Key Takeaways
- Technical content writing involves producing various types of content, such as blog posts and product reviews, in a way that is easy for readers to understand.
- Technical content writing is different from technical writing, which involves creating user manuals and documentation about a company's products.
- To become a successful technical content writer, you need strong writing skills, the ability to research complex topics, and the capability to interact with industry experts.
If you have a knack for understanding complex technical details, and you want to help people understand such points and data better, then technical content writing might be an ideal career for you.
Let’s find out how you can get into it and achieve the heights of success.
What Is Technical Content Writing?
A technical content writer produces content in the form of blog posts, articles, eBooks, white papers, product reviews, and buying and ultimate guides to reach a specific goal. To achieve the specific aim of creating content, you’ll need to learn a bit about researching and using keywords in your content and writing in the brand’s tone and style.
You must also be able to break down complex technical details in an easy-to-understand language, write concisely, and be free from unnecessary jargon. You can consider writing for SaaS companies, firms selling web-based software or other products, cryptocurrency, programming languages' blogs, tech news, tech tutorial blogs, and more.
Now that you have understood what a technical content writer is and how one operates, you should know what a technical content writer isn’t.
What Isn’t Technical Content Writing?
As you begin applying for jobs, you will find two types of openings. One will be for the role of a technical content writer for a tech blog, and another will be for the role of a technical writer. You must know that the duties of these two positions differ considerably.
Unlike a tech content writer, a technical writer creates documentation, user manuals, instruction guides, and possibly white papers about the company's products.
The pay scale of each of the writers also differs. According to U.S. News & World Report, a technical writer makes a median yearly salary of around $78k. However, a technical content writer makes almost $59k annually, according to Zippia.
Now that you know the difference, let’s proceed.
The Top Three Skills You Need to Become a Tech Content Writer
Here is a list of the skills you definitely want to have to become a successful technical content writer.
1. Rock-Solid Writing Skills
Every aspiring writer must develop solid writing skills. You can join a university course or take some online writing classes to expand your knowledge in this area.
Alongside perfect grammar, you’ll also need to learn a few more skills to be successful in this field, like storytelling, keeping the reader engaged, writing persuasive headlines, and influencing your audience to take action.
2. Researching Complex Topics
Poor research leads to poor content, wasting your readers' and your clients' time. So, developing good research skills is a necessity. One of the best ways to research is to find facts and information from authority blogs.
That means when you search on Google, you should know the source of the information you are using. Stick to the top results, check the website's domain authority, look over the monthly traffic the blog receives each month, and more.
To find this data, download any of the following Chrome extensions:
Below each search result, the extensions will show you details such as the domain authority, monthly traffic, number of keywords on the linked page, the total number of words, page attributes, and total social shares.
In short, enough information for you to evaluate whether a blog is a reliable source of data.
3. Interacting With Industry Experts
Apart from researching on Google, if you want to create original, in-depth content that is not available elsewhere, you may need to interview field experts. These people can be engineers, researchers, security analysts, etc.
However, getting this far in your research takes time and communication expertise. If you want to become a top-paying technical content writer working for leading companies and not just content mills like Upwork, Fiverr, or Craigslist, you'll need this skill.
If you’re working on a tech news blog, it'll be a necessity. So, learn how to write emails that get replies and are the perfect way to interact with and interview someone. Learning some extra copywriting skills never hurt anyone.
How to Become a Technical Writer With No Experience
Although it can help, formal education in the field isn't mandatory when you're pursuing technical writing, especially for entry-level jobs. If you want to become a technical writer with no prior experience, the first step is to actually learn and practice the skill.
To do that, you can consider starting your own blog, doing unpaid internships, or writing for nonprofits. Keep in mind that since you don't have any credentials yet, it's likely you're not going to be earning for at least a couple of months.
In the meantime, your job is to upskill yourself, network with other writers, begin writing a resume, and prepare a portfolio showcasing your best work. After around six months or so, when you think you've put together a decent resume and portfolio, it's time to apply for an entry-level job.
The pay won't be great in the beginning, but it's advisable to reinvest at least a portion of what you earn and buy writing courses (see our recommendations below) so you can continue learning and upgrading your skills. This will allow you to stand out and charge a premium for your services in the future.
How to Break Into Technical Writing
After knowing all the essential details about tech content writing, you’ll need to make a decision about how you want to operate: as a contractor/freelancer or a full-time employee in a company.
To become a freelance technical content writer, you probably will need no dazzling degree in journalism or specific experience in the technology sector. However, if you have it, it’s a plus. All you need are the skills we discussed in the former section and a portfolio (that we’ll discuss in a bit), and you’re good to go.
On the other hand, if you’re after a full-time job in a company, you may consider the company’s requirements. Recruiters mostly look for someone with a bachelor's degree in English or a communication-related subject. Plus, they may also consider your previous experience in the tech industry—for instance, computer science, engineering, medical, or more.
But whatever you do, you must have a portfolio to show your work. The recruiter, despite your degree, would want to know if you can deliver what you say.
Here are some ways to begin your journey as a technical content writer today:
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Consider enrolling in online or university courses. Here are a few of them here based on the ratings:
- Good with Words: Writing and Editing Specialization offered by the University of Michigan.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialization offered by the University of California, Davis.
- Storytelling and influencing: Communicate with impact offered by Macquarie University.
- Network with professionals: If you want to land good clients or a job in a reputed firm, it’s one of the best ways to begin with.
- Create a tech writing portfolio: The easiest way to do it is to start a blog on Medium. It’s free, and your recruiters will understand that you actually know how to write for an online audience. Here's how to create a portfolio website from scratch.
- Apply for jobs: Platforms like Indeed, Monster, Flexjobs, Career Builder, Nexxt, and LinkedIn are some great places to start your search.
Start Your Career in Technical Content Writing
Just like everything, it’ll require consistent effort and time investment. But you should know that this industry is growing day by day.
So, if you have always loved technology and have the skills to make tech learning and tech-based decision-making easier for people, this is your chance. Perfect the skills discussed in the article, dig deeper into this subject, and start your new journey into technical content writing.