Technical Writing Skills Training
Technical writers need a variety of different skills, including excellent writing skills and, in some instances, oral communications skills because they must make oral presentations to stakeholders on projects or teach classes to other personnel in the company. Technical writers may obtain some of these skills through experience or on-the-job training, but most technical writing jobs require some post-secondary education.
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Needed Skills
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In addition to written and oral communication skills, technical writers may require audience evaluation skills they must write material suitable to different audiences. Technical writers also need technical expertise in the field or industry they write about such as computer hardware and software, pharmaceutical products or medical devices in the biotechnology industry, or aircraft technology for aeronautics writers.
Bachelor's Degree
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Generally, employers look for technical writing candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree, usually in English, communications or journalism as indicated at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website. In technical fields, employers may require that the technical writing candidate have a degree in a scientific field such as engineering or medicine. For example, companies may choose a registered nurse (RN) when they need technical documentation for review by the Food and Drug Administration. Such an RN may either show writing potential based on testing, have an additional bachelor’s in English or perhaps have an English minor with a bachelor’s in nursing.
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Master's Degree
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A few schools, such as Northeastern University in Massachusetts, offer a master’s degree in technical writing or technical communications. In a geographical area where an employer can tap graduates of such a program, some employers may prefer technical writing candidates who have completed a master’s level program in technical communication, business communication or business writing.
Certificate Programs
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Certificate programs fall somewhere between a bachelor’s level and a master’s level training curriculum for business and technical writers. Various academic institutions offer such certificate programs, including California State University East Bay, Montgomery College in Maryland, Bentley College in Massachusetts, and University of Massachusetts at Lowell in Massachusetts. Some employers find this middle ground curriculum a good match.
Specialized Disciplines
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Another training approach for technical writers combines a strong emphasis on approaching the documents from a user perspective with streamlining the writing process by a planning method that groups information into a limited number of types, modules, or "maps." Pioneered by the information mapping technology and followed by comparable approaches such as DocuTools and others, technical and business writers acquire skills in this discipline through training programs offered by commercial providers and sometimes through employer training programs.
Outlook and Earnings
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The technical writing profession has a good growth outlook, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which predicts and above average growth as compared with all professions of 18 percent in the interval between 2008 and 2018. The Bureau of Labor Statistics gave the median annual salary as of 2010 as $61,620 with the lowest paid annual earners garnering salaries of about $36,500 and the highest earners garnering about $97,460.
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References
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