Technical communication is presentation of technical information through writing, speech, or any other mediums for a particular audience. Technical writing is a subset of technical communication; it is a process of resolving complex subject matters into simple conceptual and procedural information for a specific audience. Technical writers prepare, format, style, and edit such documents. Technical writing is not always writing about technology but it has a wide scope, spread across various fields, from finance, marketing, science, engineering, medical to electronic products and much more. Technical writers can document anything from a software requirement specification, a brochure , a training manual to an end user manual about how to use a mobile phone; thus catering to technical and non-technical audiences.
A Technical writer has a degree in Technical writing. Many tech writers have a diverse educational background. Generally, to qualify for a technical writing degree or a certification program, a graduation in any field is preferred. A degree in English or Journalism is a common find among many writers. As technical writing has a vast scope in various domains, a graduate from any field can take it up as a career. A common attribute among all tech writers is strong language skills.
Technical writing as a profession is quite interesting, being a writer, one gets to explore new domains and concepts. The work provokes the writer’s thoughts. Audience analysis makes technical writing a challenging profession, as the objective of technical writing is simplifying complex information to the end user. The end user might be anybody from an aeronautical engineer, a financial analyst, a chef to a layman. Hence, it is very essential for the writer to have an end user perspective towards the product or the service which the writer is documenting for.
The career graph in technical writing starts from being a technical writer, senior technical writer, team/group leader, and a documentation manager. A tech writer can also be in any level of the hierarchy in the management, depending upon the writer’s experience and the company policies.
Technical writing is relatively new in India but it has immense growth as the demand for the profession is on the rise. There are roughly around 3000+ tech writers in India currently as compared to less than 500 in the year 1997 ( given figures are as per my research from a few tech writing forums; the exact number was not be found anywhere ) The awareness and growth of the profession has increased proportionately to the increase of IT firms and BPOs in India. There is a huge requirement across industries for Technical writers.
The compensation a technical writer receives varies from different locations, and companies. An average pay for a technical writer fresher in India might vary from Rs 12,000 to 20,000. The growth rate in the position and the hike mainly depends upon the individual’s performance and other factors in the firm working for.
