Online Technical Writing
Technical writing is about writing manuals, web pages, lab reports, newsletters and many other kinds of professional and technical documents for engineering and IT firms. A technical writer’s task is to take information relating to a complicated technical subject and re-present that information in a way that anyone can understand. The key aspect of technical writing is “user friendliness” – he needs to be constantly asking himself: “what does my reader know, what do they need to know, and in what order do they need to know it?” It is a very specialized and structured way of writing with a specific intended outcome.
The job outlook for technical writers is rosy with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimating that there will be a 20% growth in the number of positions available for technical writers in the period between 2006 and 2016. The rapid growth and change in the electronics and other high-tech industries has resulted in a greater need for people to write users’ guides and instruction manuals. But the demand is not limited to high-tech: Developments in the legal and scientific fields has created the need for people to be able to interpret technical information for a more general audience. The work requires people who are not only skilled as writers, but who are also familiar with the subject area. Annual salaries for technical writers range from $35,000 at the low end to more than $90,000 for the more experienced writers. The median annual salary for technical writers in 2006 was $58,050.
Writing (of any nature) is a solitary process and for that reason the work can be done online. Technical writing is no different in this respect and an increasing number of employers are now allowing their technical writers to work from home in a virtual office environment – a computer and an Internet connection being the sole technological requirements for the job. Similarly the process of learning how to do technical writing can be done equally effectively online. There are a number of institutions that have really caught the wave here and set themselves up as online learning schools. The benefits of online learning (as opposed to physically attending a campus) apply both ways – i.e. to the student and the teaching institution. For the student, they are able to conduct their studies at a time which suits them and there is no need to waste precious hours getting to and from a college; and for the teaching institution, teaching online reduces the need for physical overhead in the shape of a classroom. Online technical writing courses will teach you how to write and revise technical reports and manuals. The courses are practical in nature and will include a number of written assignments (starting from the basic and working through to the more complex) which be similar to the sort of work that you would undertake in a typical development environment. The cost of such courses will vary from institution to institution but you can expect the course fees to be in the $500 - $1000 region.
| 