"A technical writer is the bridge between the complex world of technology and the understanding of the end-user." - Unknown
When building a product or a service, there’s always a focus on the frontend developers, the backend developers, and the designers, but it takes a while for a technical writer to come to mind.
It can be said that a Technical writer is the foundation of any product. So it is really a wonder that they aren’t given the level of priority that they should be.
Who is a Technical Writer ?
A technical writer is someone that can break down complex technical concepts into easy-to-understand terms for the required audience.
There are numerous situations in the product development process in which technical writers are needed. Some of which include UX writing, User documentation, developer documentation, API documentation and article writing.
All of which aim to make the product more understandable and relatable to it’s users.
Challenges
Like any other fields there are hurdles you have to overcome in your journey to being a great technical writer. Here are a couple of the challenges technical writers face, and how to overcome them.
Feeling Underrated
One of the biggest challenges technical writers face is being underrated and overlooked. Most people don’t take technical writing seriously and assume automatically that it is easy and undemanding, that all writers do is type a few words and somehow expect to get paid for it.
They don’t see the effort put into breaking down concepts to different audiences, the hours spent on research to ensure our information is accurate, and the endless amount of proofreading and editing it takes to optimise content for user’s needs and to make them as insightful and direct as possible.
As a Technical writer you should understand that you might face these biases and accept that it is up to you to prove your worth and show the importance of your role to your client. You should also not allow these talks to get into your head and make you underrate yourself and your own work.
You role is essential and important, and it makes a huge difference. Remember that.
Knowing your Worth
Due to this lack of acknowledgement of a technical writer’s importance and sometimes the sheer disregard for their work, it can feel uncomfortable and demanding to request adequate payment for the services provided.
Remember that your work has an impact, that a product is nothing if it can’t be used and therefore you should not feel bad about being acknowledged for the great work you’ve done and the value you’ve provided.
Community and Resources
Technical Writing is not as widespread a field as web development, design, or even data analytics, so it can sometimes prove hard to find people in your field, courses and resources to help you up-skill, or even getting a job.
A good way to overcome this challenge is connecting with other technical writers. You can do this on social media platforms like Twitter, Linkedin, or Discord, and you can also try to network at conferences an other social gatherings.
This way, you’re bound to find a group of like minded people to support and collaborate with to aid your growth.
Contributing to Projects (Open source)
When we think of opensource we think code. For a long time, I believed people who used Github and contributed to opensource were just developers and nobody else.
I eventually learned that opensource wasn’t just for developers or people who knew how to code. Technical writers, and possibly other non-coding techies could contribute too.
Helping to translate the documentation to another language, writing articles and user guides to better explain some of the product’s concepts, correcting typos in the documentation and even restructuring documentations with poor structures if need be. All of these are ways technical writers can contribute to the success of an opensource project and make a huge impact on the project.
Here’s an article to help you learn more about how a technical writer can contribute to open source.
Being Invalid
Another notable issue is that most people do not see technical writing as a valid career path, even those who are already making money from technical writing. They believe its just a way to make little pocket money on the side of their main role/jobs.
Although technical writing does make a great side hustle, you, as a technical writer do not have to restrain yourself to only writing articles or whitepapers and reports. There are roles in the industry for technical writers which are as highly paid as any other job out there.
Companies hire technical writers as full time employees to help with building and maintaining documentation, UX writing, and article writing.
You can search for ‘Technical writing roles’ on platforms like LinkedIn, and other job boards to find them.
Changing The World
Clear and concise technical documentation is the foundation of a positive user experience. - Unknown
As I’ve said at the very start of this article, technical writing is just as good a field as any other. If users do not understand a product they cannot use it, hence making the project useless without good technical writing.
There is a huge difference between a product that has a good technical writer and a product that doesn’t have one at all.
Technical writing can make or break a project’s success. So even if the product is a one-in-a-lifetime revolutionary invention, all the effort put into building the project and launching it all comes down to nothing if it can’t be used.
Conclusion
In this article you’ve learnt what it entails to be a technical writer, the role and importance of one, challenges that come with being a technical writer, and how to overcome them.
Next ?
Check out this repo for resources that can aid your technical writing journey, and don’t forget to follow and connect with other technical writers whenever you can.
Good luck !