TECHNICAL WRITING
Technical Writers are creative middlemen who understand the technical topic at one hand and the customer's mind at the other hand. He works to bridge the two using simplicity and creativity.
It takes a certain skill to make the highly technical, highly simple for the end user. It takes a mind that can grasp fundamentals and simplify them interestingly for the layperson. It takes a methodical mind that actually enjoys working on the painstakingly, fine details.
Acceptance of complex technologies by lay people is required for its success. Not-so-specialised professionals are, increasingly using what specialists handled a few years ago. Of course the technologies are being made simpler to handle. A Technical Writer is the one familiar with technology and has the writing ability to simplify technical jargon into a language understood by most.
But there is a learning curve involved, where a person needs to become familiar with a technical product, or new software, or an upgrade of existing software. This is where we need a person who understands the technology and also understands the best way of explaining it simply.
Big companies or small, all of them need to communicate with their consumers for the promotion of their products. Putting difficult technical ideas across in a form understood by a layperson needs special writing skills.
The Tech Writer structures the communication in a logical form. Putting them in the place of the user, and answering the questions that would run through the user's mind while learning how to use the product.
The ideal candidate is semi technical person and is comfortable with the use of language and is basically a creative minded. Writing, editing text provided by experts to a friendly form is the basic job requirement.
Being a science graduate is a good start, and if you have a 1-year diploma from a good computer institute, is an added advantage.
A background in creative writing helps to step into the arena. A postgraduate degree or training in English literature, language, journalism, science or IT can be of great help to an upcoming professional. Knowledge of DTP tools - like Page maker, development tools and web tools like HTML and XML coding is a definite advantage.
35% of India's Technical Writers come from a non-technical background. Two-thirds were engaged in some form of writing before switching to technical writing. While most of these technical writers were in journalism, a few others were involved in freelance writing, copywriting or research oriented writing.
Although there are no formal technical writing courses in India, and awareness of technical writing is low, it is interesting that for quite a number of Indian technical writers, technical writing was their first-ever job. Another interesting revelation from the survey is that some top Indian software companies recruit technical writers directly from the campus, mainly from Mass Communication and Communicative English courses.
Technical writing has been picking up in India in the past few years. About half of India's technical writers fall in the experience bracket of 2 to 4 years. There are also a few veterans in the field with over 8 years of experience extending even up to 12 years.
Technical Writers are needed in the areas of computers, software, manufacturing, medicine, etc.
Ravindra Nath Srivastava,
2/413, Vivek Khand, Gomtinagar,
Lucknow-226010,Uttar pradesh,India
[email protected] 