Is writing IT how-to articles relevant experience for engineering CV?

Question

I am a mechanical engineering PhD student doing computational research. I recently had an assistantship which consisted of helping the university IT office install engineering software on our Linux computing cluster, and also writing technical how-to articles for it, and assisting users with problems.

The assistantship ended in the spring, but I actually enjoyed that kind of work so I am considering pursuing it on the side as an "extra" for my CV. Specifically, I am thinking of writing Linux how-to articles for a Linux help website (not specifically high-performance computing).

This would be much less of a time-commitment than the assistantship was, but I'm still wondering if it would be worth-while, relevant experience for my career, since it is more of an IT field than engineering.

From what I have read online, I understand that blogging is relevant experience for a CV, but I'm not sure if writing how-to articles in a semi-related technical field would be viewed as favorably.

What do you all think? Would writing how-to articles for a Linux help website be relevant experience to put on a CV for a career in engineering academia or computational research?

Answer 1

One normally writes a CV, and tailors it, to a particular purpose. If your purpose is a job in IT or in publishing, then it would seem to add value. But, if it is for an academic position or for admissions to a graduate program (if others have the same question) I'd think it would add little if anything. It isn't about research, for example.

So, for an academic career or engineering research, it is a side topic at best. Focus the CV on more relevant things, even if you include a few "possibly related" things.