Shanghai Tech WriterTechnical Writing, Technology, WordPress, Web 2.0, National Instruments, LabVIEW, Shanghai, China

People to People organized a delegation of technical communication professionals to China for a trip of cultural and professional exchange. I had an opportunity to meet with the delegation while they were in Shanghai. The leader of the delegation, a former STC president, had found me through my blog and contacted me. She wanted to see if she could meet with a few technical communicators here in Shanghai. I invited a few of my colleagues from National Instruments and another friend along to meet with the delegation. We had dinner over at Le Meridien Shanghai. Many of the delegates have been in the technical communication profession for years and are active in STC and IEEE Communications Society. Some even manage their own technical communication consulting firm. It was neat to hear about their trip to China and the organizations, companies, and universities they visited in China. They confirmed what I have covered briefly before on this blog, that technical communication is a new and emerging profession. There aren’t that many professional technical communicators in China yet. Many companies are still in the mind set that developers and programmers can write documentation. There aren’t any universities or programs to receive any kind of degree in technical communication, although a few universities are starting to offer courses in technical writing.

You can read more about their trip on their blog: http://techcommchina.livejournal.com/

The Future of Technical Communication in China?

I believe that in several more years, there will be a growing number of professional technical communicators in China. Many companies are relocating or starting R&D centers in China. Big companies like HP, IBM, and Cisco have already established a technical communication team in China.

National Instruments, the company I work for, also has an established technical communication team here in China. NI Shanghai started the technical communication department in 2004 and over the years, have grown to a sizeable and self-sustaining group. It took several years of leadership from the corporate office in Austin to build up the team, train writers, and raise the quality of documentation. Today, the Shanghai team is working on major NI documentation projects! To continue tooting the horn, when I was in Austin to attend NI-TC (our internal technical communication conference), several awards were handed out to the folks here in Shanghai! That’s impressive!

Visiting Shanghai Soon?

I’m glad I started this blog to share about my experience as a technical writer in Shanghai/China. Many people have found my blog through searching for information related to technical writing in Shanghai/China. I’ve connected and networked with several people/groups in ways I never expected. That’s another reason why people should keep a blog!

If any of you are interested in visiting Shanghai, learn more about the profession, do some recruiting, and/or meet other technical communicators here, you can contact me.