Dr. Crane interview

What do you wish students knew about the certificate before starting?

Certificate is in limbo. Would rather have them go into the writing studies emphasis/minor. Tech comm. is a growing field but also is also changing-employers use tech writers on contract basis, so you either have to be a hustler or need to use tech comm. as addendum/expansion of another skillset. People are hired for tech comm. but job description is expanded beyond that.

Can you define the tech comm certification? What is it in a nutshell?

The next best thing to the minor.

What skills do completers receive?

Increased knowledge of genre, better editors, better document designers, acquired thinking skills necessary to acquire new/further skills within tech comm

What kinds of jobs can students get with the certificate? Would this lead to any kinds of opportunities for grad school?

Jobs: Lately people have been hiring/querying technical communicators for SEO. Editing and writing in small local businesses. If you acquired the certification in addition to domain specific major then you have more value- two people up for one job- if one person can write and has the portfolio to back it up then they have more value to an employer.

Grad school: If going to grad school there’s an academic bias against anything vocational. An English major with certificate would be good but someone with the minor is in a better position

Are there any on-campus opportunities related to the certificate?

No, and there is no local chapter of Society for Technical Communication

What is the normal amount of time it takes students to complete the certification?

Not sure

Difference between writing studies minor and certification?

Minor is more involved- more courses, more hours, gain more experience

Really need to focus on building portfolio. Classes and coursework are more meaningful if you see them as pieces of your portfolio.

Anything else?

In my opinion, shifting more toward writing studies. Not a replacement but a good place to acquire those skills and other related important skills. In a perfect world we’d have a tech comm. major but that would require a shift in focus and resources within the department and not sure if dept would like to make that reallocation.