As things wind down for me and I adapt to life without the STC, I realize that it’s probably time for me to try to come back to writing on here. It’s so infrequent that I do, but hey–it’s been a busy last few years, and there’s literally hundreds of old posts you can read if you really wanted to.
Something that’s been on my mind in the work that I’ve been doing is thinking about content governance. Who’s responsible for what? Who wants to take responsibility, and for that matter, are they the right people to take responsibility? Who’s going to maintain all the changes and restructuring that’s done after a project?
I can say with confidence that I’ve spent a good part of my content career being a content janitor. What do I mean by that? Well, it’s exactly like it sounds. I clean up other people’s content messes. Sometimes those content messes are small spills, and some are dumpster fires. Either way, it’s not unusual for me to play a role in cleaning up things when others have made a mess.
I think what frustrates me most–and this has been at multiple places over my career–is that everyone not only thinks they are a writer, but they also think they are content strategists and information architects. Now, this isn’t to say that this can’t be learned organically, but the best ones learn from even better ones, and there are standards, processes, and best practices that one needs to learn to create quality content. When those who are not in the technical communications field or those who don’t have true training and practical experience get involved, it can turn into a hot mess quickly. What’s more frustrating is that when those who DO have that experience and training speak up, we’re ignored, even if we’re the actual experts.
Years ago when I was a volunteer for one of Scott Abel’s Intelligent Content conferences, he encouraged me to take a workshop with Lisa Welchman, who is the queen of digital governance. Her workshop made so much sense because it was really about logical things that people simply didn’t employ! I eagerly bought her book (Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design) and it’s still a staple in my bookshelf now. So much of what she writes in her book is common sense as well, and it has influence a lot of my thinking over the years. So much of it boiled down to, “Well, who is taking responsibility for this from the beginning to the middle to the end and beyond?”
How many of us technical communicators walk into roles where the people around us are not content people or don’t fully understand how to manage content correctly? It’s happened more times than not for me. Part of the issue is that without proper project management, change management, and a clearly communicated plan for governance during your project as well as after your project is done, it’s going to be a disaster. Heaven forbid if you explain that doing the due diligence is being too rushed to account for issues that can be resolved with some more time. Those who are normally responsible for content and have the expertise could speak up about these things that aren’t clearly defined, but then it’s seen as stepping on toes, or being out of line, or being difficult. Project parameters and governance shouldn’t be made up while you’re closing in on the end of the project. This is especially important when you have a lot of stakeholders, whether it’s across departments or even divisions of a company.
So, this is where the role of content janitor comes in. A project is launched by a group. There’s the big fanfare that it’s a success because it’s up and running. But not too long afterwards, all the cracks start surfacing. It’s the moment that the technical communicators are wanting to scream, “I told you so,” and yet these same people who were not tasked with leading the project despite being the experts are now the scapegoats who get blamed for all the problems–and the clean up. Why? Because the governance of the project and the maintenance thereafter was not clearly established, and it becomes a case of “it’s not my job,” but no one else is stepping up.
The best thing is to see things for what they are, even if you aren’t in charge of the project, and be proactive in making a plan so that the cleanup is minimal at best. A good example of that is something happened in my day today. The team that does the content maintenance from another division of my company–essentially my counterparts from that division–met with my manager and I to discuss how we plan to deal with tracking and maintaining content requests that will result after a big overhaul that’s happening in our company. We were ensuring our processes aligned with best practices, but also determining how we could ensure that there would be no stepping of toes or acting in a way that would be seen as out of bounds. In other words, we made a decision together to devise some governance for ourselves. It was empowering. I was really thrilled with the outcome of the short meeting. It was clear that we were all thinking along the same lines, and it was just a matter of figuring out the nuances that we could smooth out.
Governance might be seen at implementing rules and restrictions. It’s not that at all. It’s about establishing boundaries and responsibilities to ensure that the content for your organization remains a valuable asset to all those who consume that content.
What are your thoughts? Include your comments below.
In the aftermath of STC closing, there’s just a lot going on. As the Board VP who is still involved in closing activities, I’ve seen a range of emotions from those who’ve claimed a connection with STC. Most are sad but understand that we had to do what we had to do, and showed appreciation for the organization over the years. Other have expressed things…differently. I have words for those people since they were not involved with the decision making, so I will save those for another day.
