For the last time today, I scanned through the Participating Organizations in Google Season of Docs 2019 . Not that I was expecting a miracle but I had a vain hope that at least one organization will have some form of encouragement for newbies to apply. As it turned out, there was nothing new that I had not seen. At this point I knew that was it, the time had come for me to officially bid Google Season of Docs farewell.
I found about about the Google Season of Docs (GSoD) with high expectations and enthusiasm to participate, and at first I actually found it difficult to know what I was expected to do, I later found out after spending some days on the GSoD website. The program looked wonderful and exciting to me, as I knew it involved writing, I was thrilled by the Prospect to be engaged in another writing stuff as I was recently announced as a Writing Fellow at African Liberty .
Just when I thought all was set and I already earmarked the Organizations I hoped to to work with in my application, I noticed something that was emphasized in many of the Participating Organization websites, they made it clear that they were only interested in experts with previous technical writing experience and not more than 50 Technical writers are going to be accepted, that looks scary right? Boom, that was it, I was happy to explore a Technical Writing opportunity, but on the other hand I had no prior Technical Writing experience, so where do I start from? That was when I decided that the GSoD had come at an early exit for me.
Am not discouraging anyone from applying for the GSoD, but as a person I have decided not to go any further, this has challenged me to give my self the next 365 days, then I will compare where I am now with where I will be that time as as a Technical writer. I am someone who believes in learning from past failures, experiences and undoings. I will make efforts to be ready and confident to apply for the Program come next year if Google rolls it out again. I believe "we all own our learning".
I hope that one day there would be internship roles for Technical Writing in Google Internship programs, this will help students and a lot of people who have intention to build a career or delve into Technical writing as a field of expertise, the good thing is ;Tech is so broad and growing so I foresee big job openings for Technical writers. I also need to get mentors who have excelled in Technical writing whom I can learn from and grow as a Technical writer. For those who are participating, I wish you the very best and I hope to learn from your experiences if you make the cut.