What are the skills of a technical writer?

The skills of a technical writer include hard and soft skills related to their writing ability, industry expertise, industry experience, technical expertise, ability to write clearly, to graphically represent information, to problem solve, and interview subject matter experts.

• Good writing abilities: Clear instruction is vital, especially when it comes to the complex and confusing subject matter.

  Technical writers are skilled wordsmiths that typically develop product manuals, how-to guides, website help sections, journal articles, and other content that distills technical information with ease and clarity. Consider earning a certification through the Society for Technical Communicators.

• Industry experience: Whether gained academically or on the job, these writers often have a foundation in their subject matter, be it in science, medicine, engineering, software, manufacturing, or some other technical area.

  They build upon this foundation to break down complexities and get their readers -- developers, project workgroups, engineers, and consumers on the same page.

• Technical expertise: Firm understanding of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) and previous software development experience. Experience using XML tools to create documentation.

• Ability to write clearly: An essential skill of any technical communicator is to disambiguate. You must be able to take something complex and break it up into bite-size digestible pieces. Writing about something, as opposed to talking about it, requires you to understand it thoroughly.

• Ability to represent things visually: Show ideas graphically as much as possible. People understand better when you can communicate visually. Images help make your writing clear.

• Problem-solving and troubleshooting: Unless you have patience, you'll never make it. Much of IT work consists of problem-solving. It's amazing how a seemingly impossible problem can be solved with a little patience and persistence.

• Ability to interview SMEs (Subject Matter Experts): Finding answers from SMEs is one of the most overlooked skills in technical writing. You must be able to identify and interview people who possess knowledge important to your document.

  You can't be shy about going after certain people to extract information -- and you can't be too proud to ask "dumb technical questions." Much of this interaction can come about if you're lucky enough to simply sit near SMEs