Yes, it's time to play "Name That Career"

October 28, 2006 3:11 PM

If you stick my career and educational experience in a blender, what do you get?

I'm trying to decide my next step on a patchwork career path. First, some background:

I have been working on and off for the last ten years as a technical writer. I graduated with a dual major in professional writing and English lit, worked for the government, went back to school and got an electrical engineering degree, then worked in software development. When the dotcom bubble burst, I went back to tech writing. However, I'm far from passionate about it. Additionally, I've been doing freelance (stress on the word "free") work as film editor, which I love. But the market I live in (Austin) is overcrowded with editors, so my attempts at landing a full-time paying gig have been for naught.

At this stage, I'm trying to decide if (a) I should go back to school and head in yet another direction, or (b) talk my way into a different line of work. The question is, if I go back to school, what should I major in? If I stick with looking for a new job, what should I be looking for? I enjoy writing and language, though admittedly writing user manuals has burned me out on that particular route. I love all things technical. I've forgotten a fair share of my EE knowledge, but I still like reading science books and mags, building computers, tinkering with gadgets, etc. And as I said before, I really dig the film editing. In general, I enjoy swimming in information (books, movies, internet, etc).

It's safe to say I would enjoy a career that didn't descend into routine and offered a new set of challenges on a routine basis.

I've considered RTF (radio-television-film), liguistics, and informatics as possible degree paths.

Given this (over)abundance of information, anyone have any suggestions for a job or degree I should look into? Bonus points for what schools or regions would be good to check out.

posted by nightengine to work & money (3 comments total)

how about journalism? maybe technical-ish freelance kinda work...seems it would give you the opportunity to explore and dig into something and then summarize/synthesize that (film editing gives you a certain perspective on how an audience receives information most effectively)...and then you could move on to different subjects, so your love for exploration would be put to use, and it wouldn't get so routine....

...of course, i'm not sure what the opportunities look like out there, but it seems generally that with all the portals, good content is the limiting factor...
posted by troybob at 4:00 PM on October 28, 2006

How about grantwriting for non-profit or educational institutions... specifically those involved with film or the arts? You can take grant-writing classes to get up to speed, which would be fairly fast with a technical writing background.
posted by kimdog at 4:30 PM on October 28, 2006

Sounds like you'd make a great ESL teacher!

With neither the academic nor field experience, I reluctantly agreed to teach Technical Writing to undergrads a few semesters ago. Turned out to be my best class ever, and, even more surprisingly, the students all seemed to agree.

Where I am, we're allowed limited freedom to design our own courses, so I'm also teaching a film class, as well as classes in public speaking, translating and creative writing. I mention these because, with your interests and background, you'd be suited to teach some of these classes as well (case depending, of course).

You'd need a certificate to start, but that could be something new and exciting in itself, as you can obtain a CELTA in one month from just about any major city around the world (Barcelona, Honolulu, Cape Town, for starters...)

The "new challenges on a routine basis" would come from the constant rotation of students, which would keep things fresh for a while. That said, teaching, like any other job, does of course fall into routine. It really depends on how much passion you've got for it, I suppose, and how long you've been at it.

(IANAESLPropagandist, by the way... just someone who's been doing it for far too long.)
posted by war wrath of wraith at 9:57 AM on October 29, 2006