Her Story
About Jennifer
Jennifer Coman is a technical writer with 30 years of experience in the banking and credit union software industry, currently handling monthly release notes, features, bugs, and documentation for a third-party fraud prevention product. She earned a bachelor's degree in English followed by a master's in English, which led her to technical writing after an initial role in recruiting. Over her career, Coman has worked at Fiserv where she managed quarterly release notes up to 100 pages, as well as at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a publishing house. She is based in Houston, Texas, and volunteers at the Houston Food Bank while making monthly donations to the SPCA. Coman attributes her success to being a perfectionist and hard worker who learns from mistakes, and she values honesty, diligence, and professionalism. She advises aspiring technical writers to focus on strong writing skills and research, noting that subject matter expertise can be gained on the job, and she views AI as a useful tool for summaries and drafts but emphasizes the ongoing need for human oversight due to its tendency to hallucinate.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a perfectionist, so that helps. I'm a hard worker. The perfectionist thing really helps, because you can make a mistake, but make it once. Everybody's going to make mistakes, but as long as you make them once, then it's fine.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
To be clear and concise. Use basic common language instead of fancy words like utilize. Remember your audience.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If you really like writing, you can get into technical writing. You can end up in almost any industry as a technical writer as long as you have good writing skills and do a lot of research. You don't have to know the subject matter when you start; you'll learn it on the job.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The onset of AI is the biggest challenge. It hallucinates and is wrong half the time, so you have to double-check everything. It's a useful tool for summaries and first drafts but you still need humans in the mix. It won't take technical writing jobs away.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty, diligence, and professionalism.
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