Getting Started > Skills & Needs > Tech Writer Skills

Overview
A college degree in English, journalism, fine arts, or even technical communication does not a technical writer make. That may not seem to ring true, but spending any time at all out there in the field will quickly demonstrate the veracity of the statement. A degree is probably of greatest benefit in gaining access for an interview, and, later, in negotiating salary or bill rate although other factors will be operative in this area too. In my experience, it seems some of the truly talented technical writers I've encountered come from the engineering and marketing fields, and there have been a few "re-engineered" programmers that made the transition too. The key rests in an ability to explain technical material and processes in a concise, descriptive way, using non-technical language and eliminating the jargon. I think it's important to have a special interest or skill in writing, enjoy the writing process. Being a good wordsmith and editor certainly helps too, as does a strong vocabulary.

• PC, Mac, or both: The competition goes on. PCs dominate, like it or not. The Mac still has substantial strength in the graphics realm and for serious desktop publishing, but consider it necessity to be able to use the PC. If you are familiar with the Mac, or even know it better than the PC, that’s fine, it will broaden your option that much more in the long run.
  
  
• Wordprocessing: Microsoft Word is generally considered the standard today and will be found in use at the majority of firms (large and small). You may find exceptions in the legal and medical field, but Word is the one to know.
  
  
• Desktop publishing: Many companies are relying on the PC and Word for documents up to 400 pages, but this is not the ideal. FrameMaker, Quark and the other high end desktop publishing packages are much better suited for large documents that have many illustrations. Acquire skills with any of a dozen or more packages available, but Adobe presently seems to have the major portion of the market.
  
  
• Online Help: Skills with a Windows Help authoring tool will broaden your opportunities substantially. RoboHelp is the standard, Doc-to-Help a distant second; both require use of Word. Developing WinHelp requires different writing skills – short, concise procedures – and some knowledge of Indexing.
  
  
• Graphics: Many technical writing jobs require the writer to also have skills in developing the illustrations and graphics to support the written material. Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator are the leading packages today, although you will find some firms have adopted Paint Shop Pro or Corel Draw. If the company does much in the graphics area it will undoubtedly be a Mac shop.
  
  
• Document Distribution Tools: Adobe Acrobat is the standard means of distributing documents on disk or online. It is not difficult to use, but many companies desire knowledge of the application.
  
  
• Web Pages and Content: Increasingly, there is demand for writers to have skills in developing Web Pages and particularly in defining and designing the content for a web site. Consider Adobe GoLive or Macromedia Dreamweaver skills to respond to these demands.
  
  
• Product Knowledge: It is important to have at least basic knowledge about the field you will write about. That said, I was once asked how I managed to write about a piece of software since I'm not a programmer. The only response that came to mind was, I haven't been to Mars either, but I've written about it.
  

Summary
Even if you know every package I've mentioned in this list, don't expect to be competitive for every technical writing job you find listed somewhere. Probably the best approach is to gather your skill set, then focus on a specific field, whether computer hardware or software, aviation, engineering, telecommunications, or medical. Build experience in a specific area to enhance your resume and, ultimately, the compensation package.