Instead, one of the biggest messages from this has been, “Without STC, where can I go for my professional development, networking, and community?” Well, if you do enough research, there are lots of different avenues you can take. Some focus broadly on tech comm topics, and others are more specialized. Either way, there’s something for everyone. Even in these early post-closing days, I’ve seen former members rally to form smaller groups (not affiliated with STC, mind you) to help a grassroots movement to fill in this gap.
Sara Feldman started a post on LinkedIn asking others about these alternatives, and with her permission, the list below is based on all the suggestions that she and others who contributed to her online conversation as potential alternatives to explore.
Please note that these are is listed in alphabetical order so as not to show any preferences or personal endorsements from me for any of these institutions. This is not all institutions, but rather many that either Sara’s LinkedIn post provided or some that I researched. Most descriptions are parsed or paraphrased from their websites. This is simply a partial list that you can use to start your exploration of tech comm professional options:
ACES elevates editorial excellence and empower editors across industries through training, networking, and career opportunities. As an international alliance, they advocate for professionals in journalism, media, publishing, corporate communications, academia, and government.
As the profession’s oldest and largest professional membership organization for design—with more than 70 chapters and more than 15,000 members—we advance design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, and vital cultural force.
The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is an international, interdisciplinary organization committed to advancing business communication research, education, and practice.
AIIP is a global network of independent business owners running information-centric businesses. Members offer expertise across a wide variety of industries, services and geographies.
The Association of Proposal Management Professionals’ mission is to be the trusted leader that serves a global community of bid and proposal development life cycle professionals.
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is a professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees in organizations worldwide.
Members of ATTW work in graduate and undergraduate programs in technical communication, media, engineering, rhetoric, writing studies, and English, among other complementary research programs.
Presented by Kristina Halverson of Brain Traffic, Button content design events and community resources help independent contributors and leads grow in their careers.
CIDM is a member organization that facilitates the sharing of information about current trends, best practices, and development within the industry, providing networking opportunities, host conferences, lead roundtable discussions, and publish newsletters. Hosts of the ConVex conference.
The Consortium is a nonprofit think tank focused on customer engagement. Consortium Members created and continue to develop the widely-adopted Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) and Intelligent Swarming methodologies.
CPTSC brings together administrators, faculty, researchers, and students to advance the study and teaching of technical, professional, and scientific communication.
The Editorial Freelancers Association is the largest and oldest U.S.-based professional association of editorial freelancers. Their members include editors, book coaches, writers, indexers, proofreaders, researchers, fact-checkers, marketing experts, graphic designers, translators, and more.
GALA serves and supports the global language services and technologies industry which comprises translation, interpreting, localization, and the technologies that support such activities.
IEEE ProComm supports professional, scientific, engineering, and technical communication, content development, information design, and usability, as well as their potential social impacts.
The IA conference exists to promote discourse and learning about the intentional design of information environments. It is a gathering of practitioners from around the globe, who practice and teach Information Architecture and other design-related disciplines.
The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) enables a global network of communicators working in diverse industries and disciplines to identify, share, and apply the world’s best communication practices.
Knowledge Management Global Network (KMGN) is a not-for profit network of international KM communities and associations that endeavours to connect KM professionals and facilitate co-creation and sharing of KM assets and resources.
The Kinetic Council’s mission is to unite and empower content, data, and semantics professionals through an industry-wide authoritative association. Within this new association, members will create meaningful connections, advance careers through world-class education and certification, and shape the future of these fields together.
Very popular conference where content professionals share best practices and lessons learned, network with peers, and build professional relationships.
The Rhetoric Society of America is committed to public facing research, teaching, programming, commentary, training, and engagement in rhetorical studies to confront urgent concerns.
TEAJ is a Japan-based organization dedicated to promoting clear and concise technical communication. We offer seminars and work opportunities for translators and technical writers who assist Japanese companies in creating effective technical documents in English. Contact us at y_nakayama@teaj.or.jp .
tekom Europe is the largest professional association for technical communication in Europe whose interest is to promote the professional and business interests of all persons involved in technical communication.
User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) International supports people who research, design, and evaluate the user experience (UX) of products and services.
Write the Docs is a global community of people who care about documentation. We have a Slack community, conferences on 3 continents, and local meetups.
World Information Architecture Association is dedicated to growing awareness of the discipline of information architecture while promoting social responsibility among practitioners.
