Lesson 2: What a Technical Writer Does
Technical writing covers a lot of territory, ranging from a quick-start card for a new software application to a manual for a new semi-conductor process hundreds of pages in length to a help file for an accounting program.
In this section we shall look at some of the tasks that technical writers must accomplish, how the writer fits into a company, how the writer gets ideas across, and take a look at a typical day in a technical writer's life.
Typical Job Duties and Skills
As a tech writer you are usually part of a product development team and must work not only with the engineers and/or programmers designing and implementing the new software application or other new technology, but often must also deal with an assortment of quality assurance (QA), marketing, safety and executive personnel. By far, writing and maintaining documentation constitute the majority of what most technical communicators do. The launching of new products certainly requires much time and effort and is often quite exciting. You are busy "ramping up" (learning) on the new product in preparation to starting outlining and writing the manual, help file, or other documentation. Think just when you have finished the docs and think you are through with the project for a while, you find--sometimes to your horror--that a new release of the software or new features are being added to a product, and you must rewrite parts of the documentation in order to maintain the documentation adequately. While jobs in the field vary widely, the following list describes some of the basic job duties and skill that employers expect of technical communicators:
- Mastery of a major word processor (usually Microsoft Word) and other software software associated with publishing, such as FrameMaker or Adobe Publisher.
- In some cases the writer is expected to test the software or other product for usability, that is to make sure that the controls and interface are easy to use and master.
- Develop and write online help and online documentation using a software application, such as RoboHelp.
- Have some understanding of graphics, including the ability to work with pictures (resizing, changing color balance, etc.) and other design elements.
- Work onsite or with external printing houses to handle document production, CD duplication, packaging, etc.
- It must be what the user wants to know--usually no more or less.
- The reader can easily (or with a modest amount of searching) find the information when it is needed.
- It fits in with other information that the reader already knows or it is presented with other information that helps each piece make sense and be useful.
