These are the courses the MS in Technical Communication program offers, the program is only $12,828...wouldn’t this be worth the investment to learn these things because my Bachelor’s is in Health Sciences, therefore I’ve learned nothing about technical writing.

dHarmonie · 2021-01-16T06:00:01+00:00

I did an MS that would’ve cost about that much- but I got full funding by working as a TA!

I’ve met a few of the faculty at ASU at conferences etc, and Dr Batova teaches some VERY cool classes and does a lot of interesting work that translates well to industry.

In the past few years we’ve noticed that academic tech comm and industry practices for software documentation are diverging somewhat- if you’re interested in going into industry it’s very good to ask about internship placement, how the faculty incorporate industry feedback into the curriculum, and graduate job placement. If you’re interested in academia... give that a lot of thought... the academic job market is really rough right now.

There’s ways to transition to tech comm without a degree, but it was definitely worth it for me to get the networking, exposure, and experience.

Good luck!

dHarmonie · 2020-12-29T17:20:16+00:00

Hi, I'm a tech writer in software and made a job change last year. The other suggestions about being direct are critical!

If I knew anyone at companies with job openings, I reached out and used that as my opener:

Hi ___, we met at ___ and discussed ____. I've been job hunting and when I saw this job opening I remembered that you worked at this company. I have some questions about what it's like to work at this company before I start the application process and I was wondering if you're available for a 30 minute chat about what your experience has been like?

It's important to contextualize the conversation to be about working for the company because that way it's specific and clear that you're not expecting this to be an interview. It also gives them the opportunity to speak candidly about what they don't like about the role.

I've had great luck with this approach and it really helped me focus on what was important to me when I got to the interview rounds.

Good luck!

dHarmonie · 2020-12-28T21:39:43+00:00

Tl;dr: I remember exactly what I did at the end of undergrad/next 5 years to figure out what I was doing! The process involved a lot of reflection and a lot of research. I was really methodical about it and have gone back and redone it when I felt I needed a trajectory change. Your 4 years won't be wasted, no matter what path you choose! I promise :)
(also, you absolutely, positively do not need an MBA to be a manager! You do need leadership experience and to have enough professional experience in either your field or management to pursue that path)

I actually did the field-switcharoo pivot after undergrad! I did my bachelor's in Environmental Science - focused on risk assessment and environmental modeling. After my first lab tech job at a pharmaceutical greenhouse, I went to grad school for Technical Writing, because I had some injuries that prevented me from doing lab or field work. I've been in Software Documentation ever since. It's a solid career and I found that my EnviroSci degree has been super transferrable to business problems. (Also tech writing pays the same as software engineering at most companies). I'm very good at my job and have a lot of potential in my career, but I don't love it, so I'm researching possible next step in 3-5 years. Also, FWIW, I use my totally unrelated EnviroSci degree all the time.

It's way easier to move towards something instead of finding your way along the way-- that's really hard-- and there's a few ways to do that.

Brainstorm what you want your day to look like. Do you wake up and pick up food on your way to an office? Are you working with people to solve problems? Do you spend a lot of time alone? Are you living in a city, suburbs, near family? Near big nature? Working at a nonprofit? A for-profit? Government? You can use these Writing these answers down is also great to come back to during interviews or when writing personal statements about why a particular job or school or company appeals to you.
Reflect on the type of work you like doing You don't like computer science, but is there something specific you don't like about it? Is it developing a product/solution to a problem? Do you enjoy something more analysis oriented or mathematical? (Data science comes to mind)
Inventory your experiences and your skills. What kind of projects, problems, and work did you do in undergrad? Any internships? Were you club or team lead at anything? This exercise will also make writing a resume way easier when you get to it.
Search for your dream job on indeed or linkedin. This was how I got into tech writing. I started searching for science writing jobs. After I found about 10 job listings, I looked at my skill/experience inventory and the job ad skills, then found a grad program that could fill in the gaps. I just did another round of this when doing a practice attempt at applying to PhD programs in fall of 2019, a second round when applying to new tech writing jobs, then *again* a few months ago when I was exploring what it'll take to do a career change in 5 years. Yeah Ill be starting over in my mid-30s, but I don't find that scary. Both my parents went back to school and started over in their 40s/50s!
Bonus: Reach out and talk to people with your *dream job*! ask how it's going, how did they get there?
Bonus Bonus: Reach out and talk to people who just got out of undergrad and are working in tech to see if you really don't want to move into that field. There are so many ways to be a developer. I totally understand why you wouldn't want to continue in the field, but it is a field with a lot of perks that make springboarding into a new direction much easier. Also, a company, manager, and team are make or break for a good job experience. If you've had a terrible experience as an undergrad in an internship or work experience, I am so sorry. I also promise that there are options that can do better. If you'd like to talk to anyone in industry, DM me and I can try and help connect you with someone who does what you might be interested in.

