In this episode, I’m talking with Janine Chan, a technical writer and Write the Docs community moderator. We talk about how feeling “not technical enough” is as much about attitude and approach as it is about knowledge and ways you can bridge the gap to a more technical future.
Janine and I discuss the fact that there’s no defined/established set of skills or training to become a technical writer. This lovely flexibility can also lead to a lot of imposter syndrome or feeling like you’re “not technical enough.” But through continuous lifelong learning, changing your attitude or the story you tell yourself, asking for help, and letting go of perfectionism, you can transition to a more empowered, technical version of yourself.
Along the way we discuss the wonders of indoor plumbing, the fact that growing up to a be a tech writer isn’t typically on kids’ radar, our tendency to get curious when we’re frustrated about something, the importance of trying to answer a question before you seek help, how to be generous in requesting help, how generally awesome and generous with knowledge people are, how the experience of knowing little makes us more empathetic writers, and so so much more.
About Janine Chan
Janine is a technical writer based in Calgary, Canada. When she's not writing software documentation or shoehorning sociolinguistics into conversations, she's usually either outside, or hunkered down trying to make room in her lap for both a knitting project and her cat. (She recognizes that "not-boring" is a relative term.) You can find her on LinkedIn and the Write the Docs Slack, where her inboxes are always open for more tech writing chats! She promises she won't write in third person like she is now.
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Transcript
Kate Mueller: [00:00:05] Welcome to The Not-Boring Tech Writer, a podcast sponsored by KnowledgeOwl. Together, we explore topics and hear from other writers to help inspire us, deepen our skills and foster our distinctly not-boring tech writing community. Hi, I'm Kate Mueller. In today's episode, I talk with Janine Chan, a senior technical writer and a Write the Docs community moderator. We talk about that feeling of not being technical enough and ways to level up your technical skills so you can flip the narrative to, 'I'm a technical writer who just hasn't learned how to do this yet'. Hello my not-boring tech writers. I am so excited this week to be joined by a writer that I met kind of by happenstance. I gave a talk at one of the virtual Write the Docs Portlands a few years ago on Beating the Virginia Blues, and this woman happened to be my moderator for that session and ended up being amazing. She handled the other person who was doing Q and As audio networking with total aplomb. I can say she is both great under pressure and also not boring and a delightful human to boot. So I would like to welcome to the pod Janine Chan. Janine, welcome.
Janine Chan: [00:01:20] Hi, Kate. Thank you so much for such a kind intro. Oh man, all those AV issues. I guess I must have blocked them out.
Kate Mueller: [00:01:27] You've repressed them. It's fine.
Janine Chan: [00:01:29] Yeah, that's exactly what happens. And what a great talk it was. To be introduced to you by virtue of amazing athletic feats and also technical writing. Who could ask for more?
Kate Mueller: [00:01:42] There are two areas that have way more overlap than the average person probably thinks, because the number of people who messaged me after who were like, I've been a thru-hiker, or I'm thinking about being a thru-hiker, or I just really loved your talk. Apparently the Venn diagram of not-boring tech writers, and also people who enjoy doing outside things is pretty strong. There's a huge overlap there.
Janine Chan: [00:02:05] I love it. I love hiking, but I do love showering and getting in my own bed that night. So different sense of scale there.
Kate Mueller: [00:02:16] I will say, I never got used to not showering. Ever.
Janine Chan: [00:02:20] I always wonder, and it's a weird question, but I always wonder.
Kate Mueller: [00:02:24] Yeah, I never got used to that, ever. It is, for me, one of my favorite things about not thru-hiking is getting to shower on a daily basis if I want. However often I want, there's hot water there. It's great. I can be clean. It's awesome.
Janine Chan: [00:02:39] Indoor plumbing, what a gorgeous thing.
Kate Mueller: [00:02:41] One of the best things in modern civilization.
Janine Chan: [00:02:42] Welcome to the Indoor Plumbing Fan Podcast.
Kate Mueller: [00:02:45] Forget tech writing, we're just going to talk about the wonders of indoor plumbing for the day because it's pretty darn great.
Janine Chan: [00:02:51] It's pretty great.
Kate Mueller: [00:02:52] Janine, you are a moderator of the Write the Docs slack community among other things. So you are deeply involved in a portion of the tech writing community. Can you tell us a bit about, I call it, your tech writer villain origin story? How did you get into the field of tech writing in the first place?
Janine Chan: [00:03:12] I love it. It makes it sound so much more interesting than it could have otherwise. You know what? Tech writing is one of those careers that nobody knows about when they're young. I feel like nobody is really, oh, I wanted to be a tech writer ever since I was a kid. I would like to meet that kid. It would be fascinating to spend time with them. Everybody I know fell into it. For me, I was doing an English degree because that's what I enjoyed. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I had strangers telling me to marry rich.
Kate Mueller: [00:03:47] Did you get the 'marry rich or go into teaching'? I feel like those are the two paths people tell English majors to pick.
Janine Chan: [00:03:54] Yeah, or sometimes they'd be like, do you want to go into law? And I went, no thank you. No, I couldn't, I could never. I'd make a terrible lawyer. I was just doing it because I enjoyed it. Then one day I was at my boyfriend at the time's parents’ place, and I think his dad was trying to just make conversation over dinner. He said, what do you want to do? I said, I have no idea. He said, well I'm a technical writ...