Is there life after spec writing?

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Author Message Anonymous   Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 01:42 pm:    I am considering changing careers and wonder what field/career could best use my spec writing talents. With my vast product/architectural knowledge, linear thinking, organizational skills, communication skills, analytical mind and research skills there has to be a comparable job out there. I have seriously considered employment outside the architectural/construction arena but have worked at my position for so long that it may be hard to break new ground. Bob Woodburn, RA CSI CCS CCCA LEED AP Senior Member Username: bwoodburn Post Number: 238 Registered: 01-2005 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:14 pm:    How about something that would perform a badly-needed service to your fellow professionals who find their addiction to specifications writing has rendered them both powerless and bereft of hope: start a 12-step program for recovering specifiers. As an additional benefit, it might increase the demand for rest of us... Melissa J. Aguiar, CSI, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: melissaaguiar Post Number: 90 Registered: 12-2003 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:23 pm:    journalism field. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 38 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:33 pm:    To earn a wage: Become a technical writer for a software developer or write clear and concise installation instructions for Harley-Davidson parts and accessires. H-D's current ones suck. Work for a developer reviewing their consultants stupid specs. Work for a general contractor reveiwing stupid specs for potential change orders. For volunteer work, become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children who have been apprehended from their stupid parents and placed in and bounced around in the foster care system, become REALLY f_____d up, only to age out at 18, end up in jail and generally become a drain on the tax payers. I know. I live with a CASA and I have seen the damage done by the system and stupid parents. The courts need more CASAs. The perk? You will reimbursed for your mileage at $0.51/mile. It pays for the gas. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 95 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:47 pm:    "With my vast product/architectural knowledge, linear thinking, organizational skills, communication skills, analytical mind and research skills" Add in the ability to spend long hours at a computer and I have wondered if one of us could turn into a writer of successful fiction. Melissa J. Aguiar, CSI, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: melissaaguiar Post Number: 91 Registered: 12-2003 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:52 pm:    Steven, we already are fiction writers..don't you know that by now? What we write usually doesn't get read unless someone gets into a sticky situation, and the fiction we develop usually ends up on a bookshelf used only during battles between good and evil. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 96 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:52 pm:    Wayne, Interesting story in the press today about Harley-Davidson stock tanking with a big decline in sales and problems in their financing department. In a nod to recent abuses in the home mortgage universe, they have been offering 130-Percent financing on new bikes so the owners can both trick out their rides and start out with negative equity. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 97 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 02:59 pm:    Melissa, yes I agree. The only words I haven't been called on yet are "and" and "the"; but I am sure they are working on it. But please note, I said "successful" writer. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 884 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 03:34 pm:    Technical writer. Really, specifications are a particular form of technical writing, and perhaps you can parlay that, plus another of your interests, whatever they are into that field. Also, consider doing contract administration. Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 183 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 03:44 pm:    I am currently in law school and there are actually alot of similarities in terms of the skills utilized. It is a bit of a time commitment, but definitely an option. Michael D Chambers FAIA FCSI Senior Member Username: sbamdc Post Number: 13 Registered: 06-2006 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 04:40 pm:    I had a lot of fun and learned a lot being a product rep. My specification skills allowed me to go toe to toe with the specifiers and designers. My contacts in the construction field helped also. There are always openings and opportunities with construction product manufacturers. If you are attending AIA or CSI, talk with the manufacturers on the exhibit floor. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 756 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 06:38 pm:    I suppose the first question I would ask is: what is driving you from architecture/construction in the first place? if you have a reasonably sucessful career now in specifications, what do you want different about it? the suggestions above only sort of get to the answer. 1) if you like the construction industry, but don't want the design end, then perhaps a contractor or product rep job would be better. or if you want more people contact, the product rep thing might be better. 2) if you like the research and analytical skills but are tired of "just construction products" then journalism or other technical writing 3) if you like the information sharing of specifying, but don't want to work on projects anymore, perhaps teaching, or again technical writing 4) if you like being knowledgeable about construction techniques and don't want to teach, I know a few architect/CA type people who make their living almost entirely by doing expert witnessing for attorneys. of course, if absolutely nothing about your job seems like you would want to continue it, perhaps some career counseling is in order... Marc C Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 299 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 07:13 pm:    Sell small widgets of some kind - completely different from specs and design. It's a whole different world. your product is visible and phyiscal vs arm waving and "why am I paying you" Anyway I mean it. Look for a different world that needs detail but in a different way. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 999 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 08:00 pm:    I second the construction law idea. I have found that journalism is typically exaggerated or manipulated facts to sell papers or boost ratings. John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: john_regener Post Number: 379 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 12:44 am:    "forensic architecture": This not only means "expert witness" work but the investigation and reporting of construction conditions that are the basis of a claim. It can also be on the side of refuting a claim. "dispute resolution": Find out more about this new practice during construction where a dispute resolution board gets involved from day 1 and resolves issues as they occur. From the presentation I heard from Waller Poage, AIA, CDT, CSI, this practice has been used on some large, complex projects with great success (the Big Dig in Boston, for example: lots and lots of problems but only one went all the way to litigation). George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 420 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 10:19 am:    I thought life after specwriting was called "retirement". David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1000 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 12:52 pm:    I thought that life after spec writing was called "death". Most spec writers I know keep working until they shovel dirt on them. How many "actively" retired spec writers do you know? I know one.....that is still living. Sounds like the beginning of a joke. Old spec writers never die, they just........... Bob Woodburn, RA CSI CCS CCCA LEED AP Senior Member Username: bwoodburn Post Number: 240 Registered: 01-2005 Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 12:58 pm:    ...get reformatted and reused, by someone else, for another purpose... James M. Sandoz, AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP Senior Member Username: jsandoz Post Number: 36 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Monday, April 21, 2008 - 10:15 am:    . . . get placed in rented storage and thrown out after their period of repose has passed. Joseph Berchenko Senior Member Username: josephberchenko Post Number: 15 Registered: 08-2003 Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 10:01 am:    ...fade away, but no more than 5 delta E Hunter units in a five-year period of south Florida exposure... Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 312 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 11:05 pm:    ... long for WordPerfect for DOS 3.0. Jonathan M. Miller, FCSI, AIA, SCIP, NCARB, AAA (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 10:32 pm:    Arbitration and Mediation Neutrals are typically very experienced people in the law, construction and labor fields. The lawyers I met in my AAA neutral kickoff meeting were mostly at the end of their career and wanting to make an intermittent impact. It took me a year to get accepted to the neutral arbitrator panel. I expect to see cases about every 18 months in Vermont... but it would much more often in a big city. Check it out... www.adr.org