To be truly professional, technical communication needs formalized training, certification of competency, and ongoing professional development opportunities. TCTrainNet, tekom’s international training and certification program for technical communication, has been created to provide such a pathway to professionalism.
In theory, to become a technical communicator, all you need to do is visit your local quick print shop, and order 100 business cards with “Technical Writer” printed under your name. This is not illegal, as far as I know, in any jurisdiction in the world. You don't have to be a member of a professional association or a union, you don't have to do any study, you don't need any government authorization, and you don't have to pass any exams.
My dictionary describes a profession as “a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification”, but there are other meanings, many of which have a cultural basis. A professional engages mainly in administrative and intellectual labor, while by contrast a tradesperson engages in manual labor. Sometimes, professional may refer to a white collar worker, while tradesperson indicates a blue collar worker. The ...
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You are not yet a tekom member, but would like to read one or more articles in full? Then you have the opportunity to register on the internet portal of the technical journal 'tcworld' without obligation. Once you have registered, you can select any three specialist articles and view them in full for a period of two months. The selection will then be deleted and you can select three new articles for the next two months.
As a tekom member you benefit from the following advantages::
- Online access to all articles of the trade magazine 'tcworld magazine'
- Exclusive specialist articles from all areas of technical communication
- Regular new articles from over 300 authors
- The technical journal 'tcworld magazine' as a printed edition
- Reduced admission prices to tekom conferences
- Membership fees for tekom publications
- Access to 'my tekom', the web forum with job offers / job requests, appointments, expert advice, service provider file and much more
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Promised: The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' is the best we have. And we don't make the choice easy for ourselves. Every month, the editorial staff of the technical journal 'tcworld magazine' publishes the latest articles by renowned authors. This demanding selection is available exclusively to members of tekom (as usual, including the printed edition).
The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' stands for intelligently prepared specialist articles, texts written to the point, informative content, surprising insights, international perspectives and communicates technical communication in an understandable, fast, clear and uncomplicated way - exclusively for you.