Can you please introduce yourself and can you explain why you chose the grad certain technical writing?
My name is Deirdre Ann Brogan and I've worked in the science area and as my career developed I realized that I was doing a lot more writing than I thought. So when I finished up at my job, I looked for a different career path and chose technical writing.
Why did you choose UL? Did you have any connection to UL or is it just something you saw online?
Initially I saw it online searching for courses related to technical writing. However, I have a niece that went to UL. She finished two years ago and she was very happy with the programme she studied so it made me feel comfortable to go with UL because of that.
What specific aspects of the course impressed you the most? Or what was the best thing you've found about the course?
The things I enjoyed the most was having the chance to learn new things such as the idea of putting a new podcast together. I would never have done that on my own initiative. We were introduced to different types of software, so we also got a broad understanding of how to set things up such as assessments and online education tools. I enjoyed the practical aspects, but I was very happy that I got a more broad sense of education.
Do you think the course presented you with career opportunities but also with new skills? Do you think there's any opportunities that you've come out with post graduation that you wouldn't necessarily have had before you started the program?
Yes, absolutely. I think in my career I was certainly doing bits of manuals, training manuals, guidebooks and things like that. All very much the traditional typed up manual documentation. However in this day and age things are moving on and you now need different skills because everything has gone online. We use electronic, audio and visual training now, it is great to have these skills and to develop them further.
You've acquired new skills, do you feel you can go into other areas now? Do you feel that these new skills have expanded your opportunities?
I'm already starting to see that there's new job types being advertised, like E-Learning. I hadn't heard about those type of jobs maybe three years ago, so these skills are sought after now. I'm looking to move on into a different career and I can see that there's a lot of work out there for technical writers and it is moving from pure writing skills to this more electronic way of sharing information so it's great to have that within the programme.
Would you recommend the programme to others?
I would recommend it for people who are working and willing to learn something new. I think there's a lot of people out there that would really like to do this type of work. For someone who was involved in writing for so long and then having to learn about online E training and documentation it was a challenge but it surprised me how much I enjoyed it.