Technical Communication

College Majors Science Majors
1

<p>I'm planning on attending Arizona State (go ahead, poke fun) and if I don't get into something business related, I was looking at the B.S. in Technical Communication. I enjoy writing and am pretty good in terms of technology. I original planned on majoring in Journalism, but with the lack of jobs, I decided against it.</p>

<p>I have to admit, I've never really heard of many schools offering a degree in Technical Communication. I've mostly just seen certificates. Anyone have any insight or advice in terms of it?</p>

2

<p>Technical communication… try electrical engineering, that might be what you’re looking for. it is all about the technology of communication.</p>

3

<p>I am not sure that we understand what you mean by technical communication- I think the above commenter thinks you want to study how media is transported eg. telecommunications etc. It sounds like you might be interested in technical or science writing. If that is closer to what you’re interested in, you could investigate it at the website of national association of science writing [National</a> Association of Science Writers](<a href=“http://www.nasw.org/]National”>http://www.nasw.org/) This resource has training workshops, freelance opportunities, mentoring programs etc</p>

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<p>[Technical</a> Writing Careers — Answering 13 Questions about Technical Writing Jobs | I’d Rather Be Writing](<a href=“http://idratherbewriting.com/2008/02/16/technical-writing-careers-answering-13-questions-about-technical-writing-jobs/]Technical”>Technical Writing Careers -- Answering 13 Questions about Technical Writing Jobs | I'd Rather Be Writing Blog and API doc course)</p>

<p>[Welcome</a> to the Society for Technical Communication](<a href=“http://www.stc.org/Index.asp?]Welcome”>http://www.stc.org/Index.asp?)</p>

<p>[Technical</a> writer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writer]Technical”>Technical writer - Wikipedia)</p>

5

<p>If you’re talking about technical writing, it’s a good career. Plenty of opportunities to write all sorts of technical documents, from formal science reports to instruction manuals to business reports. There’s always room in the world for people with good writing and communication skills.</p>

6

<p>Technical communication is referring to technical information delivery, and not engineering discipline at all.
As an engineering student one will has at least one course in technical communication (at CCNY it’s writing for engineers). </p>

<p>I think it’s a good path if you enjoy writing and learning technology simultaneously and you are a great presenter.</p>

<p>I don’t know any program offers TC, you can google them.
I think IT can be good to bolster your chance of career. it’s more business programming oriented. The reason I mention IT is that it has sort of writing component (since it’s more business oriented), and that you have to do programming, which does documentation (one thing about writing codes is that you need to document your code!!!).
Pure CS will overkill the purpose of TC. Depending on which concentration track you pick, either you get more technical programming, or technical writing (more business-oriented writing).</p>

<p>What about communication degree?
I think anyone can work in TC as long as you are a great writer, and a presenter.</p>

7

<p>Technical communication, there’s 2 types.</p>

<p>One is the technology of communication. Fiber optics, signal processing, solid state physics, etc. That’s science/engineering, and useful.</p>

<p>The other is writing about technology. Unemployment, McDonalds, etc.</p>

<p>An engineer or scientist can write about technology. Can a writer do research?</p>

8

<p>TC is not necessarily just about writing manual, or document the research. TC is a very broad term. TC in general, is the process of making and sharing information and ideas with others in the workplace, and as a set of applications - the documents, and manual you write. This is the definition from my book, “Technical Communication”.</p>

<p>Now, you are confused by the word “communication”. Whenever you see “technical communication”, just remember that it’s a fancy word for “speaking, writing, reading, and listening” effectively by professionals. Professionals need not to be engineers or scientists. </p>

<p>An ad is considered technical communication as well. A technical manual, such as the handbook of a Nikon DSLR is a technical manual. </p>

<p>Primary research papers are definitely written by engineers or scientists. This is why we have to take writing classes as an engineer / scientist at undergraduate level, called “Technical writing”. </p>

<p>The engineers use APA and I believe science people still use MLA?</p>

<p>A writer can collaborate with an engineer or scientist, and write the documents together. Note that engineers and scientists are not writers, and they are not assumed to be good at presentation ideas to others. </p>

<p>For example, the DSLR Camera handbook. Right, the engineers probably know about the theory. But the customers need NOT to know how the images are formed. The technical writers will gather information from the development team, and request enough information so that they can write the handbook. You see there are images in the handbook (a screenshot of the menu???) That’s informative, which is an emphasis of technical writing.</p>

<p>At the level of consumers, writings are mostly done by technical writers. Moreover, everyone is doing technical writing, more or less: memo, powerpoint, business plan, poster, email, etc these are all examples of technical writing.</p>

<p>If you are referring to fiber optics, that is not technical communication. It’s communication technology. TC is defined the way I defined.</p>