While I think it might be a little while before I jump into a new “home” (I’m still dealing with closing up the old one), there are a lot of good suggestions here, and plenty more out there. Here’s wishing you good luck at wherever you land, and hopefully I will meet up with you through one or more of these in the future.
Today, 18 March 2024, I found this post on LinkedIn.com which briefly discusses that Apple is considering using Gemini AI from Google for their products. Apple mulls Gemini for iPhones
Hey Apple, I’m really confused by this. You came out with Siri eons ago. In fact, between my own experiences between Google’s Alexa and Siri, while neither is perfect, Siri had always been the better voice bot. Siri’s been out longer, and has had a longer opportunity to build an LLM based on alllllll the conversations that people have had with Siri for more than a decade, easily. So how is it that Alexa, which generally does not perform as well and hasn’t been out as long, and that which I’m guessing is the foundation (or at least partial foundation) of Gemini, and you’re going with THEIR tool?
I’m a bit disappointed. This is truly Apple dropping the ball, as they say. Okay, sure, so there isn’t going to be an Apple car and there will be more focus on making CarPlay work harder. (I could use that, for sure.) But to think about defaulting to Google? No. I mean, at least look at what Microsoft is doing with their Open AI acquisition, or some other one. I don’t trust Google with so much of this. They’ve always been a little loosey-goosey with products and launches. You know you have the people–or can get the people–to help you out with this. You have the right infrastructure and a great foundation with Siri. Why stop now?
(Sorry, not sorry, Cortana, if you feel left out. Also a missed opportunity, but maybe you’re a CoPilot now or have a new identity that’s not Bing.)
What do you think? Do you think it’s a good thing or a not so good thing that Apple is looking at Gemini as its AI resource tool. Like I said, I’m not in favor of it. Post your thoughts below.
The big topic right now in the content world is the emergence of Chat GPT and other AI tools. Chat GPT has the head start as it’s an open source project. Today, after much resistance of checking into it, I happened to have watched a demonstration of the tool, and it was compelling. So, I’ve gotten my copy of Chat GPT, and entered the chat, “Explain why technical writers are superior to Chat GPT.”
This was the response:
As an AI language model, I can provide quick, accurate, and informative answers to a wide range of questions, but there are certain areas where technical writers have advantages over AI models like me.
Contextual Understanding: Technical writers have a deep understanding of their industry and domain, which enables them to provide context to complex technical information and explain it in a way that is easy to understand.
Personal Touch: Technical writers bring their own unique voice and perspective to the content they create, making it more engaging and human.
Collaboration: Technical writers work closely with subject matter experts and other stakeholders to ensure that the content they produce is accurate and up-to-date. They also have the ability to incorporate feedback and make revisions to their work.
Adaptability: Technical writers are able to adapt to changes in technology and industry standards, ensuring that their content remains relevant and current.
Ethical considerations: Technical writers are aware of ethical considerations such as ensuring accuracy and avoiding plagiarism, which are important for maintaining credibility and trust with the audience.
While AI models like me can provide quick and accurate answers, technical writers bring a level of expertise and personal touch that is often important for creating effective technical content.
Hey, Chat GPT. I don’t think I could have said it better myself. 😉
For exactly the reasons that Chat GPT provided, I don’t think technical writers and communicators will be out of a job just yet. Even when I thought about it, it’ll be tricky putting this in several places. While the education field is already getting nervous about the implications for students to write original research papers or essays, I’m thinking about my own job. I work on a form of internal communications, and the specific policies and procedures would only apply to the company, and would not necessarily be public information, so it wouldn’t necessarily know what to write for certain knowledge articles. I’m sure there are other exceptions, but you get the idea.
What do you think of Chat GPT or other AI creation tools? Comment below.
Even if you are the last Time Lord standing for good reason, you can’t help but feel guilty sometimes.
I’m in a position that I haven’t really been in before–or at least not for a long time. While my private life is always in flux and stressful, my professional life is generally in good shape for the moment. Even typing that makes me a little superstitious that I’ve now ruined my good luck. But at the same time, I’ve worked hard to get to this point, so I shouldn’t feel guilty. So why do I, at least a little?
