Reddit reviews Handbook of Technical Writing, Tenth Edition

Professional writer and hiring manager here. A strong portfolio and a relevant degree like English will help interview at entry level assuming the posting doesn't require strong advanced toolset experience like Framemaker, Robohelp, or DITA. Your folio should have technical communication type stuff like SOPs, policies , and help documentation. Google some templates or use the books I list below. Make them up for existing programs you know if you don't have real world examples. Managers will want to see that you you know the language and will ask for samples at some point during interview if not up front (If they don't ask for samples they probably don't know what they are doing ).

Recommend you at least familiarize yourself with staple toolsets like the Adobe technical communication suite (there may be a free trial or it is like $50 a month or so for subscription) until you are comfortable with it then cancel. Also diagram software like Visio. Screen capture software like Snagit. That will cover the typical core tools in the field. A lot of places will still use MS Word but more advanced places will use technical communication software.

Invest in some theory books to learn and reference. An English degree is great but there are theory and best practices behind technical writing that will help you in the long run and being familiar will help set you apart from all the other English majors that don't know what to do with their degree (it is quite common ).


Get these must have books to read and reference in your career :

(How to write as a tech writer )
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0133118975/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

(How to design documents)
https://www.amazon.com/White-Space-Your-Enemy-Communicating/dp/1138804649

(Reference document for just about everything )
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Technical-Writing-Tenth-Gerald/dp/1250004411

Arguably most popular style manual
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/p/microsoft-manual-of-style-microsoft-corporation/1104743122/2678008132375?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Catch-All,+Low_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP79700&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIycubtNvO1wIVTiOBCh232wKvEAQYASABEgKsUPD_BwE

Look for junior level jobs or contract to hire. A lot of companies will hire temp writers or contract to hire to see If they will work out. Worst case you get title experience on your resume and most recruiters know there is a lot of contract work in the field and it won't look odd.

Try to be open and communicative in your interviews. A lot of the gig is building relationships and getting information out of people you don't know well. Personable people that can communicate quickly, effectively, and confidentlly are desirable.

Good luck !

Edit: Ensure your resume is flawless. It is the first and most important document you will ever make as a technical writer and should be considered the first page of your portfolio.

Look up if there is an active STC chapter in your area. If they have meetings consider going as that is a good place to start networking. I can't recommend joining it if there isn't an active chapter as the ROI is meh ( I may get downvotes for this ).

Get setup with local temp agencies and let them look for jobs for you. Like I said before s lot of companies will go through them to fill temp or contract to hire positions.

Edit edit :

Last thing. It isn't a bad idea to get familiar with some coding languages to strengthen your resume and open doors when applying. W3schools has good , free online lessons to get your feet wet. You can get a certification after a test for $90. It is inexpensive and a good way to prove you are familiar. Html , xml , and css are good starters and you may want to expand from there depending on Your interest and Your local market.

I minored in technical communication, and the books we used in the writing-oriented classes were Technical Report Writing Today, Handbook of Technical Writing, and Elements of Style (Strunk and White).

Of these, the handbook and Elements are more rule-oriented and don't really get into the details of putting together a document. I'd recommend something like Technical Report Writing Today, though. It talks about identifying your audience, different styles, visual features, visual aids, presentations, instructions, informal reports, formal reports, feasibility reports, proposals, user manuals. It doesn't get into a whole lot of depth, but it provides enough information to get you started in a whole bunch of areas.

This is interesting, I'm actually making the change from technical writer to front-end developer.

I worked in technical support, and sys admin roles for about 8 years before I became a technical writer. I enjoy teaching people software, concepts, abstract ideas. I get a real satisfaction out of taking something complicated, and helping someone make sense of it. It's really rewarding.

There are so many areas in technical writing. Do you have an idea what you want to tech write for? You could create financial reports, engineering documents, user guides, e-learning courses... for almost any industry. All of them are usually specialized though.

For instance, do you want to focus on tech writing for software development and API documentation? Or scientific technical writing? Or user guides for products?

I'll give you a little info on my background...

I went to art school for 3 years studying Multimedia and animation. I dropped out in my 3rd year. I love art as a hobby, but as a job it really wasn't for me. I tended to be more satisfied working in I.T.

