Technical Writing as a Career – An Introduction
(An informative and introductory article written by two Indian technical writers…)
By Pradip Kumar Nath & Hemprabha Chauhan
Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing and is used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics and biotechnology. Technological Writers explain complex ideas to the technical and nontechnical audiences.
Technical Writers often write for readers who know less than they do about their subject, and they try to inform the readers about it rather than show how much they know.
In some organizations Technical Writers may be called Information Developers, Documentation Specialists, Documentation Engineers or Technical Content Developers.
Technical Writers are more successful when they try to impress their readers with how clearly and simply they can present information the readers need. A good Technical Writer needs strong language skills and must understand the highly evolved conventions of modern technical communications.
Quality of a good Technical Writer:
Good Technical Writers in high-tech firms ask two questions about their readers:
i. How much do they know about my subject?
ii. How interested will they be in reading what I have written?
Readers will know a little about the subject, a lot, or something in between. Readers may be uninterested, very interested or somewhere in between, but to keep the readers interest, the technical writer must feel the readers’ response ‘and control the tone and content of the subject.
