I am thinking of going back to school. Again.
Some of you might remember last year when I failed calculus pretty decisively during my first semester of what was possibly going to be a computer science degree. I think I left out the actual failing part, but that’s what happened. That was an online class, though–I know I could have done it in a traditional class.
I’m driven by a couple of things–I want to keep advancing in tech comm or just build something new, and I just plain want to keep learning. I know there are other ways to avoid career plateaus than by going back to school. There are other ways to get technical skills. I can dream up plenty of innovative projects that don’t necessitate me taking a class, right? The thing is, I keep feeling this nagging limitation.
What if I want to build something completely different?
It’s like when I was trying to write songs, and I could sing, but I can’t play an instrument. I know there are singers who do it, but for me it was frustrating. I could find musicians to play with, but I wanted more input. So I learned enough guitar to sketch some songs.
Is it me or the tech comm industry that is at a plateau?
At the companies where I’ve worked (and from talking to people, this doesn’t seem uncommon) documentation is a by-product that is approached later in the product cycle, when the product is stable, and past the point at which people have any energy for the all the benefits it can offer if one is innovative.
When I talk about personas, and sales opportunities, they look at their watches and wonder why I am not just writing it, already. I’m becoming pretty well-versed in the benefits of good user documentation that is part of a larger strategy, but there simply doesn’t seem to be much space for making the argument.
So, I’m going to need more credibility.
And more technical skill. Where I’m at now, the product people and even some of the marketing people are engineers. My impression is that they think personas are cute, at best.
Some of that will be alleviated by me getting more experience. People out there are doing these innovative things with tech comm, and seeing the benefits, and it’s the company that’s missing out when I fail to get the message across, or when they just don’t have ears to hear it. But when the rest of the features in the product are being built based on intuition and domain expertise, why should I expect the help to get treated to more empirical methods?
I’m not oblivious to the fact that I got all wound up like this last time, and that it might pass as soon as I get another project that’s shiny to me.
For now, it’s giving me plenty of blog post ideas.
This is the question I want to answer: do advanced degrees (or additional degrees) for technical communicators pay off?
This can be broken into several parts/posts: how much do technical communicators make with various bachelor degrees or less, how much more do they make with additional degrees, how is that different in different parts of the U.S. and in different parts of the world? How do the degrees contribute to other factors of job satisfaction? Which degrees help the most for which jobs? Do other skills or circumstances play a bigger role in salary and satisfaction?
In the meantime, I’m looking at Illinois Institute of Technology or Illinois State for one of these degrees:
- Graduate Certificate in Systems Analysis
- MS or BS in Information Architecture (not sure which makes more sense, yet)
- BS in Computer Science
Squee!
Are the IIT and Illinois State programs online or on-site programs? People I know in Tech Com seems to have all sorts of degrees, although several I know through STC Atlanta have BS or MS degrees in Professional and Technical Communications from the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) in Marietta GA, an Atlanta suburb. Some have journalism, computer science, engineering, English, History, Education, MBAs, and a variety of others.
I have a BS in Scientific Writing from IIT, but they only offered it on the undergrad level for a few years before discontinuing it. They offered the corresponding Masters in Scientific Information for a longer period. The masters program required a technical undergraduate degree, essentially the same coursework I had in the undergrad program, and a Thesis or Masters project. My boss at the R&D institute where I worked after graduation wrote the organization’s style guide as his thesis project.
Whatever you choose, pick a course and college where you will enjoy learning, feel challenged, like the faculty, and scratch your itches. No one can predict whether a masters will make you more money in the future, so the program should provide other kinds of satisfaction while you’re in it. In today’s economy, employers may be shunning candidates with higher degrees, because many are trying to low-ball salaries or contract rates, and watching their bottom lines. In other words, don’t do it just for the money.
Another FYI: Lately, I have seen ads for business analyst/technical writers, so companies are beginning to realize that their product and design specs need to be professionally prepared, so systems analysis may be a viable way to go.
In the software development industry advanced degrees rarely translate to more money or respect. Take a look at your company to see how many programmers with masters degrees work for managers with a BS or no degree at all. I bet you’ll find quite a few. This really stems from the fact that while Computer Science as a curriculum is the underlying foundation to computer programming it doesn’t directly translate into the day to day skills that will propel your career. Programming is an art not a science. So good programmers have developed the talent of programming over time by practicing the art. Don’t get me wrong, I have a BS in Computer Science and that foundation has served me well in my career but most of my day to day skills were developed after I graduated. If you want to garner more respect from the developers you may try writing a program. Walk a mile in their shoes as the saying goes. Then you can relate to them. As for a whether Computer Science or Information Science degree is better, keep in mind that IS degrees are a general overview of Information Technology as a whole. i.e. hardware, telecom, networks, etc… so it applies much less to software development than does a CS degree. If you do pursue a CS degree then don’t worry about scraping a C in Calculus. For most business software development it is rarely used and when it is the formulas are predetermined for you. After all that I must tell you that the best technical writer I ever worked with wasn’t technical at all. He had a degree in Biology. He said he learned to write by spending all his time writing grant applications as a Biologist. What made him so good was that he labored to really understand the software and then translate it to a non technical user. So strive to be the best at what you do and the respect will come. Don’t sweat trying to get the programmers to understand personas. That’s like a programmer trying to get you to understand his data connection. It isn’t something that needs to be understood outside of the specialty.
I’ve been meaning to tell you both that your comments helped me put this in perspective. I’m looking into the programs in my area (Information Architecture or Design are the current front runners), but I feel calmer about it. I’ve got projects going and experience piling up as I go–I’m not doing the same things as I was doing last year, and I’m getting more technical expertise, too. Your comments helped me feel more satisfied about that.
I do still have some intellectual “itches.” Lots of them. I suspect some will get scratched and some won’t. I read this post by Gwen Bell about getting math tutoring, and it inspired me to come back and reply to your thoughtful comments. Thanks for cheering me on.
Information Design is becoming increasingly important. It’s hard to do well– it’s a fusion of graphic design and quantitative information (I’m “ok” at it). You might want to read “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” or “Envisioning Information” by Edward Tufte.
(sorry this is so short! i’m sick and my head is all spacey!)