Let me back up a little here…this is my reaction to things going on around me at the moment. At this time, there are a lot of companies that are having huge layoffs. ‘Tis the season, unfortunately. The end of the year–especially when many contracts would normally either come to a close or be renewed are not being renewed. We’re seeing huge layoffs at some of the biggest tech companies like Twitter (well, that’s an entirely different story as to why), Meta (aka Facebook), Amazon, Lyft, Salesforce, Microsoft, and the list goes on. Even my company has had some workforce reductions, in that at least speaking for my department, some contractors will not be back after the new year, and there some rearranging going on. Because I’m an employee, I didn’t make the cut–at least not this round.
I say “not this round” because I’ve learned over the decades that there is no such thing as “safe” in the work industry anymore. Generation X was the first generation that understood and experienced that you couldn’t join a company for life and get the mentorship to build a career. We’ve always been on our own, so I learned the hard way very early. Even so, I’ve known people who’ve either been at their company for long periods of time. My husband is one of those lucky souls that’s been at his company for about 20 years now. I know a few others. I believe that my true record for being anywhere is either 37 months, or 7 years–depending on how you view it. The 37-month long job was a permanent position which I left to join a dot-com in the late 1990s. The 7 year one was one which I was a contractor for 2 1/2 years, had a three month break, but then worked part-time (very part-time) as a side gig for another 4 1/2 years. I usually count the former as my true longest gig.
Other than that one long contracting position that was more off than on, I’ve never been in one place long enough in this century to break that 37-month record. I’m hoping I’m on a path to do that, but I don’t hold my breath. I’ve been in my current position for 25 months, of which I’ve been a permanent employee for the past 9 months. I like where I am, and while I’m anxious about what the new year will bring with all the changes, there’s a part of me that’s conflicted about still being where I am, but it’s not what you think.
I don’t have any feeling that I want to leave anytime soon. However, I do have PTSD about layoffs. I’ve seen it too many times. Contractors always are the first to go. But then there’s usually another round that comes to take away the rest. It follows the old saying of “waiting for the other shoe to drop”. The contractors are the first shoe–would I be part of a group that would be the other shoe that has yet to drop? In my head, I don’t think I would be because of the work that my manager and I do–we are relatively critical for ongoing maintenance of the big projects we’ve done in the past two years going forward. That said, I also know that technical communicators are usually underappreciated because so many in leadership don’t understand our value. Many people think they can write, but those in technical writing know better. Even so, I think I’ve asked my manager many times in the last month since finding out that the contractors were not getting their contracts renewed after the new year if we were next. The PTSD kicked in something fierce.
Once I’d been strongly assured that I was “safe” and there was evidence that yes, I have security in the near future and don’t have to start looking for work, naturally I relaxed. But there’s a part of me that said I shouldn’t be so relaxed and feel almost unaffected. My co-workers and friends are being laid off in droves. Some of them are much more experienced than me, and yet, they are out there looking for work. I’ve done my best to try to share job listings when I see them, but it’s now getting to be too much. I want to be a good friend and good person to network with, but part of me almost feels TOO relaxed that it wasn’t my turn for a change. I feel emotionally neutral due to my version of survivor’s guilt. It’s usually me impacted, and for once, it’s not. One part of my brain is telling me that I should not feel guilty, because it’s just business and that I’ve worked hard to put myself in this position of safety. I should enjoy the fact that I’m not stressed out because of my job. Very busy, yes, but not stressed. I know the next month is going to be full of transition learning, transition of my responsibilities, and just getting a lot of normal, high-volume, end-of-the-year work that needs to be done, but I have the support of my manager and the company behind me for a change. I should feel good about this! (And I do!)
But then another part of my brain tells me that’s not being completely cool. I’ve been in the same position as all those people who’ve been laid off WAY too many times myself. I understand the stress, the anxiety, the depression, and the uncertainty that comes with being laid off, even if you know ahead of time. So many of those who were laid off in these past months didn’t deserve to have their livelihood taken away from them, and shouldn’t feel like less when it wasn’t a reflection of their actual work. There are certain habits that I haven’t broken since I was a contractor because of those things, like working a lot (if you don’t work, you don’t get paid), and saving as much as I can in the bank, not spending a lot on big trips or big ticket items, because you don’t know if you might need that money to pay bills and feed your family. I’ve shed the tears, been hysterical, felt lower than low about myself and my predicament more times that I’d like to count. (Hence, the PTSD about layoffs.) So, I should be supportive and try to help when I can– and I do my best.
