Technical communicators face many of the same challenges that confront information professionals when it comes to staying Future Ready in a profession that changes constantly. We reached out to a group of prominent movers and shakers in the profession and asked how they manage their careers, and these are their stories.

by Ben Moore, Senior Technical Writer/Project Lead (and part time comic book writer)

I’m lucky to have a stable job and a stable career. But stability can also equal stagnant.

Usually my eye toward the future is focused on keeping that stability. My life at home is exciting enough with kids activities, neighborhood picnics and the occasional evening out with my wife. But this was the year I needed a shakeup.

Juggling work, dad, husband, volunteer and coaching duties is not a problem. I’ve worked to become better at each of those activities. The problem is, I don’t spend much time stepping out of the box and improving me.

This year I wanted to check off an adventure in my bucket list so I’d at least not regret that I didn’t try – writing and publishing my own comic book.

Writing is what I do for a living, although it usually involves a bunch of 1’s and 0’s or a whole lot of strange phrases like “flip chip ball grid array.” In order to rejuvenate work life and my sense of fulfillment, I needed to write something creative.

They say when you want to lose weight, you should tell a friend because they’ll keep you honest. Without thinking, I casually told a friend that I wanted to write a comic book. He said “Great! Now go write it. You have until the end of the month.” I instantly had a fan and an editor all rolled into one.

Writing my first comic also turned out to be a valuable experience for my day job. All I wanted to do was tell a story, but I ended up making new business contacts, improving my writing ability, and thrilling my boss with some new technical documentation that was more exciting than the usual plain white bread we publish.

Coincidentally, during the time I started writing, my favorite comic book writer was teaching a new class at PSU, AND our division GM said we need to start taking one day a quarter to “follow our passion” to improve creativity in our work.  It was an open door to do anything I wanted, and out came a comic strip about how to log in to our project tracking system.

The GM loved it and wanted more. My company paid for me to take the PSU class. I ended up meeting two other aspiring Technical Writers. One of them ended up being a wonderful intern for me. And for the first time in my life, school was fun.

I used my newfound skills (and free time provided by said handy intern) to self-publish three comics within six months. Financially, only one of those comics broke even, but I’m still making adjustments. And I still have three issues to go, so who knows, maybe next year you’ll see my characters showing up on your child’s lunchbox.

Ben Moore has been a Technical Writer and a Technical Communication Project Leader at Intel for the past 8 years. After graduating from Pacific Lutheran University with a degree in Communications, Ben began his career as a sports reporter but later shifted toward careers with normal working hours. Now Ben spends his free time playing with his kids, coaching kids sports, bicycling, and reading comic books.

by David Cappoli, Southern California Chapter, Academic, Business & Finance, Information Technology, Leadership & Management Divisions

Even if I have just awoken from a long sleep; consumed a rich, dark chocolate bar followed by a Mountain Dew; and, had the din of my daughter’s anime videos assaulting my ears, when one of my cats melts on my lap in a curl of fur and legs, I am in a near perfect zone of comfort. Nothing can keep the warmth, soft fur, and purring, from combining to be a harmless but powerful narcotic lulling me into a contented state. At home and professionally, we all have our different comfort zones. And we generally wish to stay right where we are when we are feeling, well, nice and comfortable.

But professionally, while we all have comfort zones in which we prefer to work, we need to take on challenges that push at those boundaries of easy contentment. I am not advocating that we work in environments in which we are ill at ease. I am, though, promoting that we take chances when we might otherwise shy away from them because they represent the untried and unknown.  To be ready for the future, we need to drop that wariness and embrace a confidence that makes us willing to investigate options, broaden our skills, and constantly learn new approaches to solving problems. When asked to take on something new, yes, we can fret, but then we need to get beyond any dismay and start moving forward.

As librarians and information professionals, we have a strong service orientation that does not always bleed into a personal assurance when confronted with the untested. The inclination may be to say, “No, I’ve too much to handle at this time.”  Or, “That’s not my responsibility.” Whereas, we show our worth by responding, “I don’t know much about that, but let me do some exploring, and I’ll get back to you.” With this answer we’ve stated that we are not well-versed in the topic put to us, but we are more than willing to take up the challenge.

While we can search the literature and browse web sites in search of answers, we have our professional networks that can offer insight as to the best way to advance.  And we have SLA’s 23 Things, vast libraries at our disposal, webinars, continuing education opportunities, etc., all of which can make us better.

Moving out of our comfort zones not only enhances our own abilities, but our value as well.  And it is the only way to thrive in an ever-changing present and future.

David Cappoli is the digital resources librarian at the UCLA department of Information Studies. He is former president of the SLA Southern California chapter (2008) and was the chapter’s treasurer from 2004 – 2006. David was a member of the 2009 Centennial Commission of SLA, and a member of the 2009 Conference Planning Committee. Prior to coming to UCLA, he was a librarian at the LA Times, and was research database coordinator with Glasgow Polytechnic in Scotland.