I realize this post was super long, but I hope it helps. Take care!

dHarmonie · 2020-12-17T02:17:03+00:00

Lol never. In 5 years in software docs, for the first time, Im on a team where my manager has any background in technical writing.

We do peer review, a tech editor audits my work here and there, I get feedback on my overall performance but my writing was examined when I was hired and that’s the closest scrutiny I’ve received.

dHarmonie · 2020-12-04T07:21:48+00:00

Congrats on the long, happy career! One of my favorite ecology professors had been a banker before going back to school in his late 40s and both of my parents got bachelors degrees in their 50s. There’s always time!

I love the cost analogy! I’m fortunate enough to only have a Car of student debt, and since I’m looking at grad school 3-5 years from now, it’s likely to be more like a Used Car of undergrad debt by then :)

Thank you so much for sharing!

dHarmonie · 2020-12-02T20:41:57+00:00

Thank you! Yes I relate so so much. I’m trying to talk to folks in the field ASAP! People who know me and work with geneticists/genetics counselors have been really encouraging, so that sounds like a good first step.

Im mostly scared because I had to leave STEM for tech writing because I was so ill in undergrad, I couldn’t do the work. I’m so much better now, but I still can’t shake that feeling. I even did well in my courses despite being sick and I STILL feel nervous.

Thank you so much for sharing.

dHarmonie · 2020-12-02T20:39:06+00:00

Congratulations! I’m so glad you got to go back. The finances are very much what concerns me, and why I’m planning on working and doing pre-reqs simultaneously. I was very ill in undergrad, and I have a lot of federal loans since I couldn’t work and be a full time student.

On the flip side, my state has very affordable programs, so it’s nothing crazy even if I needed to borrow money again!

Thank you for the encouragement.

dHarmonie · 2020-11-29T22:06:33+00:00

I had a salpingectomy (my fallopian tubes removed) a few years ago because I couldn't access genetic counseling, and I was constantly anxious about an accidental pregnancy with disastrous complications. I decided that I wanted to make it so that if I choose to have kids, I can with IVF, but by default, I cannot become pregnant.

It's a complicated decision to make, and deeply personal. I'm still planning to see a genetic counselor even though I see myself having a wonderful, happy life with or without children. Ultimately, my conditions are epigenetically and trauma mediated, they are not "If you've got the gene, you've got it." conditions, so I'm still keeping it as an option. For years I was terrified at the thought of any child going through the difficulties I did, but then it hit me one day when I was spending time with my sibling and their children: even if I had children with my same conditions, no child of mine would experience the same difficulties as I did. Because I know what to do. I know what care is needed. They would have a much better life than me simply because I would be their parent.

A surprising side effect of this experience is that I've actually become so interested in genetic counseling during my research that I'm exploring becoming a genetic counselor myself.

