Every complex product needs to be explained to its users, and technical writers, also known as technical communicators, are the ones who do that job. A growing field, technical writing requires multiple skills, including an understanding of technology, writing ability, and great people skills. Whether you're thinking of becoming a technical writer, just starting out, or you've been working for a while and feel the need to take your skills to the next level, The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing can help you be a successful technical writer and build a satisfying career. Inside the Book Is This Job for Me? What does it take to be a technical writer? Building the Foundation: What skills and tools do you need to get started? The Best Laid Plans: How do you create a schedule that won’t make you go crazy? How do you manage different development processes, including Agile methodologies? On the Job: What does it take to walk into a job and be productive right away? The Tech Writer Toolkit: How do you create style guides, indexes, templates and layouts? How do you manage localization and translation and all the other non-writing parts of the job? I Love My Job: How do you handle the ups and downs of being a technical writer? Appendixes: References to websites, books, and other resources to keep you learning. Index

For courses in Technical Writing. This concise and cumulative guide shows students the art of technical writing for a variety of contexts and institutions. Using examples from the business and non-corporate world, the book emphasizes transactional writing through practical explanations, real-world examples, and a variety of role-playing exercises. Each section builds on the next as readers learn a variety of models of style and format. This edition features a stronger emphasis on electronic communication, integrated coverage of ethics, and more explanation of how to create technical documents that produce concrete results.

For one-semester freshman/sophomore-level courses in Technical Writing; and an excellent reference for any course that requires technical writing. Using a reader-friendly approach that is incremental and cumulative, this short, uncluttered guide to technical writing shows students how to take the structures, patterns, and strategies of writing learned in a Basic Composition course (summary, process, analysis, and persuasion) and apply them in different kinds of technical documents. Direct practical explanations, copious real-world examples, and a variety of "role-playing" exercises lead students through the process of document production and assessment or what the author calls "transactional" writing: getting another person to read one's material, presenting such material clearly and accurately, and adhering to standards of format acceptable in the field. Unlike most other texts (which focus on the writing needs in the executive domain of the major corporation only), this guide covers a variety of non-corporate working environments that also require skill in technical communications (e.g., social service agencies, institutions, and small businesses).

If you can write clear, concise instructions, then you can be a technical writer. Learn, step-by-step, how to turn your creative writing talent into a highly lucrative career, where you get paid big money consistently to use your writing skills.

"Plan, structure, write, review, publish"--Cover.