Sasmita Panda wrote this guest post.She is a seasoned Information Developer, Content writer, and blogger. I invited her to share her experience on the primary skills required by information developers and she come up with a well knit blog for you. Read more blogs of Sasmita on TWIN What are the qualities of a good technical writer? Mastering over the language or strong technical skills? The debate is constantly on. As per my experience, language is important, but it’s your acumen in technical skills which will take you higher in the long run. Strong writing skills along with deeper technical knowledge are always considered as added advantage. Understanding a product/application and documenting about it is what every technical writer does, but knowing about how to structure and present the information to various types of end-users is definitely a valuable skill. There are technical writers who are good in writing skills but poor in technical skills and vice verse. You can always work on the skills you lack, but I believe that honing technical skills takes longer time as compared to the writing skills. You don’t have to stupendous in your writing skills to be a good technical writer, but expertise in technical skills is a must especially if you want to grow in your career as a technical writer. Proficiency in technical skills has a growing demand in many industries these days. Knowledge of DITA, API Documentation or software programming can fetch you a better package than many of your experienced peers. So if you want to grow and make money as a technical writer, the choice is obvious- sharpen your technical skills. Related PostTwitter Vs FacebookBefore you foray into technical writingAfter you foray into technical writingJobsWhy Should you love book Please take out few minutes to write your view on Language Vs Technical Skills.
Top 3 qualities of good technical documentation
Qualities of good technical information
Qualities to be a successful technical writer
Major traits technical writers must have
How to get first job as a technical writer in 2023 (Known Secret)
Getting started into Technical writing Now I am assuming you are a graduate and have the basic idea of what is technical writing and how it is different from other genres of writing. Maybe gone through formal training of Information Developers Foundation. I have noticed this type of queries from a newbie’s on any form of technical writing. So sharing some tips, old wisdom but a new chapter :-). I will also recommend you to read this technical writer guide before going ahead. Now it is time to “MARKET” your skills, for that you will need many tools like a resume, sample of your work, cover letter, feature article (if any), blog, letter of recommendation etc. Good Resume As a technical writer, it is expected for you to submit an error-free professional resume. Make sure your resume is free of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or typo errors. If you cannot write a good resume how can you write a good technical document? I normally ask the technical writer during the interview “Can I assume your CV as your work sample” and then give it back to edit it. In hardly ten minutes I can judge many different qualities of aspirants. Portfolio (Sample of Work) Many employers ask to submit your portfolio. Never include any work in your folio which is copyright protected or property of any organization, even if it is created by you. Try to showcase all your skills in a very concise but very smart way in your portfolio. Make an online as well as print copy. Get your folio edited by expert even if you are expert itself. Learn 5 best ways to provide writing samples Make a LinkedIn profile A Linkedin profile adds credibility to your profile. Update it regularly to make yourself visible. It is also one of the best ways to connect with your peers and grow your network. You can also use it for job search and it also helps you to stand in the eyes of employers. As Linkedin profile has your detailed credentials it is more likely to get you relevant opportunities. It also helps you to interact with a large pool of people from the same domain. Premium subscription of job portals Don’t be the part of a huge recruitment funnel. Be filtered to increase your chance to get an interview call. A premium subscription of any job portal will help you to do that. You will get more relevant calls for a job. They provide you with resume templates, keep your profile on top to be more visualized and send you regular alerts so that you never miss any opportunity. Do not forget to visit our job board regularly. Network like a CEO Have you ever wondered how a CEO handle their business? A big empire is handled by a single person, it is only because of the huge network and connections they have. A bigger network gives you virtual hands to complete your task with more ease. A number of references come your way through networks, so work towards networking. Attend the seminars organized by different forums, webinars, local meetups, events like Information Developers conclave, be a part of it. Be vocal to show your presence. Show your skills where needed. Do not stop to network with your tribes even you get a job. Networking is a long-term effort. Consider helping people before asking for help. Contribute in the open source document To start as a fresher it becomes tough to show a sample of your work as the proof of your dexterity as a technical writer. Contributing in an open source document helps you compile a good number of sample to showcase it to your employer. A good example of the open source document is Git and Github. To know more see the video of the content charcha webinar by Amruta Ranade. Learn About Industry trends You should be aware of new trends in the industries. There are many ways to that, google search is good but apart from that join groups on many social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn etc, read blogs and comment, join technical writing forums. You can find many resources on this blog. Bookmark this blog and reading a post daily should be your habit. Learning is a continuous process. This is a very old wisdom and relevant for tech writing also. Yes, if you are not a dynamic learner you will not enjoy the journey of information development. It is expected from technical writer to understand the application quickly and develop information on it. If you work with contractors many days you may have to work on multiple projects. Enhance your communication, interpersonal and interviewing skills it will help you to gather information about the project. Consider relocation For your first job, be ready to relocate. A city with more opportunity will help you. If you are staying at a remote location, try to move for better opportunities. We all are connected to our hometown but for growth, if needed do not hesitate to do that. Opportunity in technical writing in Bangalore is more than Lucknow. Consider relocating to Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad or Delhi NCR for the better job opportunity as a technical writer. There are many things that can be covered, but currently, I am able to gather this much only I will keep on updating this. Do not forget to master Microsoft Manual of style. Conclusion We all know to get the first job is always challenging but smart work always win. Hopefully, the above pointers will help you to get into your dream job. If you want feedback on your resume or just want to say hi. Call me Now! Best of Luck! Rahul Karn