So, it just feels weird to be in this position–hence, the “survivor’s guilt”. So many are impacted right now, when the world is barely getting its footing back after the pandemic and inflation is higher than it’s been in a very long time, and your paycheck doesn’t stretch as far as it used to…I get it. For the moment, I’m not as impacted as so many technical communicators right now. I do count my blessings, but don’t you think for one moment that I think that I’m smug about not being laid off, or that I don’t care. I do. But for the moment, I’m willing to feel okay about it.
At the same time, for those who haven’t been in this position before, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Remember to file for unemployment insurance. Unless you’ve been a freelancer the entire time, you’ve probably paid into that fund even as a contractor for some agency. You may have a lot saved up or not much, but either way, it’s YOUR money–that’s why it’s called unemployment insurance. It doesn’t last forever, but it might help you pay some bills and hold you over a little bit while you look.
Don’t stop looking–even during the holidays. My observation over the years is that there are two main recruiting times during the year, namely November through January (for calendar budget years) and between May and July (for fiscal calendar years). So, even with vacations and holidays when hiring managers may not always be available, don’t give up! Keep pursuing and looking because while jobs will still become available during other months, those seem to be the biggest rush months for work.
That said, do take time for yourself during holidays. Getting laid off around the holidays is the worst! You’ve already got all the usual holiday stresses, and now you have work/money stress to add on top of that! Even so, cut yourself a break. Take some time to catch your breath, regroup, and enjoy the holidays as best as you can under the circumstances. A new year is ahead, and it’s an opportunity for a new start! (And new starts can begin anytime.) It’s a chance to reassess your personal as well as professional circumstance, and decide how you want to move forward? Do you want a more challenging job or a less challenging job? Are you willing to move? Do you want to work remotely or an office? Do you want to change fields? Are you taking care of yourself and your family, and how does work support that? Now’s the time to do that.
On the job hunt, there are several things to keep in mind as well:
Make sure you update your resume and LinkedIn profile and take the opportunity to ensure that it’s cleaned up, grammatically correct, and laid out well structurally. A misspelling for someone applying for a tech editor position, for example, would be an automatic “no”. First impressions count. There are plenty of template resources out on the web that can help you with that if it’s been a while. LinkedIn is a HUGE resource for recruiters, and having an incomplete profile does not do you any favors. It should mimic your resume at a minimum.
Send out as many applications/resumes as you can. As my husband would remind me all the time, you have more chance of catching a fish if you have multiple fishing lines out on the water–even if you only need one fish. I’ve been through situations with other economic downturns where a single position that used to get 10 applicants now gets 100 or 1000 applicants. As a result that’s no fault of your own, you get ghosted or never hear anything back about a position. So, the more of them you send out, it increases your chances of getting a response.
If you see something that you think you might be able to do, but you don’t have experience in “X” (something requested in the job description), apply for it anyway–even if it’s a few things that are missing. There was a study that was done that showed that women in particular were guilty of that–not applying for a position because the job description had a few things required, and the applicant didn’t have 100% of the requirements. Men will more often apply even if they don’t have everything. But I also know men who have that same mentality–if I don’t have all of it, I can’t apply. Not true. I didn’t have any experience in InDesign, Service Now, or how to navigate in Workday, and I was taught all of it in the past two years, and then more. I had the foundational skills that allowed me to learn these quickly, and that’s part of the reason that I got my job. I was able to adapt, and my resume showed that I had the foundational skills to learn and adapt. So take a shot–you don’t know where it might lead you. You can always say no if you get a job offer if you don’t think it’s a good fit. But you have to apply to get to that point first.
Keep a spreadsheet–Excel or Google Sheets is fine–to track your search. It doesn’t have to be much, but I usually include the position title, the company (or the client company and the recruiting company), the name of the contact or recruiter with their phone number and email info, the date of contact, the date I forwarded my info, and a field or two where I track the dates of each step going forward. There are times I’ve sent so many applications out that I’ve lost track of where I’ve applied, who I’ve talked to, where I am in the process, etc. This will help keep you on track.
