Technical Writer

To remain employable, and to continue to earn good money as a technical writer, you must keep up with technology, which changes oh-so-fast in this business.

Given that for many of us the new year is a time to make new resolutions, and often one of those resolutions is to get a new job, I thought I might predict where I think technical writing is heading this year and some areas where maybe the jobs will be better and more interesting. Here are my thoughts. We’ll see at the end of 2008 how accurate I was.

Content management systems are already here, and they’re here to stay

Repeatable, reusable content. You can’t beat it, and it makes your work so much faster and easier—once you know what you are doing. Unfortunately it’s takes effort to get used to and the learning curve can be quite steep, especially if you are teaching yourself. Stick with it. There aren’t a lot of people out there who do it well yet.

I see a time in the not so distant future where all data will be in databases, and we will pick information we need out of the database.

Larger enterprises will use more programs like SharePoint are being used.

XML has also arrived

XML is another thing that has been ‘coming’ for years, but when even Microsoft offers a ’save as xml’ option in their Office programs you know it has well and truly arrived.

Early adopters of XML spent a lot of time tinkering with the XML itself. I forsee that programs like StyleVision, and even future word processors, will hide it from us tech writers, so we won’t even realise it’s XML. Even so, you should at least know what XML is and what it looks like, and learn about schemas and transformations.

Know what DocBook and DITA are, even if you don’t know how to use them.

Media is in … sort of, and Flash rules the demos

A few years back everyone was touting online training as the way of the future. It seems to be swinging back the other way at present, with more instructor-led inside a company and e-learning for everything else. The online training has become very sophisticated—tutorials, simulations and animations. It is more media-oriented, with videos and voice overs.

Everything seems to be Flash or a combination of Flash/XML. Think some of the Mosaic Company’s animations and simulations or Microsoft’s Office training modules where you get to practise in the program.

It’s also all web-based. I haven’t seen training outside a browser in a long time.

Sometimes e-learning is like making mini-movies. In fact, I have seen a couple of advertisements lately for storyboarding e-learning modules.

Webinars

I see a lot of webinars too. Some—like Altova’s—provide instructor-led training, while others—e.g. some of the SharePoint webinars—are more to provide information.

Good writing is not the only skill you need

This is not new, but it’s worth repeating.

Being able to write well is important, but project management and people skills are equally as important. The ability to give the customer what they want, to work to deadlines, to manage your time and all those other project-related issues may make a big difference between you keeping your job or losing it to someone who can. There’s a downturn coming (or so most people expect), and this means lots of people will be after the same jobs. Good writing is only one of the skills you need to ensure you remain employed.

Last Modified : January 1st, 2008
Filed under : Tech Writer
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