So I worked as help desk at first, then junior sys admin, service desk. I've worked for various companies like Lucasfilm, Round Table Pizza, Posit Science... and for the last 6 years for cloud hosting and now online training software company. So I've been in a variety of environments.

About 3 years ago my company was beginning to really grow. We went from 15 people to 50 in a couple of years. At this point they needed a tech writer and curriculum developer to start writing user guides, making training videos, and documenting our internal processes.

I have a pretty solid English skills, and a design background. Plus, working in technical support, I knew our products well, and I am the type of person to constantly teach myself new things. I know a lot of different software, such as the Adobe Suites, Camtasia, After Effects... all from my art background. I also am pretty handy with HTML / CSS and JavaScript.

I Googled tech writing for about a day. Came up with a sample document guide and Camtasia training video, and boom got the position.

So then first thing I did was purchase some books

1. Microsoft Manual of Style.
   
2. Handbook of technical writing: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Technical-Writing-Tenth-Gerald/dp/1250004411/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473462347&sr=8-3&keywords=technical+writing
   3.Document Design - A guide for technical communicators.
   
3. Bought some Udemy courses on using Adobe technical communications suite.
   
   My first few documents were pretty weak. My company was OK with it though, we had nothing to begin with. They actually hired a contact tech writer for 3 months to help teach me and get the hang of it. In all honesty I didn't really need her help.
   
   Over the last couple of years though, I've constantly improved my documentation and it looks pretty good now.
   
   I'm also very good with Camtasia, I can make really great voice overs, and I mostly make training videos now, as that is what a lot of users like to see in my industry. Because of my strong video editing background, I also make our marketing videos for new products. I've been able to write pretty good scripts, I get to know our products incredibly well, because I have to know how to use them and all the in's and out's.
   
   Now with being social: I'm an introvert as well. I actually hardly talk to anyone about what I need to be doing. When a new website or product is about to be released... I get access to it and play with it as much as I can. My tech support role helped me with this. I know our systems in and out. If I have questions I don't understand, I just email my boss and he responds.
   
   Now this is a little specific to my company and role. I know other tech writers to create documentation for developers. They technically do have to get to know some of them well. They are your SME, or subject matter experts. You need to learn what they know, and communicate that to a target audience. So, there can be times you need to communicate a lot with people, when you don't know the subject well.
   
   However, the advantage you have is you already program. If you want to write documentation for that, you have an advantage that you understand the process and can read it and explain it. The key is, can you communicate it as simply and directly as possible to the correct target audience?
   
   Also, how are your skills with Microsoft Word? Documents don't really need to be fancy, but knowing how to format cleanly helps. Also, a lot of knowledge bases are created with HTML/XML/CSS which sounds like you would have no problem doing.
   
   Hope this helps. Oh also, I'm not the best writer in the world, but I am a pretty good editor. You can tell from all my spelling and grammar mistakes in this post.

I'm focusing on your questions near the end:

>what software would be ideal, what type of formatting would be most effective, and how to achieve an overall presentation that looks professional.

Software

Microsoft Word still works perfectly fine for a project like this, especially if the end goal is to create a paper document. There isn't any need to use anything fancier. I recommend getting familiar with using styles if you're not already. This enables a lot of features that are helpful, including an automatic table of contents.

Formatting

The most effective type of formatting will depend on your audience and the goal of the document. It sounds like you're looking for more of the reference type manual to start, and that it would be used during some kind of guided training and as an on the job reference.

There is a lot that goes into formatting a good manual. Googling "manual writing best practices" can be a great jumping off point to discover plenty to keep in mind. There whole books on the subject of technical writing with chapters dedicated to manuals, but here are few big concepts to keep in mind regarding your manual:

• Use plain language.
  
• Use images and diagrams. These don't have to be fancy; sometimes a simple picture will help get the point across better than any amount of text.
  
• Use a logical structure to your information. Making it easy for your users to navigate your manual is crucial. Include things like sections with headings, page numbers, and a table of contents.
  
  I'm happy to chat about any of the above via pm at any point, too, if it's helpful.
  
  Overall Presentation
  
  What presentation works best will depend largely on what your company wants. They may be fine with printing a few copies with whatever printer they have in the office, or they may opt to get it professionally printed. If I was going to put it in a portfolio, I'd get a copy professionally printed for myself either way.