{"id":1507,"date":"2014-09-22T07:48:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T14:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2014-09-17T23:01:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T06:01:50","slug":"qa-moving-from-technical-writing-to-user-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/22\/qa-moving-from-technical-writing-to-user-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A: moving from technical writing to user experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I got the following question this week:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I am a technical writer with experience in usability. I do not have a professional degree in design to support my credentials as a UX professional. Is it feasible for someone who is from non-design background to even to get a portfolio considered by the prospective employers?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is somewhat similar to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/24\/qa-moving-from-software-engineering-to-user-experience\/\">question that I answered earlier about moving from engineering to user experience<\/a>. \u00a0In short, it boils down to how you discuss your work to highlight the user experience work that you have done as a part of your technical writing role.<\/p>\n<p>It is certainly possible to get your portfolio reviewed. Your portfolio should show how you have applied your experience and expertise to the problem domain at hand. I recently wrote about what a <a title=\"Q&amp;A: UX portfolios\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/27\/qa-ux-portfolios\/\">UX portfolio should contain<\/a>. \u00a0Technical writing can have overlap with UX. It depends on the writer and their experience. Some writers simply interview subject-matter experts and turn that into documentation. Others do much more. Your portfolio will have to explain how your work shows that you understand user experience and user-centred design.<\/p>\n<p>The most important thing to do is to read the job description to determine whether it is one for which you think you would be a good fit. \u00a0Then, write a cover letter and resume\/CV that explain to the hiring manager why you would be a good fit. \u00a0Focus on your UX achievements and accomplishments. \u00a0You don&#8217;t need to have a specific background to be great in UX. \u00a0You do need to be able to explain how your background will make you a great fit for the UX position you want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got the following question this week: I am a technical writer with experience in usability. I do not have a professional degree in design to support my credentials as a UX professional. Is it feasible for someone who is from non-design background to even to get a portfolio considered by the prospective employers? This &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/22\/qa-moving-from-technical-writing-to-user-experience\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Q&#038;A: moving from technical writing to user experience<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qanda","category-ux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}