Developing the technical in technical communication: advancing in a nonmanagement career path

All companies provide promotion opportunities to talented employees demonstrating management skills. However, for those not desiring to pursue a management track, yet desiring increasing responsibilities technically, the opportunities to progress may seem limited. Although technical communicators already bring technical skills to the table, increasing domain expertise in a technical area outside of communication (e.g., engineering, programming) may provide continued challenges for one's career. As an example, technical communicators may look to engineering programs for technical fellows as examples of how a nonmanagement career path with domain expertise may provide advancement. This paper (1) outlines the technical nature of technical communication, (2) discusses the technical nature of technical communication, (3) examines the characteristics of an existing technical excellence program as an example of a nonmanagement career path, and (4) briefly discusses how one might build technical expertise, which might result in being a potential candidate for a technical excellence career path.