Sample Essay On Nick Hawthorne: Faculty Interview

Technical communication is an industry that encompasses various technical careers involved in the information technology (IT) field. In particular, it includes technical writers who find jobs either in IT or in the academe. The main aspects of technical communication include writing or authoring, editing, technical illustration, instructional design, publishing, content delivery, translations, localization, and user experience design, among others. This paper is based on an interview with Prof. Nick Hawthorne, who shares his views on technology, the technical communications industry, qualifications required, career options, and challenges technical writers face. The technical communications field is an important aspect of the IT industry because without it, technical manuals, specifications sheets, abstracts, proposals, and presentations materials will not be made available.
Based on the interview, the technical communications industry offers a wide variety of opportunities and challenges for those who are interested to be part of the industry. Salary-wise, undergrad degree holders receive from 28-40 thousand per year with potential to receive more if they opt to work in more advanced states. For Master degree holders, individuals may receive from 40-60 thousand yearly. Hawthorne offers his insights on what one needs to know in order to succeed in the field. He says one has to try to know and understand everything about the industry, including learning how to use various software and tools for writing, authoring, and graphics tools, learn how to write using various style guides, and more importantly, understand what content management system is and how it is used in the technical writing field.
While Hawthorne works more as part of the academe than the technical writing industry, he is knowledgeable about the field considering that he completed a Masters in Fine Arts, which is equivalent to a PhD level. This same course has taught him the rigors of technical communication and the various other job career tracks available. He says he appreciates the melding of technology, writing, and teaching as it gives him a chance to work on various types of media, arts, and computers. He also gets the opportunity to interact with former professors who are now his colleagues as well. While he enjoys his work in the academe, he says he also misses out on some other personal activities because he sometimes has to bring work at home to continue developing his lesson plans, develop curriculum, and complete his research. But the good thing is bringing his work at home also allows him to watch TV and relax after a day’s tiring work.
Technical writing is just one part of technical communications because it covers various information products delivered to different types of audiences such as online help, release notes, web-based trainings, videos, knowledge base articles, and more. If this is not the career path that one is inclined to do, there are other options such as joining the academe as a university professor, business analyst, translations, and more. The opportunities are vast and career growth is high considering that it is a field that is involved in all IT and business aspects.