Category: News (Page 4 of 7)

Five STC Events to Attend this February

February 14, 2022 / John Clement

Hi everyone,

Here are some STC webinars coming up this month! They’re focused on education and volunteering, and as such they should be helpful for STC students seeking to learn more about the field and get involved in the Society.

1. Honoring Our Own: Recognizing Your Community’s Volunteers
Date: Tuesday, February 15, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET (tomorrow)
Presenter: Lori Meyer

STC communities do great things, thanks to their hard-working volunteers. Recognizing those volunteers is a vital part of your community’s success. This webinar will discuss why recognition matters, options for recognition from both STC and your community, and how your community can create a recognition program to honor your volunteers.

Register here for the webinar: https://access.stc.org/Shared_Content/Events/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=WEBLR21522&WebsiteKey=749f84ca-cf54-4b3c-8272-9e3fe238c6a7

2. What is Information Architecture? A Guide for Technical Communicators
Date: Thursday, 17 February 2022, 6:30-7:30 pm ET
Presenter: Neil Perlin

On Feb 17, The New England Chapter is having a webinar on “What is Information Architecture? A Guide for Technical Communicators” presented by Neil Perlin, a leader in the Tech Comm field.

The price for students is $5.00 and they only need to be an STC member (not a member of the NE chapter).

Register here for the webinar: https://www.stcnewengland.org/2022/01/26/february-program-information-architecture/

3. We Are TechComm KnowledgeXchange: New Member Meet-Up
Date: 18 February at 3:00 PM ET

If you are new to tech comm or STC, then join in! Bring your questions and ideas and attend one session or all. Registration is not required, and attendance is free.

Learn more: http://ow.ly/sQaX50HSQsB

4. How and Why to Get Involved: A Student Leader Perspective
Date: Tuesday, February 22, from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET
Presenter: John Clement

I’ll be presenting at this one!

Are you a leader in a professional organization looking to recruit students? Are you a student looking for volunteer and leadership opportunities to get your foot in the door of the technical communications industry?

Please join the Rochester STC chapter for a conversation with John Clement about how to get students more involved in professional organizations. Rochester’s Amanda Patterson will be sitting down with John to hear his story about becoming a student leader in STC and the Future Technical Communicator’s club. Along the way, we are going to talk about what he is hearing from student volunteers (and soon-to-be volunteers), what challenges students face when volunteering, and what students are looking for in volunteer opportunities.

Bring your questions and your volunteer opportunities!

Register here for the webinar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-and-why-to-get-involved-a-student-leader-perspective-tickets-265435413467?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

5. STC-FTC Joint Meeting: Where are they now?
Date: Friday, February 25, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Presenters: Past FTC Leaders

Just a reminder that this month’s STC Florida meeting is ALSO an FTC meeting! An annual collaboration between our two organizations, this year’s joint meeting will be in celebration of 20 years of FTC history, bringing in guest speakers from the club’s past. We’ll be sharing all the details on our end as it gets closer. If you’re already all-in, you can RSVP on the chapter’s website.

RSVP: https://stc-orlando.org/event/stc-ftc-joint-meeting-where-are-they-now-ft-past-ftc-leaders/

Finally, did you know that STC’s main website now has an event calendar? It features online meetings and webinars from throughout the community that you can join. Check it out using the link below.

Homepage

GBM: Session 2 of FTC’s Speaker Series featuring John Paz

February 9, 2022 / Amy Toole

The second installment of FTC’s Speaker Series is this Friday, February 11 at 6:00 pm. Join us as we talk with technical writing professional and UCF alumnus John Paz about “Resume Righting.”

You may remember John from our first Speaker Series session when he shared trends in tech comm and how to improve soft and hard skills. He’s back this week to answer all our questions about how to write the “right” resume.

Meeting details:
Friday, February 11, 6:00 pm
Zoom: https://ucf.zoom.us/j/94513652385

Twitter: @SrContentDesign
Instagram: @tiocafecito
https://www.johnpaz.com

Tech Comm Jobs and Where to Find Them

February 7, 2022 / ucfftc

Or: “We’ve got so many jobs, you don’t even know.”

By Caitlyn Hunter and John Clement

We here at FTC know how hard it can be to be on the job hunt. “Technical Communicator” isn’t a common job title, so we understand the struggle of trying out multiple search phrases and applying endless filters in search programs like LinkedIn or Indeed. The whole process can be exhausting and sometimes discouraging, so we decided to make it a little easier for all of you.

