[HN Gopher] Society for Technical Communication to permanently c...
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Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
Author : Sgt_Apone
Score : 64 points
Date : 2025-01-29 16:40 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.stc.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.stc.org)
| scojjac wrote:
| You can see some of their financial data at ProPublica Nonprofit
| Explorer (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organization
| s/314...). I'm curious what longtimers think led to this.
|
| Declining memberships, maybe companies not valuing technical
| communication as a separate field as much, the rise of LLMs all
| seem like possible contributing factors.
| zetalyrae wrote:
| My experience is that companies just don't value good technical
| writing. And a lot of managers are basically illiterate, so
| it's the blind leading the blind.
| ericholscher wrote:
| I've been working in this space for a long time, where I'm one of
| the co-founders of Write the Docs: https://www.writethedocs.org/
| -- we focus more on software docs.
|
| The view from the industry is basically that STC was a bit behind
| the times, and was slowly dwindling in terms of reach and value.
| They still had some active chapters, magazine, and academic
| journal that provided value for folks, but membership wasn't as
| valuable as it had been.
|
| They have been around a long time, and had a wider purview that
| WTD, focusing on many different types of technical writing. They
| had members in industries like Automotive, Engineering, and
| Aerospace, as well as Software.
|
| The best way to think about them is something like the ACM in the
| software industry. They have been taken over by more current
| community approaches in various areas (eg. Pycon), but also still
| doing some more traditional stuff that adds value but isn't as
| relevant to day-to-day practitioners.
| mintplant wrote:
| I don't know if the ACM is comparable. They run so many
| academic conferences that the list gets its own Wikipedia page
| [0]. Many are heavy hitters in their respective fields, like
| SIGGRAPH (graphics), SOSP (systems), and PLDI (programming
| languages). I think of them more as an academic publisher and
| organizer than as a professional association.
|
| [0]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Association_for_Compu...
| starkparker wrote:
| I think the point was more to contrast STC as a certifying
| and publishing body, versus WTD as more of a peer/user group.
| heisenbit wrote:
| Finally no more professionals trying to make technology
| understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide
| knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and
| impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of
| Google now requiring AI to learn anything.
|
| I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep
| manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical
| writers but then lost them along the way supposedly to save
| money. They then took other roles not necessarily shining in them
| while developers did a worse job and were loaded with yet another
| task. Technology allows for vertical integration of workflows and
| there is value in removing human to human transitions. But there
| was also value created in these interactions. Full stack, dev ops
| or getting rid of dedicated testers are other examples where we
| are stretching human ability and not always getting a better
| outcome.
| bloqs wrote:
| This increasing cognitive demand paired with an increase in
| lacking empathy is a worrying combination
| ramon156 wrote:
| Demand for developer-focused material*
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| The compression to run orgs on minimum viable humans will
| continue until system failure. Boeing, Intel, etc. As long as
| nothing breaks, there is no incentive not to.
| johnnyanmac wrote:
| Something went very wrong when whoever, in a Technical
| Communication Society, decided that the _tech writers_ were a
| good place to skimp on costs.
| MDGeist wrote:
| I was a member of an STC chapter in grad school and I went to a
| bunch of meetings and networking events hoping to get some
| practical career advice from more experienced technical writers.
|
| At no point did it feel like anyone in the org could (or would)
| actually help me in the transition from grad school to technical
| writing work. It was a really disheartening experience. It does
| not surprise me that membership has waned over the years.
| unforswearing wrote:
| Sorry to hear about your experience. I recently considered
| joining STC in an attempt to bolster my career a bit (as
| technical writer without a college degree), but wasn't sure the
| theoretical benefits were worth the membership cost. Sounds
| like they might not have been able to help much in that area.
| MDGeist wrote:
| I think mileage may have also varied based on industry and
| location. I eventually found my way into tech as a writer
| anyways, but most of the people I met via the STC were not
| working at tech companies. Granted it was DC so lots of
| defense contractors and the like.
| billybuckwheat wrote:
| Even before the STC called it a day, you'd probably be better
| served attending local tech writer meetups (assuming there
| are any in your area) or joining the Write the Docs community
| (https://www.writethedocs.org/). When I was toiling in the
| tech comm world, I found that both helped my in my career
| more than interacting with the STC.
| billybuckwheat wrote:
| I worked as a technical writer earlier in this century and was a
| member of the STC for a year. In my case, that was a year too
| long. Like more than a few other technical writers I knew and
| worked with, I didn't get any value out of my membership. I got
| more out of the (at the time) burgeoning technical communication
| blogosphere than I did from the STC
|
| The STC, at least in my view, was several steps behind the times.
| It was a large organization that was too slow to adapt to
| changing realities.
| jonathaneunice wrote:
| Founded 1953? Wow. Gonna call that a good run.
| pdimitar wrote:
| There go my hopes that they will eventually be responsible for
| the same acronym in the far future! Ref:
| https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Standard_Template_Const...
|
| Jokes aside, this is really sad news. I have heard about them
| several times and was rooting for them, even had plans to visit
| in 2026... :/
|
| I hope their good educators get reassigned to places where they
| can make even more impact. We seriously need better education
| nowadays, technical or otherwise. I heard that they were too
| academical and not practical enough but even with that (and if
| it's true) it's still sad news.
|
| I wish the people from there all the best in the future.
| ourguile wrote:
| Earlier in my life I attended a number of their chapter meetings,
| and I know someone who is currently on their board. Fairly
| shocked to hear that they're closing. Definitely does not feel
| like a growing field, but still incredibly valuable.
| bhartzer wrote:
| I graduated college in the early 1990s and minored in technical
| writing. I started the first "Student Society of STC" back in
| college, and that lead to some good internships and a few jobs.
| Wrote software manuals and online help for an email software
| company that ran on the AS/400 and MVS. Had to write and code it
| in SGML, then that eventually moved to HTML.
|
| In my daily work today, I still rely on all those basic
| principles of technical writing.
|
| As a "long timer" so to speak, I think eventually there ended up
| being a decline of pure "technical writer" jobs out there, and
| not too many people going into the profession.
| mtharveyrunner wrote:
| I was a long-time member of STC, attaining the rank of Fellow. I
| found STC membership rewarding, mostly because our local chapter
| actively supported professional development and job search. Pre-
| pandemic, we met and socialized regularly, and so built a strong,
| tight-knit community.
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