Challenges of an Aspiring Tech Writer

Before diving into the field of technical communication, I would like to notify you about the challenges that you might have to face in your day-to-day work regime.

As majority of the technical authors in the industry are either from technical or communication background, I will limit the scope of this post to candidates from these prospective fields. But, in all likelihood, the challenges mentioned here are applicable to all the aspiring technical writers irrespective of their medium of study.

Technical Challenges

The primary problem with technology students is that they have never taken writing too seriously. Even if they are good with English language, they have never paid too much importance to grammar. If English is not their first language, it also adds to the chaos. So, here are the challenges and their possible solutions:

• Grammar Basics: If grammar is your pain area, you might want to reconsider your decision of getting into technical documentation. If not, I would suggest you should brush your English grammar skills. There are many websites that can help you in revisiting all the grammar you learnt in school. Links. Other alternatives can be renting a grammar book from your nearby library. Grammar Resources.
• Editorial Skills: If your grammar is good, you might not have much trouble in editing content. But, as an editor it is important to make the content readable. All the information put together should be directed to your audience.

 I am sure, the final year reports might have been a demanding job for many of you out there.

Communication Challenges

The primary problem the communication students have is their lack of exposure to technology. So, here are the challenges and their possible solutions:

• Technology: If you belong to the communication stream, it can be difficult to connect with technology at times. Here, the technology means greater things than Websites and Smartphone applications. We are talking out magnanimous ERP or Mainframe applications driving the telecom, security and manufacturing industries. So, it is really important for you to have a mind that anticipates technological assertiveness. 
• Understanding Product: The ability to understand the product can also be a major challenge due to the lack of academic exposure to various technology products. But, that can be solved over a period of time.
• Making Sense: Another connected aspect is making sense out of what you write. You might be an excellent English writer but if the information you provide is not as per the products requirements, the overall output will be hazy and incomplete. So, it really important to focus on getting exactly what is required for the product.

Common Challenges

• Audience Analysis: You must write for a specific reader. The audience is really important in technical writing and you should always have that at the back of your mind. More about it in the coming blog post on Audience Analysis.
• Understanding User’s Perspective: You must understand the user and usability of the application. It is again related to audience of the application. But, your insight on usability is fairly rated as you are the first user of the product.
• Documentation Tools: Though, technical writing is about writing, but it also employs various tools for creating content and generating output in required form. The regular output formats are: Web Based Help, PDF Help and Video Tutorials.

To sum it up, you must have zeal for writing, if you want to be a good technical writer. If have that fervor, there are enough online/classroom courses available that can help you learn the art and science of technical communication.

Am I eligible ?

Yes and No.

There has been enough debate about who can be a technical writer. But, my experience and study of this field has helped me deduce certain facts that might interest you.

• Technical Writing is an age old career stream. Technical Writing existed even before the advent of Information Technology. The documentation experts used to provide their services to various domains like manufacturing, oil and gas, and even aerospace. Those writers were industry experts in their respective technologies with sound writing and grammar skills.
• With Information Technology it became a different ball game altogether. Technical Writers began to generate information through various documentation mediums like Microsoft Word, Framemaker, RoboHelp, etc.
• And, with the invention of Internet, the information exploded online.

Throughout this journey of technical documentation, writers and their academic background also have been changing continuously.

Majority of the writers come from two educational streams:

• Technology – Engineering and Information Technology
• Writing – Arts and other communication fields

But, there are people who hail from different backgrounds and end up as technical writers. For example, one of my colleagues studied pharmacy in college. He started his career as a Medical Transcription writer and then stabilized his career in technical documentation.  

To succeed as a technical writer, you ought to be in love with technology. For example, it is of prime importance that you understand how gadgets work or how websites navigate. Another important aspect of technical documentation is how comfortable you are with English. For non-native English writers, it would be really necessary to take up a course in technical communication before plunging into this field. More about this in the next post.

At the end of the day, the choice still remains. If you think you enjoy the riddles of consistent, error-free and disciplined writing, technical documentation is the field for you.

Sharepoint 2007 - Wiki, Blog, RSS

It is after a long time, I am back to providing information on Technical Writing.

Following video helps you in understanding the strength of Sharepoint in the field of technical writing. Sharepoint can be really useful in developing various Intranet Blogs and Wikis.

Please go through the video and provide your comments.



Hence forth you will find regular posts on this blog. Let the information sharing begin!!!

You can also create a Wiki site using MediaWiki, but SharePoint has better security features.