Professional Writing Careers Speaker Series

In this first meeting of the "Professional Writing Careers" speaker series, UTK English department grad Andrew Dillon will talk about his career in technical writing. 

In the first half of this session, he'll share how he moved into the field from his poetry MFA, advise current students how to best prepare and position themselves for technical writing jobs, and give tips on moving up from entry-level roles. In the second half, he will lead an interactive workshop where participants can try out a core technical writing skill: using the Markdown language to create appealing HTML documents. 

You'll learn whether this field sounds interesting to you, see if working with Markdown and HTML suits you, and (if you like) prepare a plan for building your credentials in technical writing.

PS What is the "Professional Writing Careers" speaker series? It is your guide to building a rewarding career with your writing skills. The expertise that comes with an English degree is in high demand right now, and yet many of the “hottest” writing-related jobs have relatively unfamiliar titles: “content strategist,” “brand strategist,” “launch consultant,” “email marketer” and so on. We English dept people may assume these jobs are meant for someone else. We perhaps don't realize how valuable our expertise is to so many fields.

The series is open to undergraduate students making a decision about their major, graduate students curious about their post-degree future, and faculty members who would like inspiration for their teaching.

All sessions will be held over Zoom and will be recorded. 

Questions? Please contact your hosts, Daniel and Jeni Wallace, at dwalla19@vols.utk.edu