PREAMBLE
Anyone can take this tutorial. This tutorial covers every aspect of technical writing you need to know. If you're looking to get started in technical writing, this tutorial is for you.
INTRODUCTION
At the end of this chapter you'll be able to answer the following:
• what is technical writing
• why is technical writing important
• who is a technical writer
Technical writing is educative writing. Technical writing is for educating readers about the following:
• a piece of technology
• concepts unknown to them
• how to perform specific technical tasks
Technical writing is an excellent skill to have as a student, a junior engineer, or anyone just starting a technical role.
Technical writing is regular English writing. If you have basic English writing skills, you can become a good technical writer. It only took me one tutorial to get started on my technical writing journey.
Who are your readers? Your readers will mostly consist of the following:
• engineers
• computer science students
• developers
Technical writing focuses solely on educating readers rather than publicizing or selling readers a product.
Technical writing is just as important to you as it is to technological companies. Freelance technical writing is a lucrative source of income. Technological companies need technical writing as a part of their product lifecycle. As technology continues to grow daily, technical writing plays a very important role in educating the technical populace on existing tech products, concepts and solutions.
Technical writing is a rewarding and fulfilling career path. With technical writing, you get paid to learn. You also get to discover amazing new technology way before others find them. If you're tech-savvy and you like writing, technical writing is for you.
If you've made it this far, I'm sure you can answer the third question, who is a technical writer. You'll be right, a technical writer is an individual who writes articles or documentation about technology. As a technical writer, you can work freelance or under a company. Entry-level technical writers can earn as high as $4k monthly.
Congratulations, you've made it to the end of this chapter. By now you should be able to identify what technical writing is, the importance of technical writing, and who a technical writer is. In the next chapter, you'll learn how to get started as a technical writer and in subsequent chapters, you'll learn how to go about writing various types of technical documents.