atw: Request advice on transition to Tech Writing

Hi austechwriters,  
 
I've had a read through the last few months archives of this list, and
looked at several websites related to TW, but not found much advice
for people transitioning into Technical Writing.  I'm sure the same
question is raised often, and any suggestions will depend a lot on
individual background and goals. 
 
I was a commercial programmer 25 years including 7 website
development, but my technical skills have gone down a dead end.  I'm
currently doing Tech Support (phone, email, website FAQs) and my
current employer offered me a job as Technical Writer - which got me
thinking about TW as a better career direction.  Certainly the manuals
for some of the products I currently support are a complete waste of
money and paper, and I'm sure any 10-year old would do better !  I
have always tried to look at systems from a user perspective, and
wrote several User Manuals which were well received, but many years
ago.  The TW job fell through, but my boss has got me writing and
editing Press Releases and brochures - very different style from
documentation ... but still I'm finding writing much easier than it
would have been 20 years ago. 
 
In particular I'm looking for advice on :
(1) which professional organisation (if any) is worth joining in NSW
(I live on Sydney's North Shore), Australia and/or international.
Ones I've looked at don't seem to provide much in the way of resources
for members.  
(2) which tools and/or methodologies are common requirements.  I'm
pretty familiar with MS Word (i.e. regularly use Styles and have done
a few small Master/slave documents), and did an Information Mapping
course several years back. 
(3) other than the obvious (cold calling every business in the phone
book), any recommended strategies for getting into full-time TW ? 
(4) business aspects of finding work, charge rates, negotiating
contracts, etc.  There is a fair amount on this for creative writers,
though that's commonly a freelance basis. 
 
I anticipate that writing User and Technical Manuals would be best
career option (leverages my background and interest in helping users,
plus stable income) but I don't have any examples of my work (they
were many years ago).  I have considered writing articles for IT
magazines, thinking that I can submit to websites if not accepted by
paying publications - but it's a different style of writing, how
relevant would it be ?  The current Press Releases I'm doing are even
further removed from a documentation writing style.
 
Thanks very much for taking the time to even read this long posting -
I'm sure you must get quite a lot of newbies asking the same
questions. I certainly will appreciate any advice and suggestions you
care to make. 


Cheers,
Don Burch

Other related posts: