Certifications and Training for Technical Writers

Tech Writers are skilled communicators who transform complex information into simple, easily understandable documentation. While some of us have received professional training and are certified, many writers break into the industry on the strength of their writing skills and ability to grasp information quickly.

In today’s fast-paced world, where technology is advancing exponentially, tech writers should continuously upgrade their skill arsenal to stay relevant. While nothing beats good old on-the-job training, there are a number of courses for writers to consider to level up.

General Writing

Fresh off the college bus? If you have an Engineering, Journalism or English Literature background, you have an edge over other candidates since you fulfil at least one of these two requirements: tech proficiency and writing skills. However, tech writers are needed across domains – Finance, Healthcare, Energy, Aviation and many more.

Even if you do not have an English/Journalism/Engineering degree, you can still pursue tech writing as a career – if you have domain knowledge/experience and good writing acumen.

For example, after I completed B Com, I became a Tech Writer for an accounting software company after interviews and written assessments. Another writer I know has completed a bachelor’s in Aviation Engineering and worked for an aviation company as a documentation specialist.

Also, there have been cases where seasoned professionals from other functional areas want to enter tech writing – for example, developers, subject matter experts, and customer support executives.

For such folks, the following courses would help build foundational knowledge on technical writing and developing writing skills. You can pursue these courses and create writing samples to share with recruiters.

Society for Technical Communication offers a Certificate in Professional Technical Communication. This certificate program covers essential skills for technical communicators. It includes courses on writing, editing, content strategy, and tools commonly used in the field. There are three levels: Foundational, Practitioner and Expert.
Writing With Flair: How To Become An Exceptional Writer
Introduction to Technical Writing

You can also showcase your linguistic ability by taking up certifications just for that. Thousands of prominent higher education institutions, employers, and governments worldwide place their trust in and recognise the validity of these language assessment tests. They unlock doors to compelling opportunities in higher education and employment.

API Documentation

API Documentation is one of the most sought-after skills in tech writing today, as many companies have become API-first. Understanding API design and documenting it well is a good-to-have skill for writers looking to enter the IT industry. There are a lot of training resources and courses available online for you to build foundational information about APIs and how to document them in a developer-friendly manner.

While the above courses come with a certificate and an associated cost, here are some free resources that you can refer to to kickstart your API documentation journey.

SEO

Over the past decade, online help files have become quite popular with users. Who does not want just to go online and find answers to their burning questions? However, it is not enough just to publish content online; it is equally essential for people to be able to find it. If content is optimised well enough for search engines, that’s half the battle won! And that is where stats like keywords, visitors, and pageviews come in. These are all vital statistics that documentation managers must measure periodically.

Here are some courses and resources that you can check out to learn more about SEO and the various tactics you can implement to grow your user base.

Video Creation

Apart from the how-to guides and user manuals, Technical Writers work on content such as how-to videos and tutorial videos. Videos help users quickly understand products and processes associated with the products and are often preferred by users compared to traditional text-based guides.

In fact, as per a Techsmith study, 83% of respondents preferred to watch videos over reading instruction manuals!

Many tools are available to create such videos, such as the industry favourites Adobe Captivate and TechSmith Camtasia. Multiple other online video creation tools are available, including some AI-powered ones such as Invideo, Visla, and Synthesia. However, even before you study a tool, it is better to understand the end-to-end process of video creation – script writing, audio recording, video recording and finally, audio-video integration. These courses and resources will help you get started.

Project Management

Your writing skills are already polished if you are at a mid-level in the technical writing career ladder. Perhaps what you can focus on to grow further in your career are project management skills. Project Management courses demonstrate your ability to lead projects across industries successfully. Scrum is a popular framework for managing complex projects. Learning this process can help tech writers align with agile practices, ensuring efficient and effective content development in dynamic tech environments.

Soft Skills

You must know that Tech Writing is not just about writing. It is a job that involves communicating with a bunch of people across the organisation, sometimes across geographies. So, what soft skills should a writer possess? Communication skills, time management, empathy and collaboration. Tech Writers need to constantly interact and collaborate with multiple stakeholders – to collect information, seek feedback, provide updates, and a hundred other things. In many organisations, writers work on multiple projects simultaneously, which makes time management a critical skill. And, of course, tech writers need to be empathetic. How else would we document products/services from a user perspective?

Here are some courses to further refine your soft skills:

Programming

Knowing programming helps Tech Writers understand technical concepts deeply, communicate effectively with developers, and accurately document software functionalities. It enables you to create clear and precise documentation, troubleshoot issues more efficiently, and tailor content to various audiences with different levels of technical expertise.

Learning to program can be daunting, but with these courses and resources, you can step into the world of coding more confidently.

UX Writing

Does a Technical Writer need to learn UX writing? Technical writing involves creating text-heavy documentation such as online help files, user guides, and instruction manuals rather than focusing on user journeys within digital interfaces. Conversely, UX writing focuses on crafting error messages, copy for form fields, and instructions found on websites or applications. That said, understanding UX principles helps tech writers craft intuitive, engaging content that aligns with user needs. In fact, I have personally seen some tech writers switch careers and get full-time into UX Writing! Here are some courses that will help you delve deeper into UX writing:

You can enrol in this 14-day UX Writing challenge, where you will get daily prompts via email. This is an easy way to build a portfolio and show off your newly acquired UX Writing skills!

Blog Writing

Tech Writing is informative and instructive. It does not give much scope to explore our writing talents. But you can bridge this gap and pursue your artistic dreams by giving blog writing a shot! Now, you might say that in the times of ChatGPT and other AI tools, does having blog writing as a skill really matter? The fact is, it does! By infusing your personal writing style, you can make your blog post stand out from the crowd of AI-generated, generic content.

As a Tech Writer, you could write corporate blogs for your employer or create a personal blog to record your thoughts. In any case, you should consider learning a few blogging tips and tricks.

Data Analysis

Tech Writing begins with research and analysis and ends with… research and analysis. While tech writers need to develop and deliver documentation, they also need to analyse the feedback and other metrics to improve further. For example, you might have created an FAQ/troubleshooting document for a product. You then have the opportunity to check on the following:

Number of support tickets reduced
Number of page visits
The scroll depth of the page
Number of positive, negative and overall ratings

You can check on these metrics month-on-month and derive insights regarding the documentation accuracy, usability and improvement areas. Doing all this data crunching requires some level of spreadsheet skills. And this is where taking up courses in MS Excel and Google Sheets comes in handy.

Conclusion

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” – Brian Herbert

To stay relevant and match the speed of technological advancements, tech writers must evaluate their existing skill sets, identify growth areas and cultivate a habit of continuous learning – be it through improving writing skills, specialised certifications, refining multimedia aptitude, or mastering project management methodologies. With the increasing need for clear, concise, and user-focused documentation, technical writers can stay at the forefront of their field by investing in certifications and training.