So you’re thinking of making a change. Maybe, like I was, you are in another line of work entirely, and for whatever reason (in my case, work-life balance and a love of writing), you are thinking of becoming a technical writer. Maybe, like many others, you work in the tech industry and find yourself drawn to technical writing as a new career avenue. Or maybe you are starting out on your career and want to know if technical writing is a rewarding occupation. 

There are a multitude of reasons why I and my colleagues believe technical writing is a great career choice, but rather than provide you with a dull catalogue of the virtues and advantages of a career in technical writing (that’s been done to death), we’ve decided to let some of the greatest and brightest say it for us – much more fun!

We’ve carefully selected famous quotes we feel best illustrate the key reasons for choosing a career in tech writing. Let’s take a look.

If you like the idea of bringing order to the universe (one word at a time), then technical writing is the career for you. Taming wild content and wrestling unruly ‘instructional’ documentation into submission to create something beautiful in its simplicity and functionality is a rare pleasure. 

“The safest words are those which bring us most directly to the facts.”

William Shakespeare

STC IAC Speaker and author, Suyog Kerkar knows the simple pleasure of making your mark through clarity and consistency of content. He is familiar with the power of ordered content, created with user expectation in mind. 

“Make difference with the uniformity; make uniformity the difference.”

Suyog Ketkar, The Write Stride

Are you someone who loves to learn new things? Someone who relishes the opportunity to expand your horizons and your skillset? If so, technical writing is right in your wheelhouse. Tech writers are always learning. Getting to grips with new technologies; investigating new trends across a multitude of industry and academic spheres, researching cognitive learning theory, exploring practical SEO exploitation…the list of potential learning avenues is endless. 

Each project, each feature we work on draws us down a new and fascinating learning rabbit hole. This willingness, this hunger for knowledge is at the heart of what makes a good tech writer. Technical writers think deeper, learn faster, and respond to change quicker and easier than those in many other disciplines. Why? Because we love to learn and we love to put this learning to good use for our end users. 

Are you happy to remain in the shadows, the often-unsung hero of the hour, content to have played your part in ensuring the success of a new feature/product/service? Maybe you like the anonymity, the inconspicuousness, the private satisfaction of having your say, before ducking back into the shadows. 

Technical writers are sworn advocates for the end user. Our writing is colored by their needs and wishes, and contains no trace of our own characters or motivations. It is often said that good technical writers write themselves out of their content. It takes practice and considerable restraint, but there is a certain pride in knowing your influence was felt even if your audience never learns who their influencer was. So, if you think about it, we’re kinda like Batman!

One of the great joys of technical writing lies in fixing errors; there’s nothing we love more than to manhandle a grammatical howler or an ‘instructional’ visual aberration. If you are the type of person that has to bite your tongue every time you see a misspelled word in the media, or hear an ‘expert’ say ‘to be quite pacific about this’, then technical writing is the therapeutic outlet for you. 

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.

“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least–at least I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.”

“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”

Lewis Carroll

The particular rush of power caused by stripping out redundant or superfluous verbiage, anchoring a dangling modifier (don’t laugh, it’s a real affliction), or introducing an aesthetic hierarchy to disorderly web content, is a thrill only a technical writer can know. 

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the

difference between lightning and a lightning bug”.

Mark Twain

A technical writer knows the right words, the right way to order them, and the right tone to hit to land a message. It takes experience and patience but the payoff is worth it. 

Tech writers are problem solvers. We love a puzzle, a challenge. We are perfectly happy to decipher the indecipherable, to tame the untamable, to systematize the shambles.  Whether you are creating novel, immersive instructional content, tackling a new technology, designing an engaging visual, or firefighting a newly discovered bug, technical writing provides the dynamism needed to ensure that no two work days are the same. 

“Updating a manual is like changing tires on a moving car”

 Edmond Weiss, author.

There is huge satisfaction to be had in getting down and dirty with a nasty piece of content/code/visual and imposing your will on it, turning it into something useful and beautiful in its clarity and simplicity. It is a singular joy to accomplish this all on your own, but even when this is impossible, it is gratifying to work as part of a team to make something that you know your end user will appreciate

“The mind that is not baffled is not fully employed”

Wendell Berry, novelist

Technical writing is a craft, something you hone, something you sharpen and perfect. It employs a myriad of talents and interests: an eye for detail, an ability to discern core information requirements, an interest in and orientation towards users needs, understanding and acceptance of cultural and geographical diversity, expertise in design, knowledge of cognitive learning theory, familiarity with a wide variety of publishing tools and single-sourcing software, an interest in science in technology, editing experience, a love of research…I could go on, and on. While many who work as technical writers began their professional lives in other areas, technical writing is a rare discipline that relishes all prior knowledge and facilitates opportunities to capitalize on previous experience and expertise. We use everything in our considerable, acquired arsenal to conjure meaning into our content. 

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”

  William H. Gass, Writer

Like all crafts, there is a pride in sharpening the skills needed to be a good technical writer. There is an inherent honor in developing content that you know can improve lives, even if just for a fleeting moment. As technical writers, we have the wherewithal to make someone’s day easier, safer, simpler. What could be more magical than that?