Getting Started on Technical Writing
Some of the best & most important things I have learned in the field of computers, sales or entrepreneurship is through reading. Either be it a technical book, or a technical blog. It helped me solve my problems and I felt fulfilled.
I also discovered the importance of forums. There are many forums such as Quora , Reddit or Stack Overflow, where you can read information about the very problem you are facing at the moment.
Today however, I want to get started on technical writing. On top of learning design and business, I have also picked up technical writing.
Here are a few thoughts I have had.
- Build a writing and documentation workflow into every single project that you do. Seek out the problems and challenges that occur, and the solutions that you had to execute for that! Some tools you could use, Google Docs, Notion, Apple Notes. I recommend Notion.
- Write every day, broadly, about many different things. It’s the only way to learn and to trust your pen that whenever something comes up, you will capture it.
- Capture sporadic thoughts and insights from YouTube videos, blogs, or podcasts to reference later on.
- Look for algorithms. — This is a fancy word to mean, patterns, models or formulas. I discovered the word Algorithms when I got into the field. But I used to see it as, templates, or how to do things. They are out there. Find it, document it. Own it.
- Explain your hangups! When I was learning Javascript for the first time, I really had a difficult time understanding those concepts quickly. This is an amazing example of a technical article.
- Instead of restating the same things you just learned verbatim, you might attempt to design around it. Make cool graphics, or find different analogies, or something someone else says. Own the information you just gained by turning it into valuable resource.
- Read a ton of technical blogs and articles to see which ones had the most impact in your life and then translate that into your writing.
- Good technical writers seem to be driven by a genuine sense of curiosity and desire to contribute, learn and have a conversation.
I realize, especially, that writing is not as normal as I am trying to portray it. A lot of people have a hard time translating their dreams and work into actionable insight using the written word. Writing is a skill that everyone should develop. And we can only develop the skill of writing, through writing.
some other thoughts on technical writing
- You can share your notes. These are things that you have learned. I however do not recommend this method because notes is something anyone can access. Also, notes are all over the internet.
- However, if you can take a spin on what you have learned. Put a personal touch, maybe a personal story in there. Things you found fascinating, things you had a hard time understanding or things you found to be totally powerful. That’s some great technical writing idea.
Some technical writing that I have enjoyed ?
Ahmed Shadeed on ishadeed.com on CSS technical writing
Eloquent Javascript book by Marijin Heverbeke — eloquentjavascript.net
Una CSS on her CSS blog and talks
Julia Evans blog on jvns.ca and also her technical comic strip called a zine
