Author: TechCommGeekMom

Content strategy has become buzzwordified, with many disciplines trying to take custody of its definition. It’s bigger than marketing, or information architecture, or even editorial, but all these fields are important to a successful outcome.

Source: www.helenmosher.com

This is written by my friend, Helen Mosher, whom I’ve known for about 25 years. Helen is the one who introduced me to certain alternative bands, knitting, and blogging. We even shared a knitting blog for a time. Anyway, Helen is in the process of figuring out the next steps in her career, and discovered content strategy in the past year or so. She wrote this article as an analogy based on her writing and publishing background. 

Do you agree with her assessment? I can say that I do consider myself a content strategist, and my job title happens to be "Web Publisher".  But I also hold many of the other roles that she describes in this article. This is why I most often refer to myself as a "technical communicator", as it is much more of an umbrella term to cover all those different "hats" I wear. Technical communicators have to encompass all these roles. Some might concentrate on one aspect more than others, but I know I have to deal will ALL those aspects on a daily basis. So content strategy is a lot more that it looks, in my view, and it is an all-encompassing role. It’s never boring, that’s for sure. 

Add your comments below, and let me know what you think.  Also, contact Helen if you are interested in hiring her. I know she’s looking for additional work right now. 

–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Sitting in a kitchen stocked with free food, a handful of 20-something Google summer interns weigh their favorite perks, but where to begin? With bikes, buses, massages, swimming pools, dance classes, nap pods, part…

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

This article actually infuriated me. Whatever happened to internships that you only earned college credit if you passed? I did one of those for a TV station during my senior year of college. I had to pay for the college credits, pay for my own transporation (50 miles away from my school), and pay for my own meals.  I received no monetary compensation, and it was supposed to help me get a foot into the media industry. We all know how that ended up. 

I can see why companies would want to provide some perks in order to retain these interns as future employees. I get that–it’s a marketing thing, in that respect. But these kids have better perks–and in some cases, compensation–than I’ve had, and I’ve GOT experience, unlike them. How is that fair? Whatever happened to the "poor college student" and "paying your dues" towards your career? 

I suppose that as a person who still feels like she is "paying (her) dues" at the age of 46, despite having a career and a graduate degree in hand, this seems grossly unfair. Yes, yes, I know the world isn’t fair. But really–what does a 20-22 year old need with a $60-80K salary, free food, and all those other perks? Why can’t I get a piece of that?

Internships are supposed for the purpose of learning, not getting paid high wages and all the "good things".  Employees have earned a spot to have those perks, but interns haven’t. 

I don’t know…reading this just made me feel ill. 😦

–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

A Quora user answers the question: Is it too late to learn to code?

Source: mashable.com

Another article I found a while ago and am just posting now. I don’t know that I’d be looking to change careers, but it sure seems that with the surge of companies wanting tech writers who can write APIs, there is a big need for understanding programming languages. One of these days, I’ll get around to learning one of these languages, I hope. 

–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

With tech jobs on the rise, these 10 programming languages are essential for aspiring developers.

Source: mashable.com

While this was published a while ago, I only found this recently, and thought it was something worth considering. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a programmer, but some of these are programming languages that perhaps even knowing a little bit can go a long way. I know my Javascript skills are lacking, and I could see how PHP or Ruby on Rails could be handy. Read this, and see what might be helpful for you. Resources on where to learn these languages are included in the article (online learning!). 

–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

This concept and the visual was taken from my new book which came out today called, The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization. One of the things I have been writing about and have tried to make clear over the past few months is […]

Source: www.forbes.com

A cousin-in-law of mine turned me on to this article. While it’s written generically, I could see how this easily applies to technical communication workers especially. Read it and comment below on what you think. 

–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications