What do technical writers do?
Technical writers, in terms of hiring priorities, are at the bottom of the IT totem pole. Developers (or programmers, whatever you wish to call those people who write code) are hired first. You have to have code to have software. Technical writers are hired only when there seems to be an unavoidable need. Secret No. 1: developers hate to write a description of what they have just created. They want to move on to the next project. “Words” are a pain in the neck to them. So a technical writer may be brought in to create documents such as user guides, policies and procedures (if the administrator wants them written down), process flows, system administrator guides, training materials., troubleshooting guides. Secret No. 2: A technical writer cannot avoid talking with developers in order to obtain information, but sometimes these people (often shy except when around their own kind) don’t want to talk. This is where Secret No. 3 enters the picture. Every day, around 10 am, developers experi
