4 layers of "learning pyramid" For a Junior Technical Communicator

Website design By BotEap.comOnce you get interested in technical communication and documentation, you’ll quickly discover that it’s “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 lay a broad base of learning first and continue to build the upper layers on such a strong foundation. Each layer of this pyramid supports the more specialized layer established above it.

Website design By BotEap.comLAYER 1 — THE BASE: Establish your basic language skills, appropriate for 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 sentences with a dependent clause, etc.

Website design By BotEap.comLAYER 2 — INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE: Next you need to learn the scenery, so to speak. You need to learn where technical communication stands relative to other industries; different types of business writing and documentation opportunities that exist; various career paths as author and manager; various types of high and low-tech documents, etc.

Website design By BotEap.comLAYER 3 — TOOLS: Now you need to learn how to use the tools of the trade like 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 infinite variety of online resources, etc.

Website design By BotEap.comLAYER 4 — BUSINESS SKILLS: The last and perhaps the most important layer of the “Learning Pyramid” consists of the knowledge of marketing and business 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.

Website design By BotEap.comOnce you have all the layers in place, you’ll need to go back from time to time and do some minor repairs and upgrades, 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 laying 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.