Career paths for technical editors

My article Let’s change the career paths for technical editors was published in December 2009 in Volume 9, Number 3 of Corrigo, the STC’s Technical Editing SIG newsletter.

About technical editors

Technical editors are people who edit technical information. They work in many fields, including engineering, computer hardware and software, science, medicine, law, banking, and website development for any business or activity.

Technical editors’ primary job is to ensure documents are suitable for their target audience, thus technical editing is really a quality control job.

This website is a place for technical editors to:

  • Share knowledge, experiences and resources
  • Demonstrate to writers, managers and others the wide range of knowledge and skills technical editors have to offer

Non-editors are welcome too! Much of the information you’ll find here is applicable to writers, managers, and people working in other roles, and many editors have other job titles or multiple roles.

Changes

January 2007 – for nearly a year now I’ve rarely used Microsoft Windows. I’ve moved to Ubuntu Linux and found replacements for all my old Windows programs. During this time, I have neglected this website, so some parts of it are woefully out of date. I’d like to say that situation will change, but I suspect it won’t — at least not soon.

I’ve resurrected a blog I started some time ago (and then neglected for 19 months), and I might find time to talk about some of my interests and activities, including (at times) technical editing. You’re welcome to join me there.

Newsletter

This newsletter is no longer being published. Back issues are archived on this website.

Who is the newsletter for?

The newsletter is intended for editors who are, or need to be, working electronically. Much of the material will be relevant to electronic editors in any field. Some of the material will be most relevant to editors in technical fields such as computing and engineering.

What’s the newsletter all about?

This newsletter is a place for me to share some of the tips, techniques and resources that I’ve collected. It’s also a place for you, the reader, to share your knowledge with me and with the other readers.

I try to include a mixture of practical tips and discussions of major issues.

Archives

Issue 81, 22 September 2004
Issue 80, 13 April 2004
Issue 79, 12 March 2004
Issue 78, 28 January 2004
Issue 77, 20 November 2003
Issue 76, 20 October 2003
Issue 75, 26 August 2003
Issue 74, 30 July 2003
Issue 73, 21 June 2003
Issue 72, 23 May 2003
Issue 71, 21 April 2003
Issue 70, 12 March 2003
Issue 69, 16 February 2003
Issue 68, 13 December 2002
Issue 67, 15 November 2002
Issue 66, 8 October 2002
Issue 65, 10 September 2002
Issue 64, 22 July 2002
Issue 63, 3 July 2002
Issue 62, 17 June 2002
Issue 61, 2 June 2002
Issue 60, 13 May 2002
Issue 59, 25 April 2002
Issue 58, 2 April 2002
Issue 57, 7 March 2002
Issue 56, 12 February 2002
Issue 55, 21 January 2002
Issue 54, 2 January 2002

Issues 1-53 from 1999-2001