Season 2 - Job Search and Career Advancement

Aren't we always looking for those amazing tips that can improve our chances of getting our next big gig? It all starts with that critical document  - the resume. 

In this debut episode of Season 2, Jack Molisani shares some great insights into the dos and don'ts of things to put on your resume. 

Some things that we cover:

• What is an objective versus a summary, and when do you use one or the other?
• When do you use a functional versus a chronological resume?
• How do you get the experience and show it on your resume if you are switching careers?

Listen to the episode to find a hidden gift. You don't want to miss it.

Guest Bio

Jack Molisani is an STC Fellow, a member of the STC Nominating Committee, and the President of ProSpring Technical Staffing, an employment agency specializing in content professionals (both contract and perm): https://ProspringStaffing.com

He’s also the author of Be The Captain of Your Career: A New Approach to Career Planning and Advancement, which hit #5 on Amazon’s Career and Resume Best Seller list.

Jack also produces The LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and TechComm Management, which will be virtual this year in October: https://LavaCon.org

My biggest supporter and life partner, Iqbal Mutabanna, decided to interview me for the last episode of Season 1. So here I am in a candid conversation, sharing my professional journey with you.

We will pivot in Season 2 that launches in the second week of August. Stay tuned. 

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy my episode :)

Tina Davis, CSM has done a little bit of everything - from teaching dance, working as a television editor to being an entrepreneur. Like many of us, she chanced upon the field of technical writing. Tina sought out the best education opportunity to put her on a road to success - and success she did find in her second career of choice. In this episode, she
shares her journey into the world of nonprofits. If you are interested in working for a nonprofit, tune into this episode as Tina shares some great tips on how writers can find interesting gigs in this sector. 

Guest Bio

Tina’s career path and interests have been long and varied, including positions as a television news producer, marketing associate, and owner of her own event organization business. She is currently a Product Specialist with the non-profit organization Both Ends Believing, and is a proud graduate of the University of North Texas (B.A. in Professional and Technical Communication and B.A. in English) and the University of Florida (B.S. in Telecommunication). She lives with her husband in Richardson, TX, and can be found working on her personal creative projects and puttering in her garden. 

Laurel Beason has covered the journey from journalism to technical writing, and everything in between.  If you are new to the field and would like to find out how you can move forward with the "think-forward" mindset, then tune in. In this episode, we chat about:

• The transferable skills that you can leverage to transition from journalism to technical communication.
• What is on-demand writing and how do you do it?
• How does the inverted pyramid from journalism apply to technical writing?

Guest Bio

Laurel Beason has earned her living as a professional writer for over 30 years. She started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Pacific Northwest and transitioned into technical writing after moving to Dallas in the mid-90s. She worked at Fidelity Investments, Brinks Inc., and Cisco, creating a wide range of deliverables and supporting a wide range of products. At Cisco, she was promoted into management and was at one point leading 42 writers in seven time zones. For the past two years, she worked in academia, teaching senior-level technical communication courses. Teaching was a life goal and a rewarding experience, but Laurel "missed the real world" and has, since, returned to high tech. Laurel wants to encourage tech comm professionals to give back by teaching and will share a few tips for success.

Sree Pattabiraman's journey is one of exciting twists and turns. She graduated with a degree in commerce but found her first break in technical writing. Today, Sree is a rising leader in the field of technical communication. She is a DITA guru, a speaker at several events, and a role model to anyone who wants to make it in the field.

Sree shares her amazing story that started "back home" in India and her pursuit for excellence that brought her to the land of opportunity. I am sure her story will resonate with many of you.

Guest Bio

Sree Pattabiraman is a Senior Technical Writer at Extreme Networks, Inc., where she manages software and hardware documentation in the wireless networking products domain. An alumna of the North Carolina State University, Sree has worked on global teams and is an active STC volunteer.
 
In her free time, Sree loves to travel, explore local restaurants in and around the Carolinas, and run her micro food blog.

This space does little justice to the guest I am about to introduce. But here it is...

Altaf Tyrewala is the author of the critically acclaimed books, No God in Sight and Engglishhh: Fictional Dispatches from a Hyperreal Nation. He has also edited the crime-fiction collection, Mumbai Noir. Altaf's works have been published and anthologized worldwide.

In this tete-a-tete, Altaf shares his journey that merges e-learning and creative writing. He shares an interesting perspective of how the trifecta of communication, technology, and education have always been front and center of everything he's done, and how this trifecta has contributed to his awe-inspiring career.

Guest Bio

Altaf Tyrewala is the author of three fiction books and editor of a crime fiction anthology. His works have been translated into Marathi, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Italian. He was awarded the DAAD Artist-in-Berlin literature grant in 2011 and served as Director of Chandigarh Literature Festival in 2013-14. He lives in Dallas and works as a Learning Manager for a multinational.

Opinions expressed in this podcast are solely his own and do not express the views or opinions of his employer.

Teresa Nguyen has navigated the fields of journalism and tech comm in the not-so-distant past. She currently practices UX research. In this episode, Teresa shares some amazing insights on how she leveraged her transferable skills and the common "through-line" of human experience to weave through these intersecting fields. 

Guest Bio

https://www.linkedin.com/in/technicallyt

Ron Gardner pursued a degree in agricultural journalism, but "fell" into technical writing.  Ron shares how his background in journalism, some sprinkling of "schmoozing", and bootstrapping have contributed to his long and successful career in technical communication. Ron also talks about the inverted pyramid to "trim the fat" from your writing. Now, aren't you intrigued?

Guest Bio
Ron Gardner has been a technical writer for over 20 years. He graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station with a BS in Agricultural Journalism. 

His first job out of college was as a QA analyst and technical writer for a small start-up, and he has been technical writing ever since. 

He really enjoys being a technical writer and loves learning new things and connecting with people as part of his job. He currently is the Lead Technical Writer for a healthcare software company in the Dallas area. 

He lives in McKinney, TX, with his wife, Shannon, and four cats.

Timothy suggests that no matter what profession you belong to, you are doing technical writing at some level. Drawing from this philosophy, he shares an interesting perspective on how his nursing students became invested in tech comm after taking an introductory tech comm course. Understanding the nuanced difference between audience and user can be the difference between good and bad communication. Listen in for a fascinating conversation from an academic and practitioner who brings a 360-degree view of the field.

Guest Bio

Dr.  Timothy Ponce holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in Literature, as well as an MA and BA in English from Sam Houston State University. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer of Technical Writing and Professional Design and Coordinator of Internships in the Department of English at the University of Texas Arlington. While his doctoral research focused on perceptions of heroism in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, he has since published and presented papers focused on technical communication, writing pedagogy, literary pedagogy, and curricular accreditation. He also serves as a board member at the Society for Technical Communication Loan Star Chapter, as well as on grant review committees for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

He currently lives in Mansfield, Texas with his wife, daughter, and poodle. In his spare time, he enjoys baking, sewing, painting, quilting, hiking, and vegetable gardening.

I happened to attend a webinar of Steve Wiseman, titled "Beyond the Publication - Bringing the World of Technical Communication and Enterprise Content Strategy Together". In this webinar, Steve discusses what content strategy is, the relationship between content strategy and helping organizations scale, and how the technical communication content creation and iteration process is valuable across the organization.

You will hear references to this webinar in this episode as the primary theme continues in our conversation. Steve refers to technical writers as the "beacon of content". He shares some amazing tips on how technical writers can help businesses by leveraging your existing skills and know-how. It is a matter of recognizing how your skills lend to the overall business value and going after it.

Guest Bio

Steve Wiseman has over 25 years of experience in the documentation field having run his own writing company, and providing consultancy and writing services to both small and enterprise customers. He has also worked in implementing customer service platforms. His unique outlook covers CX, support, and where that all fits in the technical writing world. Steve can be reached at [email protected].