Emily Stieg is currently a professional and technical communication major at UNT. In this Q&A, she talks about her experience being part of the tech comm program and community.

Note: The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

A conversation with Emily

Why did you choose tech comm?

I stumbled upon tech comm through my previous major. Back then, I was enrolled in the environmental science program, and they required taking one technical communication course. Surprisingly, I ended up loving tech comm and discovered its potential as a career path. Consequently, I decided to switch my major, and that's pretty much how I got into tech comm. In the past couple of years, I've sort of been involved in the tech comm field without even realizing it. I held positions as a sales and marketing manager for two different companies during that time.

How would you describe tech comm?

It is truly an endless opportunity if you enjoy writing and creating content. I found myself generating various types of content, whether writing or visual. I believe it is a mix of different things people would enjoy if they like writing or creating.

How do you plan to use your degree after graduation?

I worked with my mentor to figure out where my passion was in the tech comm field. Due to the wide variety, it took a lot of work to pick. I leaned more toward proposal writing and manual writing. I enjoyed those aspects in my classes, particularly with Dr. Raign; she was the best. I leaned more towards the writing portion of tech comm, even though, at that time, I was heavily involved in the content side of it with my job.

What is something unique or important that you have learned so far while studying tech comm?

You don't have to know everything. In the tech comm field, there are so many learning opportunities. You could work for a company where you knew nothing about what they did, but you would have somebody helping you learn.

What has been your favorite class in this major?

That'sa really hard question. I took Dr. Raign's procedure-manual writing class, and that, by far, was one of my favorites. Dr. Smith was also excellent, one of my favorite tech comm professors I had. He kept us engaged, made class fun, and presented it like, "This is what you're going to do," and "I'm gonna help you get there."

I took Dr. Smith's content strategy class and gained a lot of valuable information through our projects and his fantastic feedback. He also worked one-on-one with you if needed. He is outstanding! All the tech comm professors are wonderful and encouraging. Dr. Smith, Dr. Raign, and Professor Fout were my three favorites.

What are some skills you have learned?

One was definitely being able to write without assuming knowledge. That was my favorite skill because it was easy to write and believe the person knew what you were talking about. Learning how to write in a way where you weren't assuming--that helped me tremendously contentwise, and it helped me understand why the stuff we produce is so crucial for people.

What are some benefits of this major?

I would say that being in smaller classes allowed me to make many great friends. Also, I got to know my professors better, which was super comforting because I could rely on them. My professors knew who I was. They knew they could work with or talk with me if I ever reached out because they really knew me! I always liked that my professors could call on me even when we weren't in a big class setting. We also had more group discussions, which was insightful because I discovered people's views on various topics I might not have considered.

What do you find interesting about the tech comm major?

I'd say it was hard to find the technical communication major. But when I found it, it was eye-opening. It opened many doors for me and presented many possibilities for what I could do with something I enjoyed.

Can you briefly describe your experience with tech comm at UNT?

I started with TECM 2700 when I was an environmental science major. I enjoyed that class and finished well. So, I started talking with my advisor about tech comm and ended up here. Now, I've taken all of the classes, which have all been interesting and new.

Even though the titles sound the same, they were very different from each other, especially in all the writing classes. For example, you might learn how to write memos in one class, but when you're writing a memo in your visual design class, it looks a lot different than regular memos. So, I think UNT did a perfect job of saying, "Hey, you might learn it in this class, but if you're working in this kind of field in tech comm, you might write it like this."

One last question, any advice or comments for prospective students?

My biggest piece of advice would be to learn more about the degree. Find out what you can do with a tech comm degree. Do some research; I spent a lot of time looking into the different titles under a tech comm degree because there's such a wide variety. Research, talk to an advisor, speak with an ambassador of the college, or someone who's been through it.