Looking for ways to join our profession? Here are some options! Tune your skills through study. Consider the benefits of joining the ASTC. Contact one of the agencies who specialise in technical communication and information management.

A career in technical communication

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You'll find technical communicators in every industry sector.

• Writing policy and system documentation in industries like the financial services industry
• Developing user guides and Help for PC and web-based applications
• Documenting quality systems and standards
• Producing newsletters and other customer communications
• ... everywhere

Getting a start

Technical communication is an interesting profession.

Technical communicators with 5+ years in the profession have often taken up documentation tasks within their professional discipline such as finance or information technology, found that they enjoyed writing and adopted their writing 'hat'.

However, the profession is also served well by institutions offering degree and diploma courses and many of our younger professionals have communication or journalism qualifications.

Taking those first steps...

Janet Taylor, former President of the ASTC (NSW), put together an informal guide for people at the very beginning of the technical writer chain though Janet's insights are also likely to be of interest to those who are half way up the ladder.

Based on her own experience as a technical communicator, software engineer and business analyst, Janet's notes are worth the read.

Maintaining skills and knowledge

Our own organisation, the ASTC, has proved to be a useful professional umbrella for many people taking up technical communication responsibilities.

Our newsletter and conference maintain a steady information exchange between technical communicators and our organisation is itself a supportive network of highly skilled, open-minded and sharing colleagues.

If you have communication and documentation responsibilities, or if you are interested in working in the technical communication field, use membership of the ASTC to strengthen and build your career skills and knowledge.

The ASTC conference is held every year over a Friday-Saturday, in late October-early November. Check out what an ASTC conference could offer you.

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