Present the most important skills in your resume, there's a list of typical technical documentation skills: Strong time management skills to deliver on time and with good quality within your areas of responsibility Experience effectively working in a team environment Solid analysis and problem solving skills necessary · Writing Skills The first and foremost, technical writers are supposed to excel at writing itself. The main criterion of good software documentation is the clarity of text. This can be achieved only by someone who knows how to write, how to put the most complicated ideas in simple words · Record-keeping is one of the most important functions in a world that runs on information. Documentation skills are, thus, highly prized. However, there is also stiff competition in the market. Stand out and nab the spot that you deserve with the right resume
11 Skills of a Good Technical Writer
What makes a good tech writer? This profession only seems easy and straightforward. As a company that has a lot of experience working with technical writers because we create software for technical documentationwe decided to create this list.
If you are an employer looking for a new employee, you can use this article as a checklist. If you are a tech writer, we hope to provide you with ideas for growth. If not — then just enjoy reading and learning new things. The first and foremost, technical writers are supposed to excel at writing itself. The main criterion of good software documentation is the clarity of text. This can be achieved only by someone who knows how to write, how to put the most complicated ideas in simple words.
A good writer usually just knows these things, feels when to use this or that construction, which words suit best, etc. It sounds like some talent a person either possesses or not. But, in reality, it all comes down to hard work and practice. Read quality texts more, analyze the word choice there, figure out text structures — you will be well underway to improve your writing skills. Or, you can also try attending training technical documentation skills on the subject.
Technology keeps moving forward. Nowadays, everything is about efficiency, teamwork, and being agile, technical documentation skills. The number of companies using software for documentation authoring is going through the roof.
No wonder — technical writing tools are designed specially for technical writingthey offer task-specific functionality alongside with just being a user-friendly text editor, technical documentation skills. How can a technical writing tool make the work of a tech communicator easier? As a rule, such tools feature workflows developed for tech writer teams; they support popular tech writing formats like Word, PDF, CHM.
As a reference, you can check out a technical documentation skills of features offered by ClickHelp, a tool for online documentation authoring. Ideally, they should try out a couple of tools to know how things work and figure out what appeals to them personally. Working in an outsourcing company means that you have to technical documentation skills with a variety of client companies you have never heard of and are unaware of their products. Writing software documentation under such circumstances is a tough call.
Only after hours of thorough research, you can gather enough information on the given field to start with the writing process. Besides, technical documentation skills, doing some research technical documentation skills always great even for the area you feel pretty confident about.
Remember, we technical documentation skills in a constantly changing world. Software documentation is a system. Some user guides can get so big and complex and stuffed with help articles that it is hard to believe that it is a system. And, that's bad, technical documentation skills. First of all, technical documentation skills, poorly structured technical documentation skills ruins user experience as it fails to fulfill its primary function — provide people with easily attainable data.
Secondly, documentation writers suffer, as well. So, a good technical writer is the one who always plans the documentation structure in advance and never makes a mess hoping to clean it up later. A technical documentation team is part of a bigger mechanism, technical documentation skills.
They must be able to communicate well with other departments. At first, technical writing seems to be the work cut out for introverts, but this appearance is deceitful. Don't forget about all the conferences made by and for technical communicators!
The thing is — a user guide can only be clear and make sense when its author knows how everything works. You can use a tool for technical writers and never fully realize its potential.
Single-Sourcing is a time saver for any tech writer. If you want to be able to get more things done without additional effort, you should learn these techniques. Basically, technical documentation skills, Single-Sourcing allows creating multiple documents using the same source. With Single-Sourcing, technical documentation skills, you can create just one document, mark the parts meant for pros only and get two different documents as outputs.
Another example would be the usage of variables in your documentation project. You can create a variable a kind of a container for keeping some data with the product version. Technical documentation is created for users of some product or service. Each product or service has its core user base and target audience. One of the tasks of any tech writer is to figure out who the end-users are. As soon as this is done, the writing process can begin.
The easiest example is the difference between B2C and B2B user guides. In the first case, the explanations must be really simple and somewhat down to earth. While, in the second case, the content is supposed to be more profound, more complex, and detailed.
Sociology, in terms of documentation authoring, is knowing how the readers think and figuring out the best way of delivering content for this particular part of society. Critical thinking is a broad term. And, also, it seems to be one of the most necessary skills for a tech writer.
Basically, critical thinking can be explained as the ability to make reasoned and clear judgments. This concept includes gathering information, analyzing, and systematizing it. Just being systematic is only a small piece of the whole critical thinking story, technical documentation skills.
What makes a good critical thinker? Well, most of the theories on this matter are saying that the answer is personal experience, technical documentation skills. And, this does make sense. The more conscious the whole process of getting and processing information is, the clearer the output technical documentation skills be. This skill is optional.
But, technical documentation skills, recent years show that writing in Notepad is not enough anymore. More and more online documentation tools appear on the market. Some of them offer ready templates that you can use as is or tweak them to your liking. And, the tweaking can also be done using HTML and CSS.
Even if we look from the UX point of view — design can either improve or ruin UX — bad-looking color schemes, ugly screenshots… Users won't be satisfied with this, for sure. Of course, it is somehow easier to become a tech writer than a front-end developer without one.
In most cases, you don't need a degree in technical writing. But, still, many employers have certain expectations.
Your common sense will help you see when you are doing the right thing. Like, how many screenshots will be enough to explain this topic on rocket science, technical documentation skills.
Reality checks help restore common sense significantly. The list technical documentation skills skills that can be useful for any tech writer is now complete. If you are really interested in achieving a lot as a tech writer, check out the blog post we have recently published on what a technical writer career path may look like. We hope that this info combined will show you the direction towards improvement and success.
Good luck with your technical writing! ClickHelp Team Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices. Writing Skills The first and foremost, technical writers are supposed to excel at writing itself. Ability to Work with Technical Writing Tools Technology keeps moving forward. Research and Exploration Skills These skills may concern any tech writer, but it probably affects outsourcers the most. Being Systematic Software documentation is a system. Teamwork A technical documentation team is part of a bigger mechanism.
Tech writers need to talk to one another, editors, designers, developers Being Good at Single-Sourcing You can use a tool for technical writers and never fully realize its potential.
Sociology Knowing the basics of sociology is quite a useful tech communicator skill. Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a broad term. Web Design Basics This skill is optional. Education So, does a tech writer need a special diploma? Yes and no. And, for any human being, for that matter. Conclusion The list of skills that can be useful for any tech writer is now complete. Get monthly digest on technical writing, Technical documentation skills and web design, overviews of useful free resources and much more, technical documentation skills.
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Present the most important skills in your resume, there's a list of typical technical documentation skills: Strong time management skills to deliver on time and with good quality within your areas of responsibility Experience effectively working in a team environment Solid analysis and problem solving skills necessary · Writing Skills The first and foremost, technical writers are supposed to excel at writing itself. The main criterion of good software documentation is the clarity of text. This can be achieved only by someone who knows how to write, how to put the most complicated ideas in simple words · Record-keeping is one of the most important functions in a world that runs on information. Documentation skills are, thus, highly prized. However, there is also stiff competition in the market. Stand out and nab the spot that you deserve with the right resume
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