How to become a successful Technical Writer

Hello guys, welcome to Money Pod Online. In this article, I will give guidelines to becoming a professional technical writer and make money online.

This means, at the end of this post, you will be able to hunts for technical writing jobs on popular Freelancing websites like Upwork and Fiverr, get the job done, and get paid. To back it up, an average technical writer earns $67,684 per year.

However, before I started highlighting my guidelines on how to becoming a professional Technical writer, let's look at what Technical writing is. You can also use the Table of Contents above to jump to your desire sections.

In this article, here are what I'm going to cover:

What is Technical writing?
What do Technical writer do?
Requirements needed to become a skilled Technical writer.
Ways of boosting your earnings as a Technical writer
Resources to start a career in technical writing.
Technical writing books

Let's get started!

What is Technical writing?

According to Society for Technical Communication (STC), a Technical writing any form of communication that explains a technical concept, or Is meant for a defined audience, or leverages some form of technology.

In simple definition, a Technical writing is the writing of contents on a technical subject for a defined audience.

In summary, the ultimate goal of a Technical writer is to synthesize technical information in the simplest way to define audience.

What do Technical writer do?

As a professional Technical writer, you must be able to:

produce, outline, and brainstorm technical articles/documentation for a range of users and knowledge levels.
apply research and evaluation to create articles/documentation that clearly communicate technical concepts.
communicate technical concepts effectively to go inline with the proposed audiences.
analyse target audiences to define the article or documentation’s requirements and plan the content’s presentation, design, and tone.
design charts, infographics, headings, images and lists to increase readability for the technical article or documentation.

The major goals of any Technical writers are those that are just highlighted above. However, do note that If your team has a designer, you won’t be required to design yourself.

Requirements needed to becoming a professional Technical writer.

Here are required skills needed to becoming a professional Technical writer:

Ability to write Fluently in your preferred language. E.g. English, Arabic, Spanish, French e.t.c.
Understand the basic technical aspect of the topic you intend to write about. E.g., designing, coding, program management, etc.
Ability to developer your research skills
Ability to know your audience is important because it helps you create content tailored to them.

Ways of Maximizing your Earning Potentials as a Technical writer.

Start writing

The first steps to boost your earning potentials as a Technical writer is start writing. Just start writing!

There a quote by one popular Technical writer, Jean M. Auel "You learn to write by writing, and by reading and thinking about how writers have created their characters and invented their stories"

This simply means, "If you are not a reader, don't even think about being a writer”.

Understand the basic technical side

As a Technical writer, it's essential to know the technical knowledge of the subject of interest. You should have a good basic understanding to be able to describe complex things in your field.

Build a portfolio

A technical writer portfolio is a collection that showcases the samples of your own writing - basically, it shows what you can do. Building a portfolio is important because it show your potential clients the range of your writing abilities, thought processes, and other useful skills.

Dev.to, GitHub, and Hashnode are popular portfolio sites you can use to build your technical writing portfolio. You can also setup portfolio on your personal blog/website.

Build a strong and professional network

To build a strong and professional audiences, join a professional association for technical writers, and attend networking events, and network with other technical writers.

As you're building your potential network, find new opportunities to practice your skills, and boost your reputation as a qualified technical writer.

Read books or take courses in Technical writing

Taking courses or reading books on technical writing enables you figure out how it works and how it is done. It guides you on properly naming your technical content, writing introductions correctly, structuring your content in an easily understandable way, and so much more!

In addition, continue reading to figure out tools and resources to start a career in technical writing, and technical writing books and courses you can read.

Tools and resources to begin a career in Technical writing.

Here are tools and resources to start your Technical writing career:

These tools will help you as a beginner technical writer. It's also helpful if you're already in the field.

Technical writing online courses and e-books

Technical Writing Process [by Kieran Morgan]
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction [by William Zinsser]
The Insider’s Guide to Technical Writing [by Krista Van Laan]
Technical Writing For Dummies [by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts]

In conclusion:

Technical writing help writers understand better-tech. It also helps increase the potential capacity to adapt to new technology. If you’re interested in this career path and would like to know how to become a technical writer, read this article to understand the basic indepth.

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