How To Get Into Technical Writing

If you don’t know, I quit the School of Engineering and joined Tech as a Web Developer. I tried to start a Tech Company, but things didn’t work out as I wanted. I tried to build websites for people using my coding skills, but things weren’t working out as I wanted.

I decided to create a personal brand and build an audience on Twitter. I joined Tech Twitter Community, and that’s when I started to connect with other people in Tech. Since I had started to create content on Twitter, my account had started to grow.

I had wanted to blog as a developer, and that’s is when I decided to learn how to write. I wrote my story on how I quit the School of Engineering and got into Tech.

As I continued to create valuable content on Twitter and grow my Twitter account, I got a DM from a guy called Everett. He told me that he liked my content on Twitter and then asked me if I would be interested in writing for the Arctype blog.

I hadn’t written any Technical Articles, which was an excellent opportunity to get started with. I wrote my first article, and I was paid $300. That was the first money I had made online.

Technical Writing has completely changed my life. It has given me something I have always wanted, Freedom.

Time Freedom
Location Freedom
Financial Freedom

In this article, I want to show you how you can get into technical writing and start making money online. Maybe Technical Writing can change your life too. Who knows.

What is technical writing?

Technical writing is writing articles that are supposed to inform, instruct, or direct a specific audience on doing something involving Technology.

It involves working on projects and writing the process.

To become a technical writer, you can follow the process below.

Learn How To Code

Learning how to code is very simple. You need to follow the road map below

Choose an Operating System. Your operating system can be Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Choose a Text Editor that you will be using to write code. The most popular is VsCode.
Learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript

There are a lot of things to know when learning how to code. The road map above will help you get started on the right foot.

After learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript, start building projects.

Learn how to write

Learning how to write is not complicated as most people think. To write a good piece, you need to know how to:

Put words together to create a clear sentence.
Put sentences together to create a straightforward paragraph.
Put paragraphs together to create a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

The best place to get started learning how to write is by going through this Google Technical Writing Course.

The course will teach you how to:

Write clear sentences.
Write a paragraph.
Use grammar properly.
And more

Start writing

You see the projects you built after learning how to code; now use the writing skills you have learned to write how you built the projects.

Maybe the project you built is a simple portfolio website. Write about the process you followed to build that portfolio website.

Then post your article on free blogging platforms for developers such as:

Dev To
Hash node
Medium
Hackernoon
DZone

Publishing your articles on these blogging platforms will help you build a portfolio. Having a portfolio is very important because when a client or a recruiter wants to hire you, they want to see your previous work.

Make sure you write two to three articles to have a strong portfolio.

Create Content on Twitter

Now that you know how to code, write, and have written some articles, start creating valuable content on Twitter.

Creating content on Twitter will help you to:

Build an audience.
Create a personal brand.
Make meaningful connections.

Creating a personal brand on Twitter will bring you opportunities you never knew existed. Creating content on Twitter helped me to land my first Technical Writing gig.

Getting Technical Writing jobs

If you are not lucky to get Technical Writing gigs without applying, you can find platforms that pay Technical Writers to write for them.

I created a list of platforms paying Technical Writers between $200 to $600. You can find that list on my pinned tweet. Go through the list and see which platforms are interested in what you write about.

Use the articles that you have published on blogging platforms as your portfolio. This is why it is very important to start writing after you have learned how to write.