PREAMBLE
Welcome to the second part of this tutorial on technical writing. If you're joining for the first time, you can find the first part here! In the previous chapter, you learned what technical writing is, its importance and who a technical writer is. In this chapter you get to learn the following:
prerequisites for becoming a technical writer
how to get started on your technical writing journey
tools needed for technical writing
Excited? Let's get into it.
CHAPTER TWO
Now you've gone through the first chapter and you're feeling pretty confident about your chances in the technical writing space. Great!
In this chapter, firstly you'll learn about three essential prerequisites, to be successful as a technical writer.
PREREQUISITE ONE: WRITING SKILLS
To be successful as a technical writer, you must possess at least above-average writing skills. Technical writing as the name implies is mostly writing. You don't need to be an expert writer to get started but you do need to possess basic writing skills. You must understand grammar, paragraphs, sentence structure, and the likes to get started as a technical writer. I've dedicated a chapter to this topic. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have the necessary writing skills to get started on your technical writing journey.
PREREQUISITE TWO: RESEARCH SKILLS
Technical writing is educative writing about technology. Technical writing is wide just as technology is wide. In your technical writing journey, you can encounter a situation where you're asked to write a thousand words about a topic you're just hearing of for the first time. Your research skills come in handy at this juncture.
What do I mean by research skills? By research skills, I'm referring to your ability to scour the internet for relevant information about your topic. To be a good researcher, you must be able to skim through lots of web pages to extract the value you need to present to your readers.
To be a good technical writer, you must be committed to a life of constant learning and writing. As a freelance technical writer, you can get contracts to write on topics along any spectrum of technology. The only way to survive as a technical writer is to hone your research skills to the maximum and be willing at all times to learn.
PREREQUISITE THREE: TECH-INCLINED (or TECHIE for short)
The third prerequisite goes without saying. To be a successful technical writer, you need to be a techie. The essential third skill you need to get started on your technical writing career is not so much of a skill but more of a lifestyle.
Your definition of techie could be different from mine. That's okay! Technical writers come in all shapes and breeds. As you start on your technical writing career, one essential skill that'll help you throughout your journey is your innate ability to be tech-inclined.
Now you know. You know what it takes to be successful as a technical writer, what do you do next?
In the second part of this chapter, you'll learn two actionable steps to kickstart your technical writing career, ready?
JOIN A PUBLISHING PLATFORM
As a technical writer, your work will always get published. The words you write, someone somewhere needs it. To get started as a professional technical writer, joining a publishing platform is an essential step. Of course, there are numerous publishing platforms and you can join anyone at your convenience and research. The following are some you can easily get started with:
They're all web-based platforms. It is good practice to join as many as you can.
TEACH AS YOU LEARN
You know pretty much all you need to know about being a technical writer. You have joined a publishing platform. What's next?
The essential next step to take, to kickstart your professional technical writing career is to simply publish some technical articles. Easier said than done, I know. You have two obstacles:
what to write
how to write it
These two obstacles will be tackled extensively in the following chapters so you'll always know what to write and how to write it. But before then I'll leave you with this; As a technical writer, especially one just starting, you can easily find topics to write about as long as you keep on learning. I call this teach as you learn.
After taking this tutorial, ensure you dive right into publishing articles. The knowledge you gain from this tutorial is enough for you to get started on a technical writing career path.
The first four, five or maybe more technical articles you write, you will most likely not be paid for writing them. That's okay! These articles will serve as your portfolio. An easy way to get topics to fill up your portfolio quickly and to stand out is to be a techie and tell the world about it. Teach as you learn. Teach as you build.
As far as tools go, to get started as a technical writer all you need is a computer and some internet connection. You can write articles on your publishing platform directly, or you can write articles in your favorite text editor first and then copy it unto your publishing platform.
Improve your writing skills, Hone your research skills, Be unapologetically a techie, Join a publishing platform, and Publish your articles to the world. Congratulations! You're now a technical writer. The world is yours.
In the next chapter, you'll learn about different types of technical articles and how to go about writing them.