November 2015

Welcome to our November newsletter. We report on the UX Conference held recently in Wellington, and issue our Annual Salary Survey - with a prize. Earnsy Liu looks at research into user forums and the role for technical communicators. Meanwhile Steve Moss and Sue Woolley have been at the TWIA Conference in Melbourne and report back.

We continue the series on making the transition from journalism to Tech Comm - this time with a recruiter's perspective - and we showcase two recent TechCommNZ blog posts.

From the President

This month I report on the UX Conference, which was a chance to meet members, promote TechCommNZ, and learn from some fantastic speakers. Events coming soon include the Plain English Award presentations, and the TechCommNZ AGM in Auckland. And - don't forget to complete our Salary Survey and be in the draw to win!

Salary Survey Time - Win, Win, Win!

The Annual TechCommNZ Salary Survey is open again, and once again this year, all survey responders who provide their email address will go in the draw at midday on the 16 December 2015 to win a $100 Prezzy Card.

Is there a role for Technical Communicators in help forums?

‘Google first; manual maybe never.’ In this article, Earnsy Liu outlines research on why users turn to help forums and what moderating forums entails, before concluding that technical writers would make good moderators.

Content is King: TWIA Conference Report

The annual TWIA conference was held in Melbourne this year for the first time. At the customary Sydney venue, the conference normally attracts around 40 to 50 technical communicators – this year it attracted nearly 70 and the organisers even had to turn away last-minute registrations! Apparently a considerable number of participants were non-members of TWIA, so word of the conference and TWIA’s activities is clearly getting around the Victorian tech comms community. Steve Moss and Sue Woolley report on proceedings.

Career Transitioning from Journalism: Getting the Interview

As a regular recruiter of technical writers, Emma Harding (Writing Team Manager at Streamliners) shares her perspective on switching careers from journalism to technical writing - drawing on some interesting comments from abroad to encourage journalists to take care with their cv.