Take advantage of your network. For me, it’s always been about my tech comm social media network and my STC network–especially my STC network. Making those connections with other professionals in your field and supporting organizations can make a big difference. They can provide leads, or even advice as you do your job search. Again, with my current job, when I initially applied for it as a contractor, it was the only job I had been offered as a contractor that preferred STC membership. When I asked my manager during my interview why she was looking for that, she said that she felt that those in STC cared about their careers and were the ones that more often went for continuing education to stay on top of the profession. Well, as active as I am in STC, I had that (and still have that) in spades! I also worked my network at the time as I had an STC connection who had gone to my same grad program and used to be in my chapter (she moved) who was in the same company, and I could ask her about her experiences, what kinds of questions they often ask about during interviews, etc. I was able to reciprocate the favor recently when she was looking for a new position, and I could forward her the job openings at my company! That’s how it works. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, but people are always willing to help, so take advantage of that!
Take the opportunity to learn something new. Whenever I had a gap in employment, I’ve always used that time to invest in myself. What is a skill I could improve? What’s a software program that is being requested more often that I don’t know? What’s something that I’d like to learn because I’m interested? There are so many educational opportunities and choices! I started my master’s degree because I was unemployed, and I was switching professions (or at least making a course correction), and with appropriate paperwork, etc. I was able to get the state unemployment department to pay for my first three courses of my degree. A bit of savings there! There are also so many other resources out there–STC has a great educational program that I’ve benefitted from, LinkedIn has courses (I took several when it was still Lynda.com), and there’s something to fit any budget. Understanding a skill that you may not have used yet will still get you a little bit ahead of not knowing anything about a skill. For example, you don’t know about structured authoring? Plenty of free resources to teach you.
If you are in tech comm, create an online presence. Even if you worked on proprietary stuff, use some items and change it up with fake names and processes that will help you display your aptitude. Create an online portfolio with different examples of the kinds of writing or other skills (like graphic arts, UX design, HTML programming, etc.) that you can show. Another way is to participate in social media forums or heck, write a blog on topics! This very blog was started for that reason–to show prospective employers what I know in a more conversational way. This blog is now 10 years old, so I think it’s been doing a good job for me, even if I don’t write as often as I used to.
Do contract work or part-time gigs, as you don’t know where they might lead for the better. One of the things that brings me relief that I’m not currently part of any layoffs is that until I got this current position I’m in, I had not worked a full-time, permanent employee position since the year 2000. Seriously. It’s been 22 years since I worked full-time as an employee, and I don’t mean as a full-time employee of some contracting agency. That’s been a big adjustment. Granted, some of those years were years off to be a stay-at-home mom, but those that weren’t–all contracting jobs. So if you are used to having full-time permanent employment, don’t diss contract work. It might be the difference between having a paycheck or no paycheck. Money is money, right? That said, that also goes for part-time employment. I’ve been in part-time positions, or even juggled two or three at a time so that I had a relatively steady income for a while. All my contracts and part-time gigs gave me an opportunity to learn something new that I could put on my resume, or advance my skills even more. It got me to where I am now, so do what you need to do to be employed. Sometimes even taking a slight pay cut might reap rewards later. There are opportunities where contracts can be converted to full-time permanent employee, or you’ve at least gained an opportunity to apply at a client for a full-time permanent position, but it’s because you put the work in first. It’s not an automatic thing. I’ve had at least two occasions when I was told that they were going to convert me, and then it didn’t happen (would get laid off instead). My current position is the first time it converted, but I still had to go through the same process as if I came off the street. It was not automatic or a shoo-in. But, I’m sure I had an advantage of already knowing the work.
Don’t give up. Give yourself a break, but don’t give up. Looking for work is an unpaid full-time job in itself, and it can be really, REALLY frustrating when there is a lot of competition out there. Just continue to work every angle you can, do as many searches through as many contacts as you can, and go back to that first bullet above of advice. The more lines you put out, the more opportunities that someone will “bite” and you’ll get that interview and job. But it can take time–which can be excruciating at times. Just don’t give up until the job is done.
Everyone is worthy of having the ability to contribute to society through a variety of means, and make a living from it. Intellectually, most of us know that when we are laid off, it’s a business decision and not a reflection of our body of work or work ethic, even if it feels very strongly that it’s personal. It will feel personal for a long while–I won’t lie to you about that. But having been in the situation too many times, and falling into the same emotional trap, these are the steps I take to ensure that I can be at my best when that next opportunity does come around.
What are your thoughts and experiences about layoffs in tech comm? Share your experience in the comments.
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