Devoted to technical writing and technical writers

Two days ago, I met with a recent college graduate (degree in English Literature) who was interested in learning how to become a technical writer. She had no relevant technology experience. On the same day (in fact, 3 hours after I had my meeting) a thread in the STC e-mail list that I belong to was created by a student in a Masters program for e-Learning development. She had the same question. What was she doing wrong, she wondered?

Here are a few of the recommendations that were given to the second person by various members of the STC list. I don't endorse all of these, but I'd like to hear what the readers of this blog think about them, and perhaps, add your own ideas to the list:

• If you can't get a job, become a consultant.
• Do some volunteer work in the field until you build up a portfolio.
• Find a region of the country that has more of a demand for technical writers, and move there.
• Take some programming courses and become a programmer/writer.