Screen Capture Tools:A Snapshot
Screen Capture Tools: Yes, you can print screen manually on a window by using [ PrintScreen] key, but as an Information developer, you will need much more feature. There are a plethora of tools I am trying to compile few. SnagIt It is probably most widely used screen capture tools by writers. It has easy UI almost all the feature you need that too with a very competitive price. Madcap Capture Suits Madcap Flare user, well-priced, you may take a little extra time to get used to it. SnapDraw Freeware, worth a try. FullShot Expensive than above all I standard edition some features are missing. Take care of this before purchasing the order. SCREENGRABBER.NET Free tool to capture screen from movies. EasyCapture The main feature is its ability to capture scrolling windows and adding annotations. It is provided to you free. Capture Me A free and simple software for your Macintosh. Clarify-itCapture, sequence and annotate screenshots to create documents that are a great alternative to screen recordings Screenpresso. It’s free and has some basic annotation and editing options. PicPick It’s free A discussion on LinkedIn on the similar topic. Looking for training on Adobe RoboHelp, Framemaker or Technical writing? Information Developers offers live, online Adobe Tools classes each month. We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details. For more Info on the HAT.
Top 5 hacks to manage time between work and home in 2020 during WFH
Juggle between Work, Home, and Studies Are you a working professional or a freelancer and you are feeling your greatest potential stress is juggling your work, study, and personal commitment? Does it seem to you that twenty-four hours in a day is less to complete your tasks? Feel you are not doing justice with your work, studies, and with your near and dears? Believe me, this is the most common problem faced by working folk who is continuing his studies. Well through this blog I am trying to share a few of my and my friend’s experiences and ideas which we have while doing MBA, probably any of the ideas can be of your help. Since we all different, we will also have different balance needs and we discover this through experience and self-reflection. Striking balance between work and study is a journey in which you have to travel alone, you will have to set realistic goals and consistently work toward them blogs can only give you an idea but you are the one who has to tailor them to meet your own specific needs. My few ideas: Idea 1: Know yourself To study effectively and excel in the work simultaneously, it is important to manage your time well. Good time management evolves by knowing yourself well, knowing what are your strength and weakness’ in time management, and then minimizing the weakness’ and working toward the right goal. Yes, you get it right I am talking about SWOT analysis. Remember time management is a skill that needs practice. In this process, you can also identify your major time-waster activities and take proper action to rectify it. Idea 2: Know the difference between urgent and important We are faced with jobs, errands, and works that require our immediate attention every day. Tasks from personal chores (cleaning clothes) to professional obligations (finishing the draft by 6 p.m.) weigh on our minds regularly. Trying to decide which to do can be a challenge. In this case prioritization of the tasks is required. You should be able to identify which is important and which is urgent for you. Which tasks are your time waster and which task you can procrastinate? Always remember apart from work you have to do well in your exams also. So do not let important turn into urgent. You are the best person who can identify what is important and what is urgent for you. Idea3: Stick with the basics We all have a preferred learning style like some makes notes some underline the books, some revise daily some do it weekly. Knowing and understanding our learning style helps us to learn more effectively. Through identifying your learning style, you will be able to capitalize on your strengths and improve your self-advocacy skills. So here I will like to suggest do not experiment a lot with your learning style, stick with the basic there is no reason you will not excel. Yes, change for the betterment is always welcome. Idea4: MMS (Man management skill) Hereby MMS I mean man management skill. Skill to say “NO” to your buddy for movies, skill to handle your boss who asks you to work on a Monday night when you have an exam the next morning. Realize that it’s okay to say no. Keep your short- and long-term priorities in mind. If phone calls from friend and relatives are proving to be a distraction, tell them that because of exams you take social calls from 6-7 p.m. It may sound silly, but believe dude it helps. Idea5: Take a break It’s a good idea to take a break from your daily routine after all you are not a machine. Once a while, why not to meet some of the relatives and enjoy with them to the fullest. Add some enjoyable activities in your day or weeks, it will rejuvenate you fill with energy. After you’ve completed a sizeable task, it’s a good idea to give a break to reward yourself. You can ring a friend, listen to music or can enjoy TV. Studies show short breaks actually improve productivity, so you’ll gain more than the time you lose by pausing for a moment. Apart from doing the things which you enjoy, also take a break to keep your self-fit. To keep one fit for the exam is also a part of exam preparation. So, friends, it’s all from my side. Hope you enjoy reading this blog. Thanks for stopping. Enjoy learning!!! Yours,Rahul Karn Related PostWhen determination meets fates.
