Technical writing

Simplifying the complex

Getting into tech

It’s possible to have a career in tech without having to write code. From UX engineers to Project Managers, there are numerous non-coding job opportunities. Today I want to focus on the growing demand for technical writers.

I’ve been running technical writing workshops for Google for over a year, and here are a few concepts you need to know if you want to become a technical writer.

What is technical writing?

Technical writing involves preparing instruction manuals, how-to guides, journal articles, and other supporting documents. Technical writers communicate complex and technical information more easily. They prepare technical documentation and instruction manuals for both internal users and end-users.

Technical writers must take complex technical information and simplify it for their colleagues and consumers with nontechnical backgrounds.

Here are some technical writing concepts you need to know.

Brush up on the basic grammar rules. Make sure you know how to use the following correctly:

• Nouns

• Pronouns

• Adjectives

• Verbs

• Prepositions

• Conjunctions

• Transitions

People skim when they read. Good lists can transform technical chaos into something orderly. Technical readers generally love lists. Therefore, when writing, seek opportunities to convert prose into lists.

Words

When writing or editing, learn to recognize terms that might be unfamiliar to some or all of your target audience.

• Define new or unfamiliar terms

• Use terms consistently

• Use acronyms properly

• Recognize ambiguous pronouns, such as it, they this & that

Active voice

The vast majority of sentences in technical writing should be in active voice rather than passive.

Comedy writers seek the funniest results, horror writers strive for the scariest, and technical writers aim for the clearest. In technical writing, clarity takes precedence over all other rules.

• Choose strong verbs

• Reduce there is/there are

• Focus each sentence on a single idea

• Convert some long sentences to lists

• Eliminate or reduce extraneous words

• Reduce subordinate clauses

• Distinguish that from which

You should know who you are writing for. Good documentation = knowledge and skills your audience needs to do a task − your audience's current knowledge and skills.

In other words, make sure your document provides the information your audience needs that your audience doesn't already have

Technical writing is a very rewarding career. For an in-depth look at the fundamental skills and knowledge needed to become a technical writer, this workbook is now available. It contains 98 pages with over 60 exercises with answers.