Technical Writing has been the talk of the town lately. Technical Writers are in high demand, and you can make a lot of money if you have good writing skills.
The employment of technical writers is projected to grow 12 percent from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations.
About 5,500 openings for technical writers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.
I have been into Technical Writing for three months; I have written five published articles and earned more than $1,000.
So you might be having these questions:
- What is Technical Writing?
- Why is Technical Writing in demand?
- Do you need to be a developer to become a Technical Writer?
- Which resources can I use to get started?
- How much can you get paid as a Technical Writer?
In this article, I will be answering all these questions. So make sure you stick around till the end to not miss out on anything.
What is Technical Writing?
Technical Writing is the process of preparing instruction manuals, how-to guides, tutorials, and other supporting documents to communicate complex and technical information in an easy-to-understand manner.
There are three types of Technical Writing:
- End-user documentation
- Traditional Technical Writing
- Technical Marketing
1. End-user documentation
End-user documentation provides instructions for the end-user of a given product or software.
Ex: A setup and installation guide.
2. Traditional Technical Writing
Traditional technical is writing articles specifically for professional audiences.
Ex: An analysis of a legal case for other lawyers.
3. Technical Marketing
Technical Marketing is writing marketing materials for a product or software.
Ex: An informative article that shows businesses how using a particular software can help them save time and money.
Why is Technical Writing in demand?
Technical Writing falls in the category of content marketing. Content marketing involves creating and sharing online material such as blogs that do not directly promote a brand but are intended to bring interest in its products and services.
According to a study, 85% of consumers conduct online research before buying something online.
Tech companies and startups know this statistic. For that reason, they are hiring Technical Writers to create technical content for their blogs.
This content aims to help a consumer solve a particular problem.
Let us say you go to your browser and search how to solve a particular problem. Google will show you all the articles that are related to your search.
These articles will be from blogs that have anticipated your problem and written how to solve the problem.
If the company or the person who has written the article has a product or software that can solve your problem, they will suggest it. And that is how you may buy their product or do business with them.
Do you need to be a developer?
You don’t need to be a developer to be a Technical Writer. For example, you can be a designer writing how to design or how to use software to design.
It would be best to find something you are passionate about in Tech and start writing about it.
How to get started
If you want to get into Technical Writing, check out this article that guides you on how to get started from scratch.
Also, check out this article that has a step-by-step guide on how to write a good Technical Article.
Which resources can I use to get started?
I would recommend three resources if you want to get into Technical Writing.
- Google Technical Writing Course
- Everybody Writes by Ann Handley
- Content Rules by Ann Handley
How much can you get paid as a Technical Writer?
As a Technical Writer, you can choose to freelance or get a full-time Technical Writing job.
As a Freelancer, you can be earning $100 to $600+ per article. However, if you choose to go for a full-time job, you can be making $2,000 to $5,000 per month.
Conclusion
As long as technology exists, Technical Writers will always be in demand. That guarantees you job security as a Technical Writer.
Top comments (16)
How to find get content that is unique to you but others have written so much about that topic already. How to get your own content while avoiding plagiarism
technical writing is really hard
How long have you been into Technical Writing?
Very insightful and helpful. Thank you.
Interesting stuff. Thanks Bonnie
Thanks bro
May you please give shed more light on that...
What do you mean by technical writer ? If Im' wrinting blogs about rxjs and angular it can be considered as a technical writing ?
And which platforms your recommend ?
May you please give shed more light on that...
A question around the technical writer.
What is best, update an existing article with new information or create a new article/blog with the new information?
If it's an article that has a lot of people coming back to it, then it's best to update it.
This is really insightful. Thanks.