A few years back, when I used to say I work as a technical writer many people didn't know and some of them used to raise their eye brows. I had a difficult time explaining technical writing to those confused souls around. I am not sure whether we should thank the training companies or the rumors about handsome packages offered for technical writers. But for some reason, these days I am getting a lot of queries from people from different sections of the society about technical writing. Most of them wanted to know how to get into technical writing for their spouses or cousins. So I am dedicating this post to all those enthusiastic individuals and trying to answer some of the common queries:
What does a technical writer do?
As a technical writer in a software company, you need to write documentation for different software and hardware products. You need to go through engineering specifications, gather information from subject matter experts, research about complex details and develop that information into clear and concise instructions that is useful for end users of the product. Technical writers have to create a variety of documentation outputs including user guides, online help, and installation guides depending on the requirements of users.
How can I get into technical writing? Do I need to join a course?
Like most of the other careers, technical writing can be learned on the job. In India very few universities provides courses in technical communication and if you have a basic degree, that is sufficient. But sometimes if you have a degree in journalism, English literature, or computer science it will give you an added advantage depending on the company where you apply. If you have no idea about technical writing, doing a technical writing course from a private institute may help you. But I wonder whether the institutes that charges you sky rocketing fees are worth joining. If you can learn Java or CCNA training course for 10000-20000 rupees (I have done CCNA and Java training courses and CCNA course definitely requires more expensive infrastructure), I can’t understand the logic in charging 35000-75000 rupees for a technical writing course. Most technical writing institutes are just making hay while Sun shines.
Most institutes provide you an overview of technical writing and teach one or two tools used by technical writers and most of these things you can learn by yourself. If you do a Google search, you can get a fair idea about technical writing and common tools that are used in technical writing. You can download trial versions of the tools and explore them in your own. Most commonly used authoring tools include Adobe Framemaker or Arbortext Editor for authoring user manuals and Robohelp for online help generation.Again, tools will be different from company to company and your mastery over one tool may not give you a lot of brownie points when you are searching for a job. Tools you can learn by practice but developing good writing skills requires a lot of effort and time. So technical writing may not be a good option for you if your writing skills are below average.
What are the necessary skills required for a technical writer?
The primary skill you require is an ability to learn new technologies quickly and write about the technologies in simple English for end users. You should have an aptitude for research that will help you to develop the primary information you receive from subject matter experts and given in the engineering documents into a form of content useful for end users. Good communication skills will give you a lot of advantage since you needs to interact with subject matter experts to collect information. Also, you should be familiar with the common authoring tools used by technical writers.
I have a fair idea about technical writing and I have the necessary skills, but I am not seeing many openings in newspapers or job sites. How can I apply for a technical writing job?
Technical writing community is growing in India but still it is relatively small compared to the other professions and technical writing openings are mostly shared with in the community.
Subscribe to Technical Writers of India (twin-join@user.itconsult.co.uk) and Society of Technical Communication India Chapter (stcindia@googlegroups.com) mailing lists for job openings. You can also check the jobs posted at Technical Writers of India Website
Getting into a big company is most of the time difficult if you lack experience, but many small companies hires technical writers without experience as trainees. So, if you are a fresher try applying in small companies and work for two or three years and then try in a big company.
I got an interview call from company A, but I have no idea how to prepare for the interview. What should I do ?
In most companies there will be a written test to assess your writing skills followed by one or two rounds of interview. The written test may have questions to test your knowledge about English grammar and also a few scenarios to see how well you can express your ideas in a layman’s language using technical writing principles. Based on your performance in the written test, you may be called for an interview. It would be good if you carry some work samples with you or you can point to your blog or content you authored online. The interviewer may ask you questions about the sample projects you have done, the process you followed or the tools you had used. If you are a fresher, expect questions from the subjects you studied in college. Try to learn about the company you are applying and the domain they are working. You can expect a few questions about the product domain of the company.
Finally I wanted to give some advice for those who just wanted to get into technical writing only because they heard from some body that it is a cake walk and pay handsomely.
Technical writing is not rocket science but it is not everyone’s cup of tea – True, technical writing is not rocket science and it can be learned. If you are willing to learn new technologies and you can write about technology in a simple language you can become a technical writer. But for all those creative geniuses, there is not much scope for creative writing in technical writing. Technical writing is only considered as a necessary evil by most engineers and you should be prepared to do a thankless job in many situations. Technical writer's time is mostly spend on routine tasks like interacting with subject matter experts, following up with engineers to get the content reviewed and fixing the errors in the documents. If you are working for a services company most of the time you have to work on unrealistic time lines to meet deadlines and the indefinite wait to get information from busy subject matter experts will test your patience.
Growth Opportunities are limited in technical writing- In India we give a lot of importance to titles and the general notion is one should become a manager in a few years. Definitely you can grow as a professional by learning new technologies, developing expertise in your domain and the processes related to your company as a technical writer. But, if you are too ambitious and want to climb the corporate ladder immediately you may be disappointed after a few years in technical writing. Growth opportunities for a technical writer are definitely less compared to other professions.
Some useful links:
- Tom Johnsons blog: http://idratherbewriting.com
- Lyndsey Amott's Website: http://www.docsymmetry.com
- Sajitha Jayaprakash's blog: http://sajithajayaprakash.wordpress.com/category/technical-writing
- Rahul Karn's blog:
http://informationdevelopers.blogspot.com/
Some books I found useful as a beginner:
- Read me first! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry by Sun Technical Publications
- Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors by IBM
- The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
16 comments:
To the point. Good one, Sreejith. Keep writing.
In terms of growth opportunities, if you are interested in the domain, of course there are significant number of opportunities available to you: product management, product marketing, product evangelism, and so on.
Think about travelling around the world talking about your product ;-)
If you look at, Management role is not that captivating to those writers who are really interested in the subject (the-technical-writer)they write about. Look at those writers in the US with 20 + years experience.
(How many of us *really* respect the documentation managers in the Indian industry ? Think.)
A clean article. Well Articulated. Very much informative about the particular profile. This is very important contribution when we think about improving the employability of of our students.
Growth opportunities are definitely very less. As a rule of thumb, in any software team, Documentation is always considered the least important. If writing is your passion, I would suggest to heck with growth and stick to Technical Writing. For me, I was a Technical Writer and recently got an opportunity to be part of QA, which I grabbed quickly. If you love writing and are technical, follow Sreejith's tips and go for it.
Nicely written article, to the point, enthusiastic for the growing technical writers, and provides a lot of information for those who wants to join technical writing as their career. Thanks Shreejith and keep writing.
Dear Sirs,
At the outset my apologies for cold calling on you like this. I was doing a search on the net and got your email ID and thought would write to you. To give a brief background, I have an engineering degree in electronics and have graduated in 1998. However immediately after my engineering i got married and was looking after family. I deeply regret not continuing with a career, but my parents were keen to see me settled.
Now however, circumstances compell me to look for a job and i want to enter the field of techical writing. / Instructional design. My love has always been in training, development and learning. However my fear is that at age 38, would anybody consider me for a technical writers / ID job? Will my age militate against me? Should i do a course in technical writing / IDand then apply for a job? Do advise. Your advice will go a long way in clearing my mind.
Warm regards,
Mary (marypriscilla22@gmail.com)
Thanks for the information, I've always loved writing. I am actually getting into technical writing and went as far as interviewing with a technical writing service while in my last year of college.
Thanks Sree!Good Info
Thanks Sreejith for the wonderful blog:)very informative
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