While I was about to complete one year at the university as an English Instructor, an IT company came to me with an offer for a new job as a Technical Writer. I did not apply for the opportunity, therefore, I had no idea what Technical Writing is and what they expect from me. So the first thing I did was to consult Sadeepa, the elder brother of one of my batch mates. I remembered him having a Technical Writer as the headline in LinkedIn. Then I did a search for Technical Writers in LinkedIn and tried to get in touch with them to know what the job is really like. Meanwhile, I found some interesting blogs and news articles about the job.
On the first day of the job, I felt nervous because I did not know what to do and I was not sure what sort of language should be used in writing tech stuff. When my friends asked what my new job was, I always said documentation or language consultancy because half of them did not know what technical writing is. If I tell them that I'm a Technical Writer, the next question would be "What do you really do?"
Having worked for two months as a Technical Writer, I think it is high time to unveil this mystery job.
According to Wikipedia, Technical Writing involves the creation of useful documents that can be clearly understood by readers. Good technical writing clarifies jargon, presenting useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience; poor technical writing may increase confusion by creating or failing to explain unnecessary jargon.Technical writing is used in many fields. As I'm working in an IT related environment, please note that the information given would be related to Technical Writing in IT field.
After reading this blog post
- You will know what are the most sought after skills in a Technical Writer
- You will find out how to develop your skills/mind set to become a Technical Writer
Let us begin by the skills you need and find out who has the potential to be a good technical writer?
Think about the following questions. If your answer is "yes" to at least a few of them, you have a possibility to become a Technical Writer.
Think about the following questions. If your answer is "yes" to at least a few of them, you have a possibility to become a Technical Writer.
- Have you read user manuals?
As a Technical Writer, you will have to write User Manuals for End Users. This does not mean that writing User Manuals is the only thing that Technical Writers do. However, writing a User Manual is a taxing task that every Technical Writer has to undergo at least once in his/her life time. You will have to think about all the Use Cases and also should make sure that your writing is clear and concise so that any person can understand it. If you have read plenty of User Manuals before, it will be easier for you to understand the style of writing you should use for writing a User Manual. You will know how to organize your topics, where to insert images and when to include special tips. Above all, you will know how not to write a User Manual.
- Have you used online help forums to solve your problems?
Online help forums gather several kinds of users. For example, let us take a community where the End Users post their problems about a particular software. Some want to show that they are experts and provides the answer required in a tech manner but none understands them. Another one might right a long answer with all the necessary details making it possible for everyone to follow his steps.
The second person would get more number of thumbs up or likes because the answer he gave was more useful for the community.
If the community was composed of more tech-oriented people, the first answer would get more likes. why? for them, you do not need to provide step by step instructions. If you just say, "Flash your phone", they would do it.
The bottom line is, if you continuously read/take part online forums, you can understand the subtle art of giving comprehensive information. You will know how you should change the level of detailing according to the audience you are writing for and further, you will know what type of instructions are easy to read, attract the user and get more likes and thumbs ups.
- Have you helped your friends to solve their IT related problems?
Helping your friends to solve their IT issues is the best way to know how a layman's or in other words, an End User's mind works.
You might help your friend to uninstall a software in Windows 7 platform today and by tomorrow, he/she might forget how to go to the Control Panel. So, you might have to repeat the instructions without getting angry.
When writing instructions for the End Users, we should keep these humane factors in mind. When you write Technical Documentation, you hardly meet the people who read your work. But it is important that you address their exact need in the most effective manner. Helping your friends to solve IT related issues is the best way to understand the best tactics to be used in writing instructions.
Besides understanding human mind, this will also give you a chance to read user manuals and take part in online forums ;)
- Have you ever tried to write instructions to do something?
Writing instructions is a challenge because you have to think about all the options available and what mistakes the user is prone to do.
Above all, to write a better guide, you must have completed/done the task about which you are writing. Then you will know the easiest way to complete the task and if there are several methods to complete the task you can write them all to give the user a chance to choose the method that suits him/her the best.
So, having written instructions to do something (Ex: it can be either making ice cream [Sinhala], cleaning your system after a virus attack [English] or how to enable Facebook Login approvals [Sinhala] ) is very useful when it comes to the profession of technical writing. To tell the truth, 80% of your work as a technical writer might involve in giving instructions to an unknown person.
- Do you enjoy writing?
As the name itself suggests, this job involves writing, a lot of writing. If you love writing, the next step is easy. You only have to practice writing simple and short sentences.It should not be the language that you use in literature reviews. The secret to identify the right language style for technical writing is to read more and more user guides and use them. Once you are familiar with the style, try writing some instructions and ask your friends to review it. The main difference between Technical Writing and Writing is the style.
Writers have their own style but Technical Writers do not. They write short and simple language like anyone can unless the project require them to use a heavy language. The interesting thing is that they aslo differ from the normal set of people who write simple language. Technical writers know how to give instructions to a fifth grader to launch a nuke and most of the none-technical-writers find it hard to do.
In the next episode , get to know why enabling the experimental Gmail and Search Field Trial is important to become a successful Technical Writer and more.
PS: I'm new to the field and you might know better than me. Correct me if I'm wrong.
