Well, I had my first class last night for my (supposed) technical writing certificate program. The prof was not very impressive, though she does have a good deal of experience in the field, which is important. There are about 12 in the class, mostly older male career types, and 3 women.
It went pretty well I thought. The students seem very knowledgeable and I hope to learn what I can from them and their ideas and expertise. We have to do a group project, and we got into our groups for the last 20 minutes of class. Class is 3 hours long with a short break halfway through.
The class is not for credit and it is pass/fail, which takes some pressure off, I suppose. I'm trying to ease back into college after having taken a year hiatus. I'm not trying to do too much at once.
Like I said, the students have real-world experience as technical writer types; as professionals with careers . One lady, perhaps in her 30s, is an editor. She sounded really competent and advanced and, like I say, I do hope to learn what I can from her and the others. It's a good course to feel out this field and see how I might fit it into a career.
I learned that technical writing is actually a very broad term. Basically, it simply refers to writing done on the job. That's the simplest definition. On the job/in a business environment - as opposed to in academia, which is how we all learn how to write. Technical writing is thus good to learn if you want to wean yourself away from that tedious, occasionally pompous and often verbose academic style [sic], toward a more utilitarian method of putting down information.
So that's what I've been doing! Any who read this blog can know what I'm up to!
-d.g.w. 4/12/07
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