John and I have had many colleagues and friends send in advice, internships, and job opportunities. We have culminated them all here with simple descriptions to allow for easy skimming. There’s no promise that there’s a position here for you, but with 18 openings and many more leads, we hope to help at least some of you get connected with an opportunity you might not have otherwise found.

With all this said, we wish you luck on the job hunt and for finding that perfect position.

GBM: L3Harris Guest Speaker Presentation

February 1, 2022 / Amy Toole

You won’t want to miss the General Body Meeting this Friday, February 4, 6:00 pm, when we welcome guest speakers from L3Harris!

Eight members from L3Harris’ Integrated Product Support Team will share their experiences working at one of the nation’s largest aerospace and defense companies. The meeting will include a presentation about technical writing at L3Harris followed by a Q&A session.

Join us to hear from these guest speakers:

Marty Sisson, Engineering Manager IPS
Melissa Rios, Sr. Manager IPS
Stewart Brandt, Assoc Manager IPS
Sally Jecmen, Lead IPS
Luke Gilbert, Specialty IPS
Natasha Rosario, Specialty IPS
Hunter Plante, Associate IPS
Melissa Olds, Associate Tech Writing

Meeting details:

Friday, February 4, 6:00 pm

Zoom link: https://ucf.zoom.us/j/94513652385

Meeting ID: 945 1365 2385

See below for the full bios of the L3 Harris Integrated Product Support Team.

Martin C. Sisson
Department Engineering Manager

Marty has been with L3Harris for 3 1/2 years in his current role as Engineering Manager. Prior to his time with the company, he retired from the United States Air Force with over 23 years of service in the Aircraft Maintenance and Logistics career field. In addition, he spent two years as a public-school teacher (Electronics) and nearly three years with the US State Department working on logistics projects around the globe.

You can connect with Marty on LinkedIn.

Melissa Rios
Sr. Manager, Integrated Product Support

Melissa graduated from UCF with a BA in Technical Communications in 1995. She has over 25 years’ experience in the Technical Writing field with most of that time in the defense industry.

She has worked for L3Harris Technologies for a total of 20 years doing a variety of tasks from Technical Writing, Training Development, Logistics, Proposals, Business Development, Integrated Product Team Lead, and Group Leader. She is also the L3Harris POC for the UCF Technical Communications partnership.

You can connect with Melissa on LinkedIn.

Sally Jecmen
Lead, Integrated Product Support

Sally has been with L3Harris for 18 years. Prior to that, she worked for Lockheed Space Operations at Kennedy Space Center developing online training in support of Shuttle and Rocket Operations.

Sally graduated from UCF with an MA in Instructional Systems Technology and undergraduate work in Software Engineering.

Currently in our Robotics Enterprise, Sally has worked in several positions as Integrated Product Support Lead, Integrated Logistics Support Manager, International Pursuit Lead, Proposal Manager, Learning & Development Manager, Employee Resource Group Manager, Instructional Systems Design Specialist, Training Specialist, Technical Writer, Group Leader, and Logistics/Depot Support Engineer. She also serves as an L3Harris United Way Ambassador.

You can connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Luke Gilbert
Specialty Integrated Product Support

Stewart Brandt
Associate Manager, Integrated Product Support

Stewart has been working with L3Harris for almost 5 years as a Technical Writer and Integrated Product Support Engineer where he leads a program on all IPS matters. He also supports proposals within the IPS arena and is a Group Leader for personnel around the country. Stewart has also been a Field Engineer and Technical Trainer for communication equipment with a previous company. He is also a member of the Georgia Air National Guard.

You can connect with Stewart on LinkedIn.

Natasha A. Rosario
Integrated Product Support Specialist

Natasha graduated from UCF in 2011. She was hired at L3Harris in 2016 and has served L3Harris in Technical Writing, Logistics/Supply Support. She is currently supporting a Proposal, Item Drawings and Material Planning.

You can connect with Natasha on LinkedIn.

Melissa Olds
Associate Technical Writer, New College Grad

Melissa started working at L3Harris last year after graduating from UCF with a BA in English/Tech Comm. Before that she completed a Tech Writing Internship with L3Harris over the summer of 2020.

Melissa’s focus is in technical editing and complex document development.

