Want to become a Professional Technical Writer?
What is Technical Writing?
Technical Writing is writing on a specific subject for a
specific purpose to a specific audience.
Technical Writers can be considered as a bridge between
people who know technology and people who use it. They understand the
intricacies and complications of technology and put it in simple words that
help the user understand and use the technology.
What do Technical Writers do?
A technical writer’s job will be to gather information from
various sources, comprehend the technology, and put it in simple and
easy-to-understand language for the end user.
The following are some of the documents a technical writer
creates:
- User Manuals
- Online Help Content
- Reports
- Brochures
- Process Documents
- Business Proposals
- Resumes
- Memorandum
- Minutes
- Feature Modules
- Release Notes
- Policies and Procedures
Who can be successful in Technical Writing?
Technical Writing is considered as both Science and Art. It
is a science because there is a methodical way of doing technical writing. It
is an art because it involves writing. People with inclination and passion for
writing can score as good technical writers. The following are the attributes
expected of a technical writer:
- Good written communication skills
- Flair for writing (Simple but good English is preferred)
- Inclination to learn new technologies
- Working knowledge of computers
With the advancements in the field of Information
Technology, the way any business happens has changed, and the emphasis on
quality has increased. Owing to this factor of attaining perfect quality, the
market needs professional Technical Writers who are masters in communicating
the right information to the right people.
The growing demand for Professional Technical Writers is
increasing exponentially
In order to maintain India’s competitive advantage of
technically skilled knowledge-workers with the right mix of technical, business
and functional skills, the workforce needs to increase by at least 10-fold by
2008
As per the Nasscom-McKinsey report 1999, India needs to have
at least 2.2 million knowledge workers in IT software and services related
areas by 2008
Technical Writers are a part of these knowledge professionals
and companies have started realising the importance of hiring professional
Technical Writers.
Technical Writing not only applies to the field of
Information Technology, but also extends to other fields like:
Pharmaceutical, Aeronautical, Automobile, Mechanical,
Chemical, and many other fields
What salaries do Technical Writers get?
Technical Writing proves to be a very good career option. A
fresher in the field of technical writing gets paid around Rs.12,000 per month.
A technical writer with two years of experience is able to draw about Rs.25,000
per month. Efficient and Experienced Technical Writers get monthly salaries
running to lakhs. For current figures you can refer to: www.stc-india.org, the
official website of Society for Technical Communicators (STC) in India.Apart
from these employment opportunities, technical writing also provides lots of
scope for freelancing.
Survey results about Technical Writing
Check the following links to know more about the scope and
nature of Technical Writing.
The Author is working for KBufferIndia, one of the premium Institutes in the field of Technical Writing.
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