Top 10 Skills to Become a Good Technical Writer
                     TOP 10 SKILLS TO 
BECOME A GOOD 
TECHNICAL 
WRITER
1. Technical skills 
◦ To start with, technical skills act as a building block in the area of technical writing. 
Without this, you cannot accomplish your goal. 
◦ There’s a difference between acquiring a degree or diploma in any technical field and having 
a thorough knowledge of technical areas. The latter one is a must to work as a technical 
writer. 
◦ As a technical content writer, you would need to extensively read through several high level 
documentations. A specific skill set is required depending on your subject matter of interest. 
It can range from engineering to medicine or science. 
◦ In order to achieve effective technical writing skills in a particular sphere, you need to 
generate your niche and specialize in it. When writing on a niche topic, you end up 
developing a great understanding of it. This will help you to enhance your technical writing 
skills when working for any client or company. 
◦ Examples of technical skills: programming languages, coding, operating systems, data 
analysis, etc. 
2. Writing Skills 
◦ Every technical writer has to work out on writing a technical report , technical 
manuals, proposals, SOPs (standard operating procedures) and many more. 
◦ These all types of writing styles have to be well conveyed in layman language such 
that your readers do not struggle with the content. Technical content writers strive 
to make their piece in a very concise manner. 
◦ Only a well-crafted piece can be viewed as a work of a good technical writer. 
◦ Some common nuances of technical writing skills would include: 
◦ A. Always use active voice B. Use plain language C. Avoid jargons and overusing 
pronoun D. Well crafted sentence structure E. Attention to clear formatting 
◦
For better and advanced learning of effective technical writing skills, you can also 
enroll in some certified courses available on online digital platforms. 
3. Research Skills 
◦ When you are working as a technical writer under any client, you will be required 
to write about new products launched or data related to its features, which you 
would have never heard of before. 
◦ Developing good research skills can help in digging in several sites to get 
extensive information in order to formulate your content. Technical content 
writers often spend hours to complete their thorough research on any given topic. 
◦ At times, when you are working as a freelance, clients tend to provide 
specifications and data to write about in the content. However, if they do not, it is 
always better to have a hold on your research skills which can save up your time 
and help you produce your draft within time. 
◦ You need to practice aggressively to get a grip on effective technical writing 
whether you are looking for a full time or a part-time job. 
4. Editing Skills 
◦ Most technical writers usually are very well versed in the formatting tools and 
editing styles. Technical writing skills involve editing and proofreading your 
content. 
◦ When writing a technical report or manual, the use of diagrams and visuals comes 
in handy to users or readers. It makes the document more comprehensive. 
◦ Effective technical writing in general follows a single layout of style throughout 
the content. Sentences are direct and suitable choices of words are preferred over 
flowery sentences. 
◦ Better editing skills generally inculcates: 
◦ A. Command over English language, spelling and grammar B. Good use of visuals 
C. Copyediting D. Proofreading and reviewing 
5. Communication skills 
◦ A technical writer when assigned a new project, he/she needs to get more 
information regarding a product from various sources. 
◦ Here comes communicating with many subject matter experts (SMEs). 
Technical content writers work in full coordination with the SMEs to generate 
documents with accuracy. SMEs are the experts in the topic. As specialists they 
determine the purpose, guide the idea, and approve the final project. 
◦ Communication skills of the writer define his/her ability to listen attentively and 
record all the important notes necessary for the project. Also, you should know 
how to ask correct questions and learn from the answers. If you are unclear about 
anything, make sure to clarify it even if it seems unreasonable or dumb. 
◦ Any miscommunication may result in the delay of the final product. 
6. Audience Analysis 
◦ Analyzing your audience in technical writing is essential to your success. In order 
to understand how to present your text; you need to differentiate your readers 
whether they are highly technical or average or less technical. 
◦ Basically, if your audience knows very little about technical areas then your text 
needs to be least technical; more likely for a layman. 
◦ Technical writers revise their texts based on the reader’s knowledge. They intend 
to target their primary and secondary audience for the product effectively. 
◦ For this, you need to be sure of a few basic questions: 
◦ A. Who is your target audience 
◦ B. What they know about your technical field 
◦ C. What is their occupation 
◦ D. What are their interests and needs 
7. Understanding The User 
◦ There’s a very minute difference between the two and yet a very significant one. Audience analysis is done to 
target customers who would read your content. Understanding users is defined as to know who we are 
writing for, more specifically, who will use the content and not just read. 
◦ Reader’s goal is kept in mind while identifying users for your technical document. The entire writing process 
is determined following the reader’s needs and making sure to answer all their questions. 
◦ For technical writers it is important if their user holds any expertise in the topic or if it is completely new to 
them. 
◦ Example- If you are writing a technical report for c-suites or manager of the company, basic questions you 
would ask yourself could be: 
◦ A. What did they read? 
◦ B. When they will be reading? (If your text is related to something current or has already occurred before) 
◦ C. Why will they read? 
◦ Now, these are your executive-level audience. Here, you need to prepare the report relating to managers’ 
knowledge of the research area. You need to present the factors affecting their decision. The same document 
for end-users or customers would be completely different as it would include solutions to their problems. 
◦ The document report consists of the same technical information. But it has two different users and therefore, 
two very different documents have to be produced in order to make it useful for both. 
8. Mind Mapping and 
Planning 
◦ After audience analysis and understanding the user, the next step is to map your ideas and plan 
them in a flow. For this, you need to conceptualize the document. 
◦ Technical information is complex. Technical writers plan accordingly to break it down for the 
common person. A lot of factors are considered but not all are included in the final product. 
◦ There are several ways to process all the bulk information but mind mapping tools work the best 
in such cases. You can prepare this before you start writing.
◦ A mind map helps you to include a wide range of information and then highlight the key points 
or add additional details. It provides an overview of your entire project and makes the process of 
writing much easier. Mind mapping tools can save a lot of your time which is spent during the 
planning of the draft. 
◦ Some examples of mind mapping tools available for free are Coggle, Mind Meister, and Draw.io. 
◦ Also this skill can prove to be very useful when writing a technical report wherein you are 
working along with SMEs (subject matter experts). You can easily explain your ideas, add or 
delete inputs with more accuracy. 
9. Fluency with Digital Tools 
◦ Technical writing skills aren’t just about writing content for technical projects. 
◦ Tech writing is also about dealing with various digital tools. The tools could be for 
content writing like MS Word, Grammarly, Hemingway, Evernote, Freemind, Madclap, 
Robohelp. 
◦ Apart from writing tools, technical writers are often required to create visuals, 
graphics, and screenshots for the content. This step helps the readers to get an easy 
understanding of technical information. 
◦ Thus, basic knowledge about Adobe Photoshop, Framemaker, Microsoft Visio, Camtasia 
Studio, etc could be beneficial in developing effective technical writing. 
◦ Technical content writers, who are working for some time now, would know that clients 
mostly provide the digital tools for the required content. But, you need to be well 
versed with the use of those tools to create high-quality content, or else it might get 
rejected or delayed. 
10. Teamwork 
◦ You already know technical content writers need to go together with SMEs. Apart 
from this, they also need to communicate with other departments of designers, 
developers, editors, and so on. 
◦ Technical writing requires so many involvements with other spheres for various 
reasons. The process of document preparation works along with the entire team. 
Coordinated teamwork could be a great value for any team that desires to produce 
the best. 
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