“Login” or “Log in” also which is better “Log in” or “Sign in”?
“Login” or “Log in” also which is better “Log in” or “Log on”? What is the difference between logon and login? Sometimes this small word confuses us and compels us to go back to basic :-). I prefer Microsoft Manual of Style so the answer is inline with it. Microsoft Manual of Style prefers Log on/logon over Log In/ Login. Sign in is used by many websites such as Linkedin, Microsoft, and so on. From my experience, log on is mostly used in enterprise documentation. For example, the information you use to sign into your email is your login (noun), and the page where you sign in is the login page (adjective). Two words as a verb, one as a noun. I personally prefer to log on to log in but both are fine. When we use it as a button in the UI, should it be two words or one word? Use the phrasal verb form: Log in. The button is offering the user the option to perform an action, that is, to log in. If this is not the case you can talk to your UI developers. Do not forget to attend Information Developers Foundation FREE Webinars, training. If you want to be the part of largest google group of techcomm professionals please write to us. Please do not forget to add your comments also.
Technical writing to Blogging
How to write a blog? How to write a blog? How to become a blogger? This is the first question that comes to mind while starting a blog. Here I am sharing my blogging experience and journey. I was never a blogger until I met Devarshi Dubey, UI designer, my colleague while working in Cognilytics, Gurgaon. He was an enthusiast, a creative person ready to dive into the different arena, positively absorbing suggestions to experiment with new things. He was a blogger and used to write about motorcycles on Moto Rivista. We were a small team and so our interaction had crossed the boundaries of being just formal colleagues, we were more like friends. At that time he was creating a website wherein one can play movies online or can download it. I also used to give inputs in his idea and my suggestions were well apprehended by the team. Later I also participated in the brainstorming of what a website should look like, what right elements should be there. Everything was going smoothly when one day he asked me, “why don’t you write blogs?”. I was already a technical writer but writing blogs never came into my mind. I wondered who would read me but, everyone encouraged me and I started to write. My blog on Adobe RoboHelp got an overwhelming response. I was enthralled and the writing instinct triggered me. Traffic of my blog was increasing, and so was my enthusiasm.I was not aware I can earn from the blog or how to monetize the blog? Simultaneously, I was learning to make a website and experimenting with it. I learnt Google analytics, google ad world, SEO, social media marketing etc. My blog was on Alltop list. I was growing day by day with my experiences by now I was aware of Google Adsense and I implemented it. It was a blunder I realized when one day I got a mail from google that my blog was blacklisted because of some unauthorized clicks on Adsense links. It was a big breaker on my success path but, I held myself, and continued to write on the same blog irrespective of this blow. I was not interested in making money through the blog, by that time I started to enjoy writing so I decided not to stop neither to change the domain although when “dollars earned” reflecting on the blog gave an added motivation. My intention was to educate out of college students who wanted to learn technical writing but was unaware of the correct direction and most of their questions remain unanswered. And after all, doing this was giving me lot of self-satisfaction. So, I accepted this incidence as a part of learning and continued to add more skills to my skill set. I converted my setback into breakthrough when in order to remove the blacklist tag I researched a lot and gradually I learnt digital marketing, made my own website and wrote contents, I became a content writer, content strategist, content marketer, web developer, digital marketer and web designer. It was in September 2012 when I got a call from Neha Srivastava. She called me up and asked If I can give her training in technical writing. My blog had rewarded me from my first student, and from the first day of Dussehra, I started as a trainer. I never stopped after that and was well known as a blogger and trainer in the technical writing community. My blog was the first step towards the creation of Information Developers Foundation. Today also I cannot run google ad on this blog but still whenever I get time I do not forget to scribble for you. Never know I can help someone somewhere. This was my journey as a blogger, soon I will come up with my experiences as a mentor. “Blog, but with responsibility, you will be content may be with no extra dollar”- Rahul Karn How did you experience the evolution of blogs in your personal life? Share your comments below…You can also join our blogging training to learn from Rahul Karn.