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By Louellen Coker, 2nd Vice President-elect
When the call went out for Lone Star Chapter members to speak at various public school career days, I jumped at the opportunity to meet with budding students and let them know how fun, interesting, and rewarding a career in technical communication can be. Finally, after years in school, I shout from the mountaintop all the wonders of technical communication—to an audience that I was sure would hang on every word with avid admiration—and offer the students a growth opportunity.
Little did I know the experience would be as much of a growth opportunity for me as it (hopefully) was for them. As the big day drew near and I began preparing my presentation, I started thinking about why I became a technical communicator and what I found to be fun, interesting, and rewarding in the profession. Those nagging philosophical questions—Who am I? Why am I here?—came bubbling to the surface. In this time of lower pay, fewer jobs, further commutes, and longer hours, I had to consider if I actually had obtained the exciting career I and my colleagues had been seeking for so long. I began to wonder if I could stand before three groups of teenagers and tell them what a career in technical communication is all about. I painstakingly put my presentation together, pulled out my favorite red suit, and found my way to Huffines Middle School in Lewisville.
I walked into the room to find a group of 6th and 7th graders who, like me, didn't know what to expect because this was their very first career day. The students had the typical bored, disinterested look that all teenagers have when they are being held as a captive audience at school. My years of teaching high school English taught me that appearances were not what they seemed. Confident that below the surface they were truly excited to be there, I asked them what they knew about technical communication and why they chose to be there. Every shoulder shrugged as the most vocal of the group let me know very quickly that they were there because they had last pick at the presenters and they had to choose something. I knew that I had an uphill battle, much like we all feel in those wee morning hours the days before a major deadline.
I took a deep breath and began my presentation. Little by little, and one at a time, the students would make eye contact with me and their ears would perk up when I touched on an aspect of technical communication that interested them. During question and answer time, the classroom teacher asked a few questions before the students took over with increasing enthusiasm. Each group eventually found their way to the same question I had been asking myself since I committed my time to their career day—why did I want to be a technical communicator?
I could no longer avoid the question. As I opened my mouth to speak, the clouds that had accumulated from tight deadlines, long commutes, and long hours disappeared, and I remembered all the reasons that over the years I and my colleagues have gradually found our way to this career. In the interested faces of those teenagers staring up at me, I saw one thing that technical communicators don't always get to see. I saw that I had communicated to these young people who didn't necessarily want to hear what I had to say. I realized that I had taken a topic that the students knew little about and presented them with clear and usable information to move forward in their lives.
That afternoon, when I booted up my computer and opened up the latest version of the quick reference guide I was working on, I understood that, despite the tribulations that all technical communicators face, we are indeed in the right place and that we truly love the work we do. Our work serves a purpose. We are the communicators; we make information accessible and usable. The next time you want to shout from the mountaintop or start asking yourself philosophical questions about your career, opportunities abound to get out there and talk to a group in your area.