With the rising demand for technology in the everyday world, a boost in need of technical writers has been seen. Every industry requires a technical writer, either to explain its products to its end-user/customer or to tell in detail how to use a newly-installed software to its employees.

An 8 percent rise in the technical writing job is expected in upcoming years. So, if you are thinking of making a career change, then it’s time to know how to become a technical writer. Let’s start rolling in this career.

What Does a Technical Writer Do?

A technical writer explains the technical aspects of a subject matter through this writing. His job is to describe the given topic in detail while highlighting all the required information in an easy-to-understand manner.

The role of a technical writer is to create documentation, manuals, reports, or specifications for products and services. He covers every single technical matter related to a topic. 

For example, if new software is developed and a company is selling it, then a manual explaining software is created by a technical writer. In this manual, a step-by-step guide is available on how to use this software. Customers will be able to use that software by following that guide. Even when there is a video explaining every step, a technical writer is going to compose that video script.

Here are some common sorts of documents that a technical writer has to handle from time to time.

• Reports
• Manuals
• Emails
• User Guides
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Technical proposals
• Product Specifications : Know how to write product technical specs
• Technical specification Databases
• Professional or Employee Guides

How Much Does a Technical Writer Make?

Before I move any further, I would like to share the details about the salary of a technical writer. On the median level, a technical writer can earn $50000. This amount could be more when you are associated with industry and have hand-on experience. A freelancer can make more or less of that amount, depending on the work he handles.

What Qualifications are Required to Become a Technical Writer?

As far education of technical writers is concerned, then a person can begin after getting a graduate degree in business communication and journalism. In case you have another sort of degree, then you can enroll yourself in technical writing courses to get some know-how of this field.

Experience: A degree is not enough to get a technical writing job. You must have experience in creating technical documents, manuals, and guides. How to get that experience? Pretty simple, you should start with an internship. Another method is to apply for an entry-level job and gain experience in technical writing on this job.

What Skills are Required for a Technical Writing Job?

Skills matter a lot in the writing field. If you are a good writer, then you can be a technical writer, or you can be an academic writer. Here are seven different types of writing jobs you need to explore first.

A technical writer must have the following skills:

Technical Writing Skills - This kind of writing is different from other styles of writing as most of the time; a writer has to explain and provide information about the technical aspects. So, attention to detail and a better understanding of the subject matter helps a writer do better.

Writing everything in a clear and concise manner is another vital aspect of this field. A guide of a complex process must easy-to-understand. Making complicated information simple is the main task here.

Communication Skills - To become a successful technical writer, you need to communicate well with your readers. Know your customers like what they are doing, what they want to read, what problems they can face while using a product, etc. You need to put yourself in their shoes so that you can write a guide that helps them solve an issue or use a product effortlessly. 

Technical Skills- If you are working in a programming industry and you have to create a user-manual for programming languages, such as PHP, JAVA, HTML, C++, etc. then you must have some technical knowledge and skills. 

Every industry is different before you start creating any guide; you must have some experience related to that industry. Besides, you must be a person who doesn’t mind going deep into the technical aspects. And you are the one who always keeps an eye on technological advancements and latest tech trends.

Freelance Vs. In-House Job Opportunity

The best thing about a technical writing career is that you can work from home. If you have knowledge, experience, and skills, then you can earn handsomely not only from an inhouse-job but also from a remote one.

Are you looking for the best technical writing jobs? Here are Some Remote Job Sites you must tap on.

A freelancer works typically on a project basis. For example, a client wants you to write manuals and specifications of its products. Once you are done writing, your project is over, and you can move on to next. 

On the other hand, an in-house job is generally in the technical and medical field where new products and services are introduced over time. Your job is to handle every sort of technical writing from writing a manual to sending technical reports to higher management. 

Final Words

From getting a degree to shaping some skills and gaining some experience, it is how you can become a technical writer. Later, you can join a company or start bidding on online technical writing projects. This career is lucrative and challenging at the same time. Yes, stress is involved in this field as you have to do multiple editing based on the client’s requirements and have to meet some tight deadlines.

You can check some Least-Stressful Jobs if you don’t like to work under Radar.