career arc

Since I wrote this all up in an email anyway, I figured I'd share it here. The old friend I sent this to was asking about my route to my current job. There are a few edits for clarification, otherwise it's all intact.

Originally I was looking for writing in an academic context, preferably tech-related (but "soft" tech writing rather than "hard" tech writing--error messages rather than technical manuals). I'd also had some interest in academic advising, which is done by professionals at Penn State as well as faculty. Admissions is where I ended up.

Admissions counseling itself wasn't (I feel) the main thrust of my old job (it's technically only supposed to be less than a quarter of our jobs): it was more about marketing writing, really, and that was okay with me. I got to dabble in all sorts of things, which was also ideal for me. I eventually became the go-to person when it came to virtually anything done online--because really, I live it, and very few others in the office do.

The new job is as close to ideal as I think I'll get: a good combination of writing and tech, a lot of leadership and project management, a sprinkle of teaching (I'll also be running our internal training) and instructional design--and all of it circling around our use of electronic communication, which is where my interest really is. I'm working on our email communication, helping redesign our website, I've checked into student blogging (we're not going to do it), I've produced podcasts and videos. You get the idea. And there's more to come.

[Advice was dispensed here about stepping stones when it comes to careers.] The writing position I started in wasn't ideal, but it was getting there, and now I've pretty much gotten there. So yes, I'm absolutely happy with the way my career has shaped up thus far. Somebody going from Admissions Counselor/Writer to Assistant Director (in a new Assistant Director position, at that) in two years is absolutely absurd, especially at Penn State. So I'm pretty proud of it, actually.