English department alumni

Stewart Matzek

Technical Writer, Tesla | Degree: B.A. in English with a minor in TESL | Current Home: Reno, NV

As a technical writer at Tesla, I handle a large amount of different documentation facing different audiences. Most of my job revolves around creating, updating, and maintaining documentation for processes around the factory. This is highly variable - sometimes I'm creating a document about how to properly use an adhesive-spreading robot, and sometimes my documentation is as simple as instructing people how to download a Tesla-proprietary app used to request maintenance assistance.

As an English major, your greatest weapon is experience. Writing samples matter, sure, but all writing jobs will ask one thing from you: how much experience do you have? To this end, any experience you can gain is crucial to your ability to get a job and start working as a writer. My freelance experience catapulted my resume from empty to chock-full of relevant experience, and although I didn't have the exact amount of experience required, I was able to convince a place like Tesla to hire me based off of that in combination with my writing samples.

Kyle Young

Freelance Writer | Degree/Year: B.A. English Writing, 2011 | Current Home: Reno, NV

I currently make money in the freelancing world through magazine articles, blogs and journalistic pieces. At present, my food column with ThisisReno.com offers me the most freedom. Some of the other benefits I reap from freelancing are not monetary, but rather experiential. On occasion, an organization will comp my expenses on what is known as a familiarization tour. These tours are designed to treat publishers, editors, photographers, writers and producers to incredible experiences hoping to inspire content on those experiences. I’m also lucky to sometimes trade product reviews for products (clothing, appliances, etc.).

Once you attain some writing chops, it’s critical to possess skill in marketing yourself and your work. Successful freelancing, at least for me, is heavily reliant on networking. Introducing yourself to local editors and publication owners is a great place to start. I also set up coffee dates with industry professionals to interview them about the ins and outs of writing professionally. Interviewing is another excellent skill to acquire, and one that does not come easily.

Andrew Scott Dicus

Assistant Professor, New York University | Degree/Year: B.A. English and Secondary Education, 2003 | Current Home: New York, New York

I always loved reading, but it wasn't until I transferred to the University of Nevada, Reno that I began to realize how literature, philosophy and theory could play powerful roles in helping me to construct (and reconstruct) my worldview. I was drawn to the 18th century because it seemed, for reasons I couldn't at the time comprehend, central to enduring questions about self and society.

Nothing for me is more gratifying than helping students find and develop tools for reassessing their assumptions. When I see students discover some new way to frame an old question, or apply a theoretical lens they encountered in one of my classes, I feel that my time with them has been incredibly valuable.

I ask my undergraduates to remember that they are ambassadors to the humanities in a world often skeptical about the value of the humanities. I want them to have thoughtful answers for why what they're doing "matters." And for graduate students, or prospective graduate students, I would suggest resisting the overwhelming temptation to quantify. I have made it a rule to ignore questions of "how many" (except on my CV), and to talk instead about what I am researching and writing about, and why it excites me.