This June, I am graduating from Daystar with a Bachelor of
Arts in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC). It has been both an exciting and a challenging
journey. It has been four years that came with lots of learning experiences. I have discovered myself intellectually,
spiritually, and socially; and now ready for the new beginning.
So where is my qualification taking me? Well for a start, I
have already registered my own consultancy and started marketing my services to
potential clients with positive responses. Going the entrepreneurial way is a
personal preference and it does not mean that I cannot join an organization in
the future.
TPC offers a graduate many working options. One can choose
to work full time in an organization. The field is no longer unfamiliar to
employers. More organizations, especially in the Non-Governmental and Community
Based sectors, are openly recruiting technical communicators to work in their
in-house departments. These organizations include Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA), LVCT Health, and Sanergy. Also some government agencies are jumping on
board. For example the Center for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) has a technical
writer in its ranks. A graduate may also opt to
work part time; there is an opportunity to work as a freelance professional
writer; and the final option is go into consultancy.
The Daystar TPC programme is comprehensive and provides what
employers are looking for. This means it opens doors for the graduate to work
either in the government, nonprofit or the private sector. It also allows one
to select an area for personal specialization. For instance, it is possible to
write exclusively on finance, health, education, farming, ICT, aviation, and
even media. However, it is also possible to combine several industries.
TPC does not lock a graduate into performing one line of work. Other
specialization options will be found in the areas of marketing, documentation and advocacy. Under marketing,
the graduate is employed in technical marketing and develops catalogues, and user
and assembly manuals for a company. As a documentation expert, a TPC graduate
writes the success stories of the organization to be published in their
newsletters and press releases. They may also provide technical illustrations
if they are good at it. Then in advocacy, there is an opportunity to influence
opinions and policy in the civic engagements. In fact some scholars have argued
that Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai succeeded in her Green Belt Movement
activities because she utilized technical communications (Grabtree and Sapp, 2005.)
Translation, and
content development and strategy are other areas of practice. A technical
communicator with knowledge of another language will be most sought out to assist
organizations in translating their documents. Content is a valuable asset to many
organizations and technical communicators are the practitioners with the skills for
creating, packaging and disseminating this resource expertly.
It is this flexibility, as well as room for innovation and
structured creativity, that makes this profession an enviable career choice. Working in
this field empowers one to work with professionals from diverse fields and design
their technical content in simpler and audience friendly form. There is also
the other plus of being media house independent. Technical communicators work
for any organization and are not limited to media houses as their only employers.
This opens the doors to communication graduates who want to work in the broad
world.
Daystar University has a TPC programme that ensures its
graduates have the relevant skills to competently operate the tools and
technology that produce world class technical communication products. And it is
the only Institution of higher learning with this course approved by Commission
of Higher Education (CHE) in Kenya. Now you understand why I am facing the
future with a lot of determination and confidence.
This article appears in Daystar’s publication Connect June 2015 pg 23
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