You can reach Melissa at [email protected].

Hunter Plante
Associate, Integrated Product Support

Hunter graduated from UF in 2019 with a BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering. He was hired in 2019 specializing in Technical Writing, Process Improvement, Logistics, and Metrics. He also received his Maintenance Management Certification through Life Cycle Engineering.

You can connect with Hunter on LinkedIn.

February 2022 Newsletter

February 1, 2022 / John Clement

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the February 2022 edition of the FTC newsletter! Would you believe it if I told you that our club is just over two decades old now? It’s incredible to think about. In celebration of this, we’re planning something special. Each year we have a joint meeting with STC Florida, and this time around, it will also be a reunion of sorts. We will be bringing back former FTC leaders to guest speak with us! It will be a panel to remember.

That’s not the only reason this month will be a big one for FTC. We have three guest speaker events total happening that you won’t want to miss:

Friday, February 4, 6:00 – 7:30 PM — L3Harris Guest Speaker Presentation
Friday, February 11, 6:00 – 7:30 PM — Resume Righting ft. Guest Speaker John Paz
Friday, February 25, 6:30 – 8:30 PM — STC-FTC Joint Meeting: Where are they now? ft. Past FTC Leaders

Each event will be held fully online over Zoom and is open to everyone. Yes, everyone. Current member? Graduated? Ambiguously-in-between? Absolutely! Bring your technical communication questions and come ready to receive great technical communication advice and even make new connections at each. We’d love to see everyone attend this month’s events.

Other things to note:

We’d still like to know who is interested in learning about or attending the STC Summit. If so, please fill out our brief interest form by February 11.
We have a few new FTC articles coming your way this month, some topic-based and others about available job and internships out there. Be on the lookout!
FTC will be attending Otronicon on the weekend of Feb 18. There will be no GBM that weekend, but if you’ll be attending the expo, you’re more than welcome to visit our group.

Read on for more. See you around soon at our upcoming programs!

All the best,

John Clement
President, Future Technical Communicators

Click here to read the full newsletter

GBM: Q&A Speaker Series featuring John Paz

January 21, 2022 / Amy Toole

Join us for the first installment of FTC’s Industry Q&A Speaker Series featuring technical writing professional and UCF alumnus John Paz. This series will kick off on Friday, January 21, 6:00 pm on Zoom: https://ucf.zoom.us/j/94513652385.

John Paz has over 15 years of experience as a technical communicator and content designer – a career that has taken him around the world and back. He is passionate about sharing his story and helping aspiring tech professionals enter the industry.

Read John’s full bio below:

John Paz graduated from UCF in 2008 with a B.A. in English and a focus in Technical Writing. He has over 15 years of experience working in the tech industry as a Technical Writing and Content Designer. He worked extensively as a short-term contractor in Orlando for some of the more reputable simulation and training defense contractors in the area for nearly a decade. In 2015 John accepted an offer from an Australian tech company to relocate him and his entire family to Sydney. Then, the Aussie Pazzies relocated again, to San Francisco, and once more back to Orlando, where he resides today. Technical Writing has taken him around the world, and he wants to share his story and help aspiring tech professionals with practical advice to help land more interviews and secure a lucrative job working in tech. John is also passionate about diversifying tech and regularly gives talks about how underrepresented folks can break into tech, and how working in technology can help break generational cycles of poverty.

@SrContentDesign (Twitter)

@tiocafecito (Instagram)

https://www.johnapaz.com/ for portfolio, resume, blogs, etc.

January 2022 Newsletter

January 18, 2022 / John Clement

Hi everyone,

Welcome back and happy Spring 2022! I hope your first week back has been great and that it was a refreshing long weekend. It was fun seeing everyone who came to our first Spring general body meeting. As we discussed, this semester is going to be quite the active one for our club. We’re excited to have you all be part of it.

As a reminder, for the remainder of Spring FTC will be having meetings every week on Fridays at 6:00 PM. We’re making extra room for a several guest speaker appearances and more to come.

Additionally, at our meeting we revealed three ways you can get involved in FTC over the coming months. These include visiting Otronicon with us, taking a group trip to the STC Summit, and looking into joining FTC leadership. Please fill out our interest survey if you are interested in or want to learn more about any of these programs and opportunities.

Read on for more and for the rest of our announcements. See you around soon at our upcoming programs!