What is Technical Writing

Years ago I used to think that technical writing has only got to do with technology. A thought that was enough to put me off from the word go. Technology and me don't see eye to eye. Like seriously. So when 'technical' and 'writing' were clubbed together in one sentence, it was enough to give me nightmares. Oh but I exaggerate. Still, technical writing and me, it was agreed would stay far, far away from each other. But that does not mean I don't know anything about it. What is technical writing really? I'm explaining in the following paragraphs and there will be nothing technical about it. I can't do that even if I want to.

The Process

Let's put this very very simply. When you get a new LCD TV home and you're all excited with the look and the color and the way it looks and feels in the center of the living room and all you want to do is sit and relax with a baseball match on the TV, and then you put it all together and...nothing shows! Whaaaat! You wonder. What could it be now? So then you look at the manual and read up where you went wrong...wait a minute..let's rewind there. What do you look at? A manual...and why? To get the instructions off it. Bingo.

That is technical writing. This is just an example. Explaining something technical to an audience in simple words and clear, concise language, with the objective of making the technical un-technical to them (for the lack of a better term). This is done such that the readers (a select targeted group) can understand it and then work on it.

Technical writing is done at varied levels and for varied subjects that include manuals, lab reports, directions to places, business letters, computer software, consumer electronics and several others. The process involves that a technical writer contact an expert on the subject that he is writing on also known as the subject matter expert (SME), who will then go on to give him the required information about the product, and the writer will then put it into simple words such that a laymen who probably has no former knowledge of the subject will be able to grasp. Does this mean that a writer have some basic knowledge of and interest in technology? It definitely helps. To get into the intricacies of the matter to understand a subject and thereby write about it will be much more authentic when you know and like the subject.

Certification

What does the certification of technical writing involve? There is the need to have an education in this field backing up the interest. There are several colleges that offer courses for technical training which involve a certificate training of about a year and takes up subjects like HTML coding, publishing, web writing, technical writing, business writing and more. There is also the option of earning a bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree in technical writing.

Jobs and Options

This is where the good news comes in. Technical writing is one of the fastest growing and most demanded jobs in this age. That only means that the options that it offers are vast. These include:

• Freelance technical writing
• Online technical writing
• Technical writing from home

The good thing about technical writing is that once you garner the required skills, you can carry forth it in any which way that you choose. May it be officially joining a software company and working for them exclusively or taking up projects and doing them from home. There is no dearth of jobs in this time and age and therefore you can take up whatever feels and reads right for you. The pay is also quite high and one can earn according to individual projects.

The article has hopefully cleared your doubts about what is technical writing and what one needs to do to get there. A technical writer's job description is quite interesting especially if you have a flair for understanding technical things and then putting them down in simple words. So what will it be then?