4 Layers of “Learning Pyramid” for a Junior Technical Communicator
Once you get into technical communication and documentation, you’ll quickly discover that it’s a “country without end” really. There is a lot to learn and track as both the market and technology are constantly changing. But this does not mean that you can learn random things and become a successful technical communicator. There is actually a better way that I call the “Learning Pyramid” which requires you to first establish a broad foundation of learning and then continue to build the upper layers on top of such a solid foundation. Each layer of this pyramid supports the more specialized layer established above it.
LAYER 1 — THE BASE: Establish your basic language skills, appropriate to the language you are writing with. For example, for English speakers and writers, it is important to learn the basic difference between “Active Voice” and “Passive Voice”, or to learn the different types of clauses and the difference it makes to start your sentences with a dependent clause, etc.
LAYER 2 — INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE: Next, you must learn the landscape, so to speak. You need to learn where technical communication stands relative to other industries; different types of business writing and documentation opportunities out there; various career paths as an author and manager; various types of high-tech and low-tech documents, etc.
LAYER 3 — TOOLS: Now you need to learn how to use the tools of the trade like the Microsoft Office Suite; Frame Builder; all kinds of help authoring software; graphic editing software such as Photoshop and Illustrator; HTML editors like Dreamweaver; the almost endless variety of online resources, etc.
LAYER 4 — BUSINESS SKILLS: The last and perhaps the most important layer of the “Learning Pyramid” consists of the knowledge of business and marketing practices that you need to learn to become a successful communicator. This layer requires you to learn not only how to work as part of a team in a high-tech company (for example), but also how to market and negotiate your services if you work as a freelancer.
Once you have all the layers in place, you’ll need to come back from time to time and do some minor repairs and updates, as everything in life needs maintenance, even our basic language skills. But the more you do it, the easier the maintenance job becomes. If you start establishing your broad base today, you’ll be amazed at the kind of career heights you can scale with your “learning pyramid” tomorrow. It is your dependent ladder to success.