Technical Writer and Subject Matter Expert

What Is A Technical Writer?

A technical writer is a professional writer that makes complex information simple. So what exactly does a technical writer do? They create technical documentation that includes things like instruction manuals, user manuals, journal articles, quick reference guides, and white papers. They may also create more common types of content including social media posts, press releases, and web pages.

Essentially, technical writers break down complex technical products into easy-to-understand guides that help the end-user understand how to use the products and services. We are subject matter experts that often have an educational background in technical fields including engineering, computer science, information technology, mobile software, web development, autonomous electric vehicles.

The Goal Of Technical Writing

Technical communicators endeavor to create documents that help individuals understand how to use a certain technology or experience. They may write for a target audience for B2C businesses or they may write internal documents for employees to use or create products. They can also use their writing skill set to create technical reports to update executives digest the company's performance. According to the Society for Technical Communication, the vast majority of technical writing is used for in-house purposes rather than to target a consumer audience.

General Process For Technical Writer

Over the years, technical writing has experienced a dramatic shift. Today, technical writing involves producing technical information as part of a larger content management plan. Technical writers work closely with team members including graphic designers, content writers, document specialists, and industry experts to create technical documents. They may also work with fellow writers to develop their business writing skills depending on the project and document type.

For most projects, technical writers use the following steps:
 

Conduct audience analysis and identify any special needs

Plan and outline the scope of the project including roping in additional team members as needed.

Topic research, obtaining product samples, document design, and technical content writing

Testing and review of the technical communication
 Delivery and second revision if necessary
 Decide on whether the document should be archived, revised, or destroyed.

Job Outlook For Technical Writers

Technical writing remains an increasingly common industry and one where professional writers are highly sought after. The skillset of these writers goes far beyond good spelling and grammar. These writers are required to have extensive technical knowledge that everyday writers do not possess. They also must have excellent writing skills and the ability to coordinate with other technical staff members. As such, the job outlook for technical writers remains positive.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—an organization that is part of the U.S. Department of Labor—the technical writing industry can expect an 11 percent increase between 2016 and 2026. That's faster than average for most professions. Technical writers will typically need a Bachelor's degree and can expect on-the-job training and short-term e-learning when hired. In 2017, the median pay for American professional technical writers was $70,930 per year (1). According to PayScale, a senior technical writer can make upwards of $115,000 annually (2). These numbers can vary depending on where technical writers work and how experienced they are.

There is also an increasing need for freelancers including technical writers and medical writers as more and more businesses build an online presence. The work environment is typically self-driven and many technical writers can choose to work from home or the office.

 I am a subject matter expert in:

1.  Mobile Software
2. Web Applications
3. Big Data applications
4. Augmented Reality
5. Artificial Intelligence
6. Virtual Reality
7. Internet of Things
8. Fleet Management
9. Advertising

 Here are a few of my articles: https://www.medianama.com/author/werner/

My blogs are:

hephail.blogspot.com

hephail.wordpress.com

oneburgo.blogspot.com

I have been a member of:

• The Oxford University Mobile Application Experts Panel
• OpenEXO
• Gerhson Lehrman Group
• Atheneum

Here's an example:

Mobile phones were made to communicate.

The first mobile phones were built for voice only, hence the networks worked on establishing a connection, the way you connect a wire between a computer and a printer to communicate, if the connection is established, the communication happens.

In GSM(Global System for Mobile), it was like taking dedicated seats on a bus, so if you were holding the connection, no one else would be able to take it.

In CDMA, it was like the post, where you send packets of information, with a code on it, to identify the correct receiver, so a lot of information was being sent on a big pipe and the receiver with the correct code would get it.

The first form of data sent on the phone, was the SMS, the Short Message Service. It actually was a testing tool for engineers, so it worked on normal GSM, where out of eight bands, one guard band was given for sending SMSs. That's the main reason why SMS is actually slower than messages sent on the internet, because the GSM infrastructure was built for voice, where the operator was looking at making more money of. That's also why, if your internet is slow on your phone, you should used text or SMS.

So the real reason, why most people didn't like the mobile phone, is because it was made for people who liked to talk. That's also why the radio was popular, for people who liked to listen to those who liked to talk. 

That's also the reason why those who like to read, don't really use a phone that much, when they have the option of a video or a podcast or just a bigger screen.

How did data come in?

Data came to the GSM network via GPRS(software modules in the existing network such as GGSN ans SGSN), which allowed data packets to be stored where voice information was always stored. This meant that operators had to make a choice on how much of data they would allow on their network, which meant sacrificing voice minutes. Obviously, at the time, they made more money on voice, so the data networks artificially suffered(2G).

After GPRS, came EDGE, which involved hardware modifications to the actual hardware, so it increased the speed marginally (2.5G)

Note that till now, the focus was on voice being the primary mode of communication.

This changed when we reached 3G (WCDMA), which if you were following the abbreviations so far, will make you realise, that it was an upgrade of CDMA, which was a competitor to GSM, with better data throughput and overall quality of service, meaning better voice quality, but just lower overall impact to the mobile eco-system worldwide, meaning fewer compatible handsets and just lower number of installations worldwide.

So phones, were slowly getting features like cameras, but front facing, so people were struggling to take selfies, I used to prefer using mirrors to see the view when taking a picture.

The problem with pictures, was transcoding, so even if your phone took good pictures (which till the N8, they didn't), the transcoding via MMS would reduce the resolution automatically.

The number of website which were created for mobile phones, was very small till 2008, as the viewers on the phone were less, less than 5% of desktop computer users.

That's the reason, that the first mobile internet browsers, had an option to view the website in desktop mode, which continues till date.

To get onto the internet, the first thing you needed, was a mobile browser, which was different for each phone, one of the first browsers which worked across low featured and high featured phones was the Opera Mini browser.

So from 2008 to 2020, we saw websites first made in WML, which were very few, then moved to HTML, then XHTML, then finally to HTML 5.

The initial smartphones, tried too hard to look like minicomputers, which is why Microsoft had the Smartphone and PocketPC editions, which were really big devices especially the O2 XDAII.

Email started from a website you had to view, to an actual client, which would need to go online to connect. 

Blackberry pioneered the Push Email, which lead to other companies coming out with their own similar clients, leading to today, where you have Push notifications for everything, which is quite sad really.

The main strength of the 3G network, was that now voice and data were all packet based, meaning that now everything was accessible online.

The first mobile advertising network was Admob, which got bought over by Google. It was great, because there were so many various devices in the market, you didn't know which one was being used the most for browsing the internet, so their reports were a real eye-opener. Sadly, those reports aren't available any more.

It's true to say that iPhone encouraged more people to be online, though I think the P990i was close enough. 

For all the talk about the iPhone, the Sony P series of big screen touch phones, did a pretty interesting job of creating a new experience, but the developers were struggling, since there were many customisations made to the system, compared to normal Symbian devices.

So cut through to today, the mobile phones increase accessibility, but content creation, especially text, will still require a laptop.