You’ve written some ‘instructions’, or you need to do it, but you’re not sure how to deepen your knowledge about technical writing …

If you stick to the advice that follows, you will soon be able to proudly add ‘technical editor’ to your resume and also follow cheetahpapers.com to get more tips on technical writing. 

Steps

• Enroll in courses or an appropriate program at a local school. Many polytechnic schools, universities and community colleges offer courses as well as full-time or part-time programs on technical and commercial communication. Maybe you can find distance courses to ‘attend’. Some online courses may have a cost, while others may not.

• Note: the technical writers come from a wide range of academic backgrounds, ranging from the army to electrical engineering, and from Swedish literature to the theater. If you were trained in science or commerce, focus on your communication skills. If you were trained in arts, focus on your technical skills. Take courses, enroll in certified programs, or learn on your own through books.

• Get books on technical writing in bookstores or libraries. The more informed you are about the field of technical communication, the better technical editor you will be. These books will teach you about the style of technical writing, different types of technical writing, how to build and manage your career, and other useful things.

• Master the computer software and keep up to date Technical communication is a digital entity. You need to know intimately the communication and digital publishing programs, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PhotoShop, and Adobe RoboHelp; social networks such as LinkedIn, Yammer, Twitter, and WordPress; and tag languages   like HTML, XML, and CSS. Some specific industries may require knowledge of other tools such as DITA, Dreamweaver, Java, database languages, AutoCAD or others.

• Establish what kind of technical writing you want to deepen, and what is your audience. Ask yourself if you are going to write and edit for civil engineers, for mad scientists, for basement hackers, or for normal people. Do you develop online help, or component manuals, or corporate emails? The number of fields and types of communication covered by technical editors is unlimited.

• Practice what you have learned. Although most people do not forget to ‘write’, proper, some special types of writing require practice and the desire to improve. A sure way to approach it is to develop and maintain wikiHow articles.

• Edit the technical writing of other people. This will sharpen your view for details, in addition to exposing you the style and nuances of the many types of technical writing that exist, such as, for example, academic works in science, instruction sets, reports, catalogs, etc.

• Sign up for the local section of the Society for Technical Communication, or STC for its acronym in English. Partnering with STX will open doors for professional training, to enter writing skills, tutoring programs, volunteer opportunities, job offers, network communication with other technical writers, and a multitude of career-related benefits. It also allows employers to see that you take professional writing seriously.

• Familiarize yourself with your dictionary, with your thesaurus, and with all the technical literature you find. A solid technical writing needs to be precise with words, with language and with information. It’s that simple

• Use the conjugation of the present tense, and keep the sentences simple. These two rules are imperative to achieve as clear and accessible information as possible. Keep in mind that your audience can cover a wide range of reading comprehension levels. Also, if you write for an international audience, try to avoid idioms that cannot be easily translated into other languages   or cultures.

• Keep a record in a notebook of your writing mistakes and the advice you learn. trial and error is one of the best ways to learn. Do not be afraid to make mistakes and receive criticism; You will improve with time and practice.

• Develop knowledge about reading and commerce in a second language. This is important if you are going to work in an international or multilingual context. It will open doors for you and break down barriers between you and your client / employer, and allow you to review the quality of the translated technical documents (localized) as well as potentially translate the technical documentation yourself. Consider the languages   with the greatest technical, scientific or academic output, such as German, Spanish, French, Russian, or even Japanese.

Tips

• Technical communication is constantly evolving. Never let your knowledge stagnate. If you discover that your interest decreases, try to change the focus. Instead of writing, try editing or researching.

• Technical writing is also known as ‘technical communication’, a broader term that can cover related fields such as scientific writing, medical writing, technical editing, technical translation, content strategy, etc. Technical editors can also refer to technical communicators.

• Technical communication usually overlaps with commercial communication and advertising writing, depending on the field for which you write. What distinguishes you is that you write to inform, either through a user manual, an online help or a corporate email.

If you work in the field of computing and software, be sure to prioritize the understanding of the system development life cycle.