Adam Said:

Career Transition: Public Relations To Technical writing?

We Answered:

You should take a class in technical writing, my husband took one at our local community college, that would be a good place to start for you.

Brad Said:

How do you write a Technical Specification Document for a to be developed software application?

We Answered:

Here is the technical specification and requirements specification templates from NCC (National Computing Center) of UK.

I've put the in our company website you could download them from:

http://www.macroware-it.com/templates/re…

http://www.macroware-it.com/templates/te…

Betty Said:

Is technical writing in software indutry is a good option?

We Answered:

I wish it were. It is very competitive. When you read Help files and such, you can see that there is a NEED. Quality tech writing is severely lacking. But how can we convince companies to invest into that part of their software?

Many technical writers stick with a specific field, like Medicine, Electronics and such. They get degrees in that specific field, but keep writing in their background.

I know of several "Experts in the field" that turned to Technical writing in the later part of their career.

The frustrating part of Technical Writing, is that few on the project team will help by reading, then approving your work. So you are forced to have full knowledge of the product, then proof-read yourself.

Tim Said:

How do I write a technical paper for a new software algo?

We Answered:

Try looking at some other submissions to CRYPTO if you want to know what they are looking for. I think they want pdfs with authors and titles clearly visible at the top of the paper. If in doubt, ask CRYPTO about the finer points of how they like their submissions.

Minnie Said:

Technical writing job, what else should I learn?

We Answered:

In addition to all of your technical writing classes, here are some of the classes that you will find very valuable:

1. HTML/CSS
2. Electronic Publishing (desktop publishing)
3. Graphics (Photoshop, Illustrator, or a class specifically for technical writers.)

You need to be proficient in whatever software you are going to use when writing, such as Word, FrameMaker, Flare, Author It, etc.

Obviously, if you are going to write software documentation, you need to be able to learn software quickly. It would help to take a programming class of some sort.

I hope that helps! Good luck!