My Technical Communication Journey

By Jackie Damrau | Fellow

Life is interesting and then we find a career. As a young girl, I wanted to follow in my mom’s footsteps. I thought she was the greatest secretary. At an early age, my parents bought me a manual typewriter. I took my mom’s business school typing books and taught myself to type. I did the same thing with her shorthand books, not knowing that learning that chicken scratch would save me in all my careers in notetaking, because I can take down so much information using shorthand.

All throughout school, I excelled in business classes, but science and math were not my friends; they still aren’t. Two days after high school graduation, I was entering business school to get a legal secretary certificate. I achieved that goal and got my first legal secretary job. It was not what I thought it would be, but no job is ever exactly what we think. I did enjoy the secretary part, but the legal part was a bit much. I left that field and “fell” into jobs that required word processing and good English skills (typing other people’s stuff and editing as I went). That held me for a while, then I landed my first technical writing/editing job.

My new career began. I started taking some introductory English classes and a single technical writing class at the local community college. No certificate program or degree existed for technical communication back in the dark ages. Yet I pushed myself to read and learn as much as I could. I made my own errors in grammar, but I listened and honed my skills. After years of doing technical writing, I had an opportunity to move into the instructional design field.

Instructional design is a branch of technical writing, and through it, I was able to expand my knowledge to provide technical content for different audiences. I earned an online certificate in information design. Time moves on, and so did my career.

I again “fell” into my current career as a business systems analyst. I had an employer who encouraged me to learn business process modeling (BPM), and I hold a certification by a leading BPM software company on two of their products. I continued using my technical communication skills in gathering requirements and modeling processes.

Eventually, I gained a role with that leading BPM company traveling through North America, but family responsibilities entered my life in the forms of elder care, parenting, and permanent custody of my two grandchildren. Long-term travelling was no longer possible, so I’ve settled down to work for the leading global commercial real estate company, CBRE. I have the best of both worlds, being able to write requirements and use my process modeling and technical communication skills.

Where does STC fit here? I have been part of STC since 1983 with a break in between, returning fully in 1993. My service to STC has been at both the local, virtual, and international levels. I am currently the book review editor for the Technical Communication journal, where I get to work with a great group of reviewers, as well as with many publishers. I love the breadth and depth that STC membership provides, allowing me to continue to learn new areas and to share my own knowledge with others.

Thanks, STC! You’re worth the personal investment.