The Technical Writer - More Than a Job Description

There may be no one specific job description for Technical Writer, but then that's fairly common with many careers these days. If you find yourself designing, creating, and developing information tutorials for end users, service personnel, marketing representatives, or product installers, you can easily add "Technical Writer" to your personal qualifications. There are endless writing opportunities that can be considered technical writing, and these types of writing jobs can become well paid writing opportunities for you.
How to guides, reference manuals, and technical pamphlets may be more commonly associated with technical writing, but when we look at the core of what technical writing is, recipes, and instructions for craft projects seem to fall in to the same category. So whether you have been contracted by a manufacturer to write a 30 page manual for installing a solar energy product, or you have been sharing your fast and easy kitchen recipes with your blog following, you are writing like a "Technical Writer".
5 Traits That May Make You an Ideal Technical Writer Candidate
These are traits that many Technical Writers have in common:
  • You have a particular expertise, or specialized knowledge, that could be valuable to others.
  • You have a knack for teaching.
  • You can easily envision processes and procedures.
  • You pay attention to detail and have project management skills.
  • You have a basic understanding of how to write well.
Have you worked in an industry where you learned specialized skills or knowledge that could prove valuable to others? If so, you may find that this industry can provide a niche opportunity for you to market your writing skills to.
Are you the one who always seems to stay back and explain how things work to those that may not have gotten the whole picture? If so, you may find that technical writing suits you.
Do you envision flow charts, Venn diagrams, hierarchies, or bullet points when thinking about processes or procedures? Do you picture them in a linear progression?"Technical Communicator" could be your calling.
Are you a stickler for details? Is it hard for you to step away from, or call a project completed when you feel as if the points being communicated are not absolutely clear?Good "Technical Writers", will often have difficulty ignoring incorrect information.
Do you know how to write a complete sentence, using proper grammar, and spelling?Technical writers, need to know how to put together a thought in written form, but are less likely to be judged for their prose than their ability to share a process.
There's no saying which combination of traits you are going to need to succeed as a "Technical Writer" (success is somewhat subjective), but if you answered yes to most of the questions above, you have a high probability of easily filling the "Technical Writer Job Description".
"Staff Technical Writing Jobs" are becoming harder to come by as companies downsize, and outsource, however this in-house deficit means that "Freelance Technical Writing Jobs" are becoming more available. In fact the information explosion has created a greater need than ever for quality writers in all fields, including; "Technical Writers". If you are good at documenting processes and sharing ideas, so that others can easily follow along, you may find that hiring yourself out as technical writer can be an interesting and well paying career choice.
Bob Zau is a writer, blogger, and the co-founder of the blog http://www.Bzau.com - Where writers just like you share their stories of how they made money writing online. If you are already writing for pay, you may enjoy this other Bzau article www.bzau.com/how-to-start-working-and-earning-online-with-textmaster

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