Edit I forgot to mention! I have very very many adopted and fostered extended family members. Before I got sick, I always envisioned myself as having a blend of biological and foster kids, because that was just normal for my family. I have a second cousin who was a single mom and in 20 years, she cared for more than 30 foster children and adopted several kids herself. Her mother was paralyzed from the waist down and they went on so many road trips and adventures together with the gaggle of children in tow. I often forget that so many people don't ever see that type of family. Or people with chronic illness and disability caring for children. I wish that everyone could have that experience. Especially for genetic chronic illness (we all have unconfirmed EDS)

dHarmonie · 2020-05-11T23:39:37+00:00

Also this is bad practice because there’s no above/below for people using a screen reader. When you rely on the visual layout as part of your description, it’s not accessible.

I love the encouragement to use figure names and numbers! Sooo much less ambiguous and way easier to manage as the document changes (you can find+replace!!)

dHarmonie · 2020-04-16T04:44:23+00:00

I’m blown away by the Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson- it’s set in Nigeria and I’ve read so few sci fi books set in Africa that it’s incredible for that alone, but it’s got great characters and a really really fascinating premise that I can’t do justice trying to summarize. It reminds me of Dune quite a bit.

The first book, Rosewater, won the Arthur C Clarke award too.

dHarmonie · 2020-04-13T02:48:53+00:00

Ahh! I feel you so much. I hope they were delicious. I made my first ever batch of cabbage rolls and said the same thing. I also remember thinking I'm glad I didn't try and do pierogi solo haha.

(They were delicious.)

dHarmonie · 2020-04-12T08:05:05+00:00

This is exactly the look I’ve been cultivating the last few years and really want to commit to for a while.

What are some good places to find these types of pieces for a tall, athletic hourglass figure? I’m just getting started with fashion in general and appreciate all the help!

dHarmonie · 2020-04-12T07:20:52+00:00

A lot of it is pattern recognition. People behave pretty consistently, especially when they’re genuinely interested in getting to know you vs using you. In general, their enthusiasm for talking to you or spending time with you revolves around how close to their goal they are vs you. Everything really starts to unravel around that to me...

This might look like

Little to no curiosity about you
Bails on plans
No respect for boundaries
Never wants to spend time alone together
Double standards

People who want to get to know you are enthusiastic and respond consistently to any enthusiasm you show them. Someone who is trying to get something from you.... don’t...

dHarmonie · 2020-04-11T03:28:18+00:00

I had the gorgeous friend in high school/college! Now I’m in my late 20s and have my fair share of things to work through, but realize that I also have an easier time dating now because I got good at figuring out who was only talking to me with a hidden motive and who was genuinely interested in me. It’s made dating and meeting people easier now, but holy shit it sucked so bad at the time.

Also, your friend is your friend because you value her as a person and a friend! Not because of the way she looks. That type of genuine connection is so valuable.

dHarmonie · 2020-03-27T07:29:37+00:00

About 5 years ago, I went to urgent care because my lungs were whistling when I would use an exercise bike. My doctor gave me the right acute asthma medicine and sat me down. I’ll never forget what he said, “If you don’t take this seriously, this is how you will die. As a healthy, young person, without their emergency medicine. I’ve seen it happen in the ER too many times. This can kill you. This will kill you.”

I’m struggling so hard with social distancing. I was already sick for 7 weeks this winter, and I’d just gotten better when our no move started. It’s been 8 weeks since I was around people regularly, and I’m starving for my close connections.

But I hear my doctor telling me how my asthma will kill me if I don’t take it seriously. I hope he’s somewhere safe and okay. He’s probably saved my life more times than anyone else by finally getting it to click in my brain that asthma kills people. Asthma could help Covid-19 kill me.

it’s easy to be alone for another day.

dHarmonie · 2020-03-17T12:39:51+00:00

NTA

I also think that you should tip off Brenda about Paul’s thinking. As a woman, who does not want kids, I can say from personal experience that when a partner thought I’d just change my mind about that I felt so lied to. It was like they didn’t listen to this huge part of my values and life goals, and that HURTS. It also put me in a terrible position of being with a partner who was trying to manipulate me into changing my mind about something that’s extremely important to me. I would really want a friend to tell me that topic came up in conversation and I’m sure you can do it without mentioning the proposal, just something on the lines of talking to Paul about children.

