Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors • Hacker News Board

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#11

Post by pdimitar » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 8:02 PM UTC

There go my hopes that they will eventually be responsible for the same acronym in the far future! Ref: https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Standard_Template_Const...

Jokes aside, this is really sad news. I have heard about them several times and was rooting for them, even had plans to visit in 2026... :/

I hope their good educators get reassigned to places where they can make even more impact. We seriously need better education nowadays, technical or otherwise. I heard that they were too academical and not practical enough but even with that (and if it's true) it's still sad news.

I wish the people from there all the best in the future.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#12

Post by ramon156 » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 8:06 PM UTC

bloqs wrote: post #6

heisenbit wrote: post #4

Finally no more professionals trying to make technology understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of Google now requiring AI to learn anything. I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical writers b…

This increasing cognitive demand paired with an increase in lacking empathy is a worrying combination

Demand for developer-focused material*

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#13

Post by unforswearing » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 8:59 PM UTC

MDGeist wrote: post #5

I was a member of an STC chapter in grad school and I went to a bunch of meetings and networking events hoping to get some practical career advice from more experienced technical writers. At no point did it feel like anyone in the org could (or would) actually help me in the transition from grad school to technical writing work. It was a really disheartening experience. It does not surprise me that membership has wan…

Sorry to hear about your experience. I recently considered joining STC in an attempt to bolster my career a bit (as technical writer without a college degree), but wasn't sure the theoretical benefits were worth the membership cost. Sounds like they might not have been able to help much in that area.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#14

Post by ourguile » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 9:03 PM UTC

Earlier in my life I attended a number of their chapter meetings, and I know someone who is currently on their board. Fairly shocked to hear that they're closing. Definitely does not feel like a growing field, but still incredibly valuable.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#15

Post by MDGeist » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 9:32 PM UTC

unforswearing wrote: post #13

MDGeist wrote: post #5

I was a member of an STC chapter in grad school and I went to a bunch of meetings and networking events hoping to get some practical career advice from more experienced technical writers. At no point did it feel like anyone in the org could (or would) actually help me in the transition from grad school to technical writing work. It was a really disheartening experience. It does not surprise me that membership has wan…

Sorry to hear about your experience. I recently considered joining STC in an attempt to bolster my career a bit (as technical writer without a college degree), but wasn't sure the theoretical benefits were worth the membership cost. Sounds like they might not have been able to help much in that area.

I think mileage may have also varied based on industry and location. I eventually found my way into tech as a writer anyways, but most of the people I met via the STC were not working at tech companies. Granted it was DC so lots of defense contractors and the like.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#16

Post by bhartzer » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 9:37 PM UTC

I graduated college in the early 1990s and minored in technical writing. I started the first "Student Society of STC" back in college, and that lead to some good internships and a few jobs. Wrote software manuals and online help for an email software company that ran on the AS/400 and MVS. Had to write and code it in SGML, then that eventually moved to HTML.

In my daily work today, I still rely on all those basic principles of technical writing.

As a "long timer" so to speak, I think eventually there ended up being a decline of pure "technical writer" jobs out there, and not too many people going into the profession.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#17

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 9:44 PM UTC

bloqs wrote: post #6

heisenbit wrote: post #4

Finally no more professionals trying to make technology understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of Google now requiring AI to learn anything. I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical writers b…

This increasing cognitive demand paired with an increase in lacking empathy is a worrying combination

The compression to run orgs on minimum viable humans will continue until system failure. Boeing, Intel, etc. As long as nothing breaks, there is no incentive not to.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#18

Post by billybuckwheat » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 10:28 PM UTC

unforswearing wrote: post #13

MDGeist wrote: post #5

I was a member of an STC chapter in grad school and I went to a bunch of meetings and networking events hoping to get some practical career advice from more experienced technical writers. At no point did it feel like anyone in the org could (or would) actually help me in the transition from grad school to technical writing work. It was a really disheartening experience. It does not surprise me that membership has wan…

Sorry to hear about your experience. I recently considered joining STC in an attempt to bolster my career a bit (as technical writer without a college degree), but wasn't sure the theoretical benefits were worth the membership cost. Sounds like they might not have been able to help much in that area.

Even before the STC called it a day, you'd probably be better served attending local tech writer meetups (assuming there are any in your area) or joining the Write the Docs community (https://www.writethedocs.org/). When I was toiling in the tech comm world, I found that both helped my in my career more than interacting with the STC.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#19

Post by mtharveyrunner » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 10:30 PM UTC

I was a long-time member of STC, attaining the rank of Fellow. I found STC membership rewarding, mostly because our local chapter actively supported professional development and job search. Pre-pandemic, we met and socialized regularly, and so built a strong, tight-knit community.

Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

#20

Post by zetalyrae » Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 10:35 PM UTC

scojjac wrote: post #2

You can see some of their financial data at ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer ( https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/314... ). I'm curious what longtimers think led to this. Declining memberships, maybe companies not valuing technical communication as a separate field as much, the rise of LLMs all seem like possible contributing factors.

My experience is that companies just don't value good technical writing. And a lot of managers are basically illiterate, so it's the blind leading the blind.