, I spent a significant portion of my time documenting code, processes, meeting notes, to-do lists, and more. I like to keep things organized and often use writing as the vehicle to accomplish that.

Last night I did more job hunting. Some technical writer positions jumped out at me, so I researched more about the companies. Coming across acronyms and terms that I had not encountered before, I suddenly found myself on a Wikipedia binge. It was four in the morning before I acknowledged that I should have been in bed many hours prior. Another half hour or more went by before I had calmed my brain down enough to fall into the world of dreams.

It seems to me that technical writing would be a good fit.