What is a Technical Writer

TECHNICAL WRITERJeffrey “Jeff ” Wayman

PLEASE CALL ME JEFF

Only my mom calls me Jeffrey, and only when I’m in trouble. (which is a lot by the way)

WHAT DOES A TECHNICAL WRITER DO?

LET’S INFER

(START WITH WHAT WE KNOW TO

FIGURE OUT WHAT WE DON’T KNOW)

WHAT DOES A WRITER DO?

• A writer…

• writes… a lot

• takes letters to make words… to make sentences… to make paragraphs, and in some cases, to make entire books.

BUT WHAT DOES TECHNICAL MEAN?

EVEN WRITERS HAVE TO LOOK THINGS UP!

• Technical

• “of or relating to a particular subject, art, or craft, or its techniques.”

• a fancy way of saying “specific”.

SO, A TECHNICAL WRITER…writes about specific (particular) things, and in most cases,

how to do them the techniques (instructions).

FOR EXAMPLE…

PRESS THE X BUTTON…

to do something really cool (like access crafting in

Minecraft)!

BUT, WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT?

I WRITE ABOUT SOFTWARE

• On-screen Instructions

• Tutorials

• Help Guides

• Videos

• And more!

HOW ABOUT SOME OTHER EXAMPLES?

EVERYTHING REALLY!

• Car and Airplane manuals

• Cookbooks and recipes

• Textbooks and other learning materials

• Minecraft, Legos, and more!

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A TECHNICAL WRITER?

• You should be…

• eager to learn new things

• enjoy helping others

• patient with people that are new to something

• be an expert in… ANYTHING!

SO WHO WANTS TO BE A TECHNICAL WRITER?

THAT’S OK IT WASN’T MY FIRST CHOICE EITHER.

HOWEVER, LET’S PRETEND…

WE’RE ALL TECHNICAL

WRITERS.

THE PRESIDENT NEEDS YOU!

WHY?

EARTH IS ABOUT TO BE

VISITED…by someone(thing) from

another planet.

IT’S KIND OF A BIG DEALAnd big deals require a present - it’s the law of intergalactic peace

negotiations. (OK I made that part up)

BUT… WE LOST THE INSTRUCTIONS! OH NO!

CAN YOU SAVE THE DAY?Be a Technical Writing Hero, or Heroine, and write

instructions for our alien visitor’s present.

HERE’S WHAT OUR ALIEN VISITOR KNOWS:

• He knows what open and unwrap mean.

• He knows the various colors and shapes.

• He knows the general process required to eat something on our planet.

HERE’S WHAT WE HAVE TO DO:

• Write a set of simple instructions to find and enjoy the piece of candy that looks like —>

• Remember the things our visitor knows

• Be specific!