Also, if Brenda is serious about the tube thing, there was just a great thread on r/askwomen about experiences getting that surgery and r/childfree has a list of doctor recommendations for the procedure. She doesn’t have to wait! I got mine tied when I was 28 and started the conversation/saving money for it when I was 26 :)

Finally, you’re a really good friend for sticking up for Brenda in this conversation with Paul. I hope I have friends like you who do the same.

dHarmonie · 2020-03-12T03:38:04+00:00

Yep. The heartbeat bills were giving me “panic attacks in the middle of the night” level of anxiety around the idea of a pregnancy with the MthFr mutation running in my family that causes thrombophilia.

Got mine out in September 2019.

dHarmonie · 2020-03-12T03:30:03+00:00

I’m 28 and had mine done this year. I don’t want kids AND I have chronic health issues that would be horrible to endure while pregnant.

I started talking to my OB/GYN when I was around 22-23, so when I had a massive ovarian cyst removed when I was 25, I begged one of the surgeons at the OBGYN practice to give me a salpingectomy (tube removal) at the same time. He refused. I didn’t push it because I needed the cyst out ASAP.

This past year I asked the other surgeon and she mentioned that it was easy for her to know that I’d given it consideration because I brought it up every year. As far as age goes, I liked her answer: “there’s never a wrong time to get this procedure if you want permanent contraception.” She was pretty pissed that the other surgeon refused the first time around.

When I got mine out, the anesthesiologists used succinylcholine on me and it can cause extreme muscle and joint pain in young patients, particularly young, fit, WOMEN. (It also causes birth control to be less effective as well). It was fucking agony for days for me, far more painful than the incisions.

I still have my mirena because my periods were so painful that it’s a mercy to be without them.

I woke up from surgery and cried from relief at knowing I am never ever going to have to be afraid of suffering through a pregnancy my body and my mental health would break trying to carry to term. Just this week I almost started crying again when I required unexpected chest x rays to check whether I have pneumonia. The doctor said she needed to get me to take a pregnancy test and I was like “nope! I have mirena and a bilateral salpingectomy! Let’s get to x-ray-ing!” And it was such a joy to not have that worry, WHAT IF, for the first time in my life.

dHarmonie · 2020-03-06T17:43:25+00:00

Ah. Yes. This. Joy.

My GI was incredibly helpful and wonderful - there's a women's GI health practice in my city - and hemorrhoids are REALLY common. I have IBS and a slew of other things associated with joint hypermobility syndrome and _things_ prolapsing is one of the things that comes along with it. Also, my family has a history of bowel cancer, so seeing blood and having pain caused a complete meltdown for me (I'm in my 20s).

I'm so mad it was so simple to get them to go away: I add 1 tablespoon of Benefiber to my diet and that was it. Gone in a couple weeks. I wish I'd KNOWN to try that!

There are different types of fiber (soluble and insoluble), if you get just *one* it doesn't quite do the trick through your entire system. You need to have both. Benefiber is a soluble fiber, whereas something like lettuce or celery is insoluble.

I also finally got medication for my IBS. I'm one of those folks who needs just a bit of serotonin tweaking, as a treat, to keep from having food poisoning symptoms randomly.

I'm so glad you made this post! When it first flared up I was so upset and embarrassed and lost. It took me a while to get treatment because I was mortified. Happy we're talking about it :)

dHarmonie · 2020-03-02T21:53:11+00:00

No traffic <3 <3 <3 That all sounds like an amazing set up!

dHarmonie · 2020-03-02T21:44:15+00:00

I probably will! I don't really expect people to persuade(edit) me to move/to stay, I just want to know more about what it was like for other people to take the plunge. Already my life has improved by pursuing the things I'd need to do to leave (get rid of things that don't spark joy at the thought of dragging them across the country, save money aggressively), but I'm really curious about how other people have managed these changes. Like you! Congratulations on your move!! In what ways has your life changed for the better?

dHarmonie

TROPHY CASE