By Joel Meier | Associate Fellow
Editor’s note: The following was originally published on the Rocky Mountain Chapter blog. It’s being reprinted in Intercom with permission.
In the years past, I wrote a blog about how much a cup of Starbucks (~$1.85) or cable TV (~$2.20), or Internet (~$2.33) costs each day compared to the daily cost of an STC and community membership ($0.60) combined. In years past, I also wrote a blog about the fantastic amount of education STC has to offer in free, on-demand, archived seminars alone. It was around 70 at the time I wrote that blog; it is over 140 this year. I could do that again this year, as I think it is proof enough, but I won’t.
This year I’d like to share the connection I experienced between STC and getting a job. I had the unfortunate opportunity to look for a new workplace this year. It all worked out well and much of my success was due to my membership with STC and the Rocky Mountain Chapter.
You’ll need a little background about me. I knew about DITA and structured authoring but really had no use for it anywhere I had worked. I attended a few sessions on DITA and content strategy at the 2013 Summit, and I became convinced that DITA was the way to go. And even if it only became a hobby, I was going to learn it.
So, as I said, I walked into work one morning and by the afternoon I was a free man. I was a free man with a passion for DITA but not much solid experience. Here are the steps I took from getting laid off to getting the job. And I know my approach is not unique, but I feel that Step 3 is important enough to share.
- I cleaned up my resume. I updated it, shortened it, and then sent it to everyone who would review it, especially professional tech writers in STC. I made edits, corrected embarrassing mistakes, and updated LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and so on with the changes.
- I sent my resume to my STC contacts, explained my newfound freedom, and asked for help.
- I used my spare time wisely—to educate myself.
As I wrote earlier, this was the most important step for me. I had already been studying DITA and content management strategy since the 2013 Summit—as much as I could here and there. Now I had the free time I needed to concentrate on it. However, my free time was limited—I still had to find a job. That was priority one. I had to focus my attention on what exactly it was that I wanted to learn. So what did I do?
- I watched every free, on-demand, archived seminar from STC on content management, content strategy, XSL, XSLT, DITA-XML, DITA-OT, and so on. This gave me a scope of topics to focus on.
- Using the knowledge I gained from the free, on-demand, archived seminars, I:
- researched for materials (both free and paid) that would expand my knowledge about DITA-XML authoring.
- read everything and watched all the videos I found.
- downloaded a trial copy of an XML-aware editor and used that to author anything and everything I could think of.
- downloaded and used the DITA-OT.
STC was a very important part of Step 3, because while I had the passion to learn about DITA-XML, content strategy, and content management (insert your own tech comm subject here), I was not well-versed enough to pull all the pieces together and envision how they might apply to different tech pub scenarios. The free, on-demand, archived seminars from STC gave me a solid foundation in which I could build my knowledge of those subjects. The videos I watched were focused, professional presentations from presenters who are not only leaders in STC but also leaders in the industry. In every phone and in-person interview, I used that knowledge.
Not every employer I had a discussion with was interested in DITA, but once we started talking about content strategy and content management, they were interested in what I had to say about the subject and we had a great conversation. Eventually I had an interview with an organization that was using DITA-XML. Furthermore, the manager had a content strategy in mind. And we had a great conversation, mainly because I knew the right questions to ask. I am positive that because that interview turned into a conversation, I was invited to join that tech pubs department at Oracle. In other words, I got the job.
At first, for me, STC was about membership. Being part of the Society. Heck, it looked good on my resume. And my employer paid for it. So, yeah, why not, it was free. Gradually, STC became about volunteering, learning about new technologies, and sharing ideas. And somewhere in between, my employer stopped paying for it. Today, STC is about winning and sticking with the winners that stuck by me for 15+ years. Does STC membership cost? Yes. Is it more expensive than some other organizations? Yes. However, it provides a wealth of education that far exceeds the membership costs—if you use it. And as Derek Bok famously said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
