Professional Writing and Technical Communication, otherwise known as PWTC at UMass Amherst, is a specialization that teaches hands-on practice in technical writing, editing, and software documentation. While the specialization is becoming more and more popular each year, I still often hear the common assumption that PWTC is a waste of time and is too boring to be taken seriously. For some, it feels like a dull attempt to spice up the English major for the post-college job search and suppose many do not care about the actual content.
As someone currently taking a few PWTC courses, I have taken on my own reasons as to why this specialization is so important, as well as the reasons of my own PWTC peers. If you are considering enhancing your English major at all, here are some of these reasons.
1. You can expand your English major
While working through the courses you are taking as an English major, you may feel that you want to enrich the major to make the most of your college education. You can always add a minor or do a thesis, but many people choose to specialize the major. The professional writing specialization is one of the best specializations to accompany the English major. It enhances your ability to edit, research, and write in the professional world—skills that every English major should know and feel an expert in. In a growing technical world, the specialization is becoming an important and respected addition to a person’s resume. Through gaining it, you feel the importance of your major and others will to.
2. It’s tech savvy
As many can already guess from the “technical communication” description of the specialization, PWTC offers technical enrichment for English majors who will go into jobs having to understand technical resources to write and create. Technical communication focuses on software documentations, creating web content, typography, and page design. In these studies, will have you learn how to use Microsoft Office, Adobe Systems, HTML, CSS, and MadCap Flare.
Many of these software products are used in companies, making you a valuable part of the workplace, and even making your own personal work time easier, as most people are often using Microsoft Office and Adobe Systems for their own work. Not to mention, being an English major while also being a techy is a definite way to pique the interest of those around you.
3. Hello, job opportunities!
Being a tech savvy English major leads you to an enormous pool of job opportunities once you leave college. Types of companies that will hire you include advertising, publishing, and magazine companies, but also include unique companies like banks, science, and television. The skills gained in PWTC open doors that are surprising and would have been otherwise impossible. The job market for professional writing is projected to grow 10% between 2014-2024 and in 2014, there were 52,000 jobs in the field. Based on the need for professional writers, the opportunities are only supposed to rise. Not only do you expand your knowledge, but when looking to the future, you are in a perfect spot.
4. People will seek you out
One of great things about professional writing is that your skills have people seek you out for assistance. Just by being the “technical writer” in whatever company you land in makes you the genius of the company. By just learning the front and back of Microsoft Word, people still seek you out for the smallest things that you will have no trouble recollecting. Whether it’s in the professional world or just in any average day, the validation of your knowledge is the rewarding experience you want in your future.
5. You’re always learning
Instead of staying safe in one position for most of your career, professional writing demands you to continue learning and advancing. No one really wants to leave college and never have to learn again, and with PWTC, there will always be the feeling that college sent you off in the right direction. Since software is consistently changing and templates are always modifying, it’s crucial for professional writers to stay on top of the changes. In this way, you will only become more valuable as time passes on and more people need help on technical writing issues.
6. Challenge yourself
In professional writing, I believe that people are always challenging themselves, especially since many people who specialize in it are English majors. As English majors, the stereotype is that we struggle with computers and other forms of technology, never understanding anything beyond writing and editing. The PWTC specialization opens the door for many of these people to break out of that idea and gain knowledge in a field they felt uncomfortable in. Not only will you become more proficient in your major, but you will challenge and succeed in an area you thought it was impossible to succeed in.