Technical Writing ToolBox

A Blog on Technical Writing

Category Archives: Toronto

Webinar – Higher Education in Technical Communication

Leave a comment Posted by Gurpreet Singh on January 20, 2015

I am conducting a webinar titled “Higher Education in Technical Communication” for STC India Management SIG. Please register if you are interested in learning more about higher education opportunities in technical writing.

Registration link: http://www.stc-india.org/events/webinar-jan-31-2015-higher-education-in-technical-communication/

higher education

Presentation, STC, Toronto Education, Technical communication, Technical writing

Working as a Technical Writer in Canada

10 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on December 13, 2012

A lot of readers often ask me to blog about my experience of working as a Technical Writer in Canada.

I’ve lived and worked almost half of my life in the mesmerizing, beautiful, and energetic land of India. India is a land full of opportunities, especially for a technical writer. I was fortunate enough to work with very talented colleagues and supportive bosses and have learned a lot from the Indian Technical Writing industry through STC sessions and TWIN mailing list.

However, one fine day I decided to leave everything to pursue my dream of getting formal education in technical communication. I was fortunate to get a paid co-op (internship) which got extended even during my last semester. Not only that, I was fortunate enough to receive two great job offers and I started working even before my course was finished.

Technical Writer Salaries- How much do Technical Writers earn?

33 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on December 7, 2012

Without money (Photo credit: Toban Black)

In our society, money is the most important reason for which people work. Of course, other factors such as learning and gaining a sense of accomplishment after doing their work are also a major driving factor for many. However, most of us will never work for free (at-least not full-time) since we all need to pay the bills. Compensation is often a closely guarded secret and we seldom talk about this important subject.

When I came to Canada, I tried to research over the salaries in the Toronto region and was surprised to see a wide range of reported salaries for technical writers in Canada (but none for the Toronto region). The best and honest advice about technical writing salaries in my area came not from the Internet but from the network I made with fellow technical writers in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

In this blog post I will try to share that knowledge for the benefit of others and will try to compare technical writer salaries in the U.S., Canada, and India.
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Higher Education in Technical Communication- Is it worth it?

11 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on July 3, 2012

Technical Communicators are passionate about learning and often ponder on the question of higher education in the field of technical communication. The dream of gaining knowledge and credibility by pursuing higher education in technical writing often eludes technical writers at all levels of their career.

Gurpreet’s First Day @Seneca College

I worked as a technical writer for eight years in New Delhi and recently took a sabbatical to pursue a postgraduate certificate in technical communication from Seneca College, Toronto. The term sabbatical (from Latin ‘sabbaticus’, from Greek ‘sabbatikos’, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e., Sabbath, literally a “ceasing”) means to take a break from work for an extended period of time to pursue a goal. In modern times, several professionals have started taking a sabbatical to pursue higher education in their chosen disciplines.

My talk on Technical Writing in George Brown College, Toronto

2 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on May 26, 2012

George Brown College (St. James campus at King Street) in Toronto

I was invited to give a talk on Technical Writing at George Brown College, Toronto few weeks ago. I talked about technical writing in general and how social media tools such as twitter, blogs, and LinkedIn can help them in getting a writing related job or consulting assignments.

It was a lovely experience for me as I love to talk about technical writing and social media. I hope that my talk inspired few of them to use social media tools to demonstrate and publicise their writing portfolios and they will soon receive their desired writing assignments through this new tool in their arsenal.

The 2012 MadCap Roadshow in Toronto

2 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on May 12, 2012

MadCap Software visits several cities in the US, Canada and Europe to provide an intensive, one-day technical writing seminar called Madcap Roadshow.

Thanks to the heavily discounted price (75% off), available only for technical communication students, I registered for the 2012 Madcap Roadshow in Toronto. This event will be held on 17th May at Toronto Hilton. I am pretty excited about this event as this would be my first Madcap Roadshow. Even without the student discount I might have attended it at the regular price ($99) due to the value it provides.

The only thing I hate about this event is that it is scheduled on Wednesday instead of a weekend. I have to miss two classes, TCN806-Web-Based Training and Multimedia and TCN800-Technical Writing II, to attend this event. However, our cool professor, Beth Agnew, records her sessions and upload her slides and audio recording of the entire lecture in Blackboard so I can still go through it later in the week.