My Path to Technical Communication

In preparation for writing this piece, I reread the personal statement I wrote when I applied for the MATC program. It’s funny how confident words come across when they’re written down. The main points: After earning my bachelor’s in journalism and working in various publications and non-profits for a decade, I moved to Idaho and got a job in communications at Boise State. I was ready to pursue my graduate degree, and the MATC program was the perfect fit for my skills and experience. Or so the statement said. 

At the time I applied, going back to school was intimidating. I hadn’t been in a classroom in over ten years...what if I had forgotten how to study? What if grad school was totally out of my league? Of course I wanted to get my master’s, but to be honest, I was scared. Thankfully, Boise State offers an employee education discount, and at $5 per credit (vs the normal $470 per credit), it seemed pretty dumb not to try.

Why Tech Comm

When I began researching the graduate offerings at Boise State, I was struck by how the MATC program really did seem like the perfect fit. During my career I had built a broad-ranging background in writing and design, and I suspected the MATC program would focus and contextualize those skills. All the jobs I’d had--journalism, design, and communications--ultimately boiled down to one core goal: sharing a message with people. And that’s what technical communication is about. 

What I Learned

As usual, trying something new was worth it. As I took classes in technical and visual rhetoric, I finally learned the “why” of what I do. And I learned how I could apply the skills I already had to new areas like user experience, publications management, and web accessibility. Another perk was how often course content applied directly to my day-to-day work, which reinforced the value and applicability of what I was learning in the program. The MATC program sharpened my skills, built my confidence, and has served as a lens to focus my experience in a field that I’m excited to explore. 

Beyond the actual content of my classes, the MATC program reinforced an important lesson: Try new things. That’s been the story for me since moving to Boise. That WAS moving to Boise. New town, new state. New jobs, and new connections. Getting to know fellow students and instructors has been lovely. In fact, during spring 2019, one of my former MATC program professors reached out and encouraged me to apply for a technical communication job at Northwest Lineman College. I got the job, and I’m now working as a bona fide technical communicator. I can guarantee that wouldn’t have happened without the MATC program. Sometimes doing a thing that’s intimidating and a little uncomfortable pays off.

My Portfolio

My portfolio includes pieces from all different aspects of the program representing a range of program areas: analysis, editing, design, and research. Some group projects, some individual, but all showing how I was able to build on my skills and integrate new knowledge to create solid communication pieces.

• Webpage & Infographic Redesign: Assess communication materials from my workplace and improve them based on tech comm best practices.

• User Experience Testing and Document Design (group project): Propose usability tests for a client website, then conduct tests and create a website recommendation report for the client.

• Freelance Independent Study: Conduct self-guided research to learn about tech comm career possibilities and use my research to create informational materials for fellow tech comm students.

• Web Accessibility (group project): Create web materials (a website, PDF and video) teaching the user how to make or do something, and ensure the materials conform to WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards.

• Shared Stories Lab Website: Create a website for Boise State’s Shared Stories Lab using tech comm skills including usability, visual rhetoric, plain language, and web accessibility.

• Editing for Plain Language: Edit a convoluted document to make it more readable and ensure that it meets federal plain language standards.

• Genre Analysis: Analyze a communications piece and explain how its various features fits (or don’t fit) its genre.

• Visual Rhetoric and Information Design: Create and reflect on ten visual pieces in tech comm areas from data visualization to document design.

Each of the pieces also highlights an area of personal interest: the convergence of the written and visual aspects of technical communication. Although I’ve worked as a writer and graphic designer for over a decade, I hadn’t thought critically about how interconnected writing and design actually are. Writing has always felt like the more serious “work,” while design appealed to my artsy side. But guess what? They both matter. Although you can have one without the other, a truly effective piece of technical communication speaks its content through clear writing AND intentional design. During the MATC program it was a pleasure to explore and articulate this concept, and prepare myself to make the case for beautiful, effective design in my future work.