Ever referred to a user manual or a product description, maybe a user guide? Let’s take a step ahead, a data sheet, research paper or a business proposal, a contract? A bit technical, right? But, were you able to understand it? Did it make your knowledge about it any simpler? If yes, all credits go to technical writing.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Technical writers or technical communicators, research, develop and propagate technical information through an organization’s communication channels and prepare user manuals, journal articles, and other complex documents to communicate easily.”

Role of Technical Writer:

The role of a technical writer is to describe or inform technical information into easy and understandable language. It is obvious that the role of a technical writer differs from industry to industry and company to company but technical writers have some of the following distinctive roles or duties to perform:

  • Study and research product samples
  • Communicate with product designers and developers
  • Work with the internal technical team, collaborate with the staff
  • Analyse the product sample, provide supporting content
  • Produce quality content that meets the company’s repute
  • Provide information in writing as well as in graphic (images, gifs, icons, illustrations, infographics)
  • Gain valuable feedback and work towards a user-centric approach

The most common industries that require technical writers are Manufacturing company, Healthcare or Pharmaceutical industry, Information Technology, Automobile industry, Software developers, Chemical industry.

Skills Needed for Technical Writing:

In the case of technical writing, one cannot just rely on their writing skills; the ability to understand, listening skills, communication skills and reading ability are of equal importance. Since most of the time technical writers work with product/ software developers, internal technical team, engineers, and specialists in the specified industry one must possess all the skills that meet the requirement of the technical writer.

The most common skills that a technical writer is required to perform or must possess are as follows:

  1. One must have a piece of significant knowledge about the industry they wish to write for. Most of the companies prefer writers with a relevant degree in the field (Software, medical, IT) or communications-related subject
  2. Ability to understand the inner workings of the industry, be it the technical terms, or web-related terms
  3. Ability to translate complex terms into simper, understandable language, provide high-quality writing content
  4. Critical thinking skills, time management skills, interpersonal or social skills, ability to interact, excellent communication skills
  5. Must be a detail-oriented, imaginative and critical thinker
  6. Relevant knowledge about digital tools knows how to compliment writing with graphic media (images, infographics, graphs, diagrams)
  7. Proficient skills in formatting and editing documents
  8. Excellent research and analytical skills

Technical Writing Vs. Business Writing:

Since both business writing and technical writing are related to company jargon & terms and also involves industry-related content it is obvious to get confused between the two. However, there’s a significant difference between technical writing and business writing.

The primary objective of both technical writing and business writing is to inform, however, technical writing is more informative and neutral in tone. Whereas business writing is persuasive and the tone may range from neutral to optimistic to informative.

Business writing is written mostly to communicate with the internal and external team or audiences who may have the same technical knowledge or technical background or to persuade the customer. 

On the other hand, technical writing involves breaking complex jargons and technical terms into simpler and easy to understand language which could be understood by a layman as well as someone who has some background knowledge about the product.

The main purpose of business writing is to make a profit, increase sales and to promote marketing. Most common business writing includes writing persuasive advertisements, emails and memo. Other complex business writing includes writing the meeting minutes, business proposals, business deals, business-oriented complex white papers, etc.

Contrary to business writing, the main objective of technical writing is not to promote or gain profit through the content, instead, technical writing is more attentive and educative. Technical writing involves facts and technical data that states accurate observations and hence it requires research and revision.

Technical writing involves user-guides, manual, technical documentation, regulatory reports & summary statements, business policies, protocols & procedure, agendas etc.

Since technical writing needs extensive expertise there are hardly a few professional course providers available in India, of which mainly comprise online classrooms.

Below are top-most online technical writing course providers in India, that you can avail right from Thiruvananthapuram.

1. Henry Harvin:

Henry Harvin is South Asia’s finest and most renowned technical writing course provider in India, recognised by American Association of EFL, MSME and Government of India.

Apart from that, Henry Harvin is trusted by 160+ corporates to name a few, Abbott Pharma, Avon, Apollo Tyres, about 12 plus IIMs including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and 7 plus IITs including IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.

Henry Harvin technical writing course includes six modules which cover effective writing, understanding content, technical writing, analysing content and managing grammar.

The course will cover the following technical writing formats: technical articles and papers, technical reports, technical proposal, standard operating procedure.

Most importantly they also cover significant writing content such as medical writing, research writing, and writing white papers. At the end of the course, you will also learn how to monetize your skills as a freelancer and at home, check plagiarism and tools for graphic content like Canva, pixabay, etc.

All the professionals at Henry Harvin are highly qualified with over 10 plus years of working experience in the industry.

Duration of the course: 24 hours of core training, 24 hours of brush-up sessions, and 50 hours of e-learning access

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes, CTRW certification

Post-course benefits: 100% placement, internship opportunity (unpaid), exclusive project support from CTRW professionals

Also Henry Harvin Provides these Courses

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Henry Harvin® Technical Writing Course Ranks #1 in India by The Tribune

2. Coursera:

Coursera, an online education platform, provides the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology’s online Technical Writing course. The online course is of intermediate level and is 100% online.

The course is provided in the English language by trainer Elena Bazanova who throughout your course will help you develop your technical writing skills through technical work and experimentation.

The online technical writing course includes five modules that will cover audience focus, purpose and measures of excellence in technical documents, and learn how to be proficient as a technical communicator. Learn how to use visuals to communicate, output process, graphical tools and guidelines, effective technical report writing. The course also covers issues related to academic and workplace research. Module five comprise of a Capstone Project.

The trainer will provide you with graded assignments and feedback, graded quizzes, graded programming assignments along with relevant videos and readings.

Duration of the course: 19 hours, five weeks

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes, shareable certificate

Post-course benefits: N/A

3. Udemy:

If you’re on a budget and need to explore the different spectrums of Technical Writing individually as per your convenience then Udemy is for you. Udemy is a globally recognised online education, teaching and learning platform with over 35 million learners all over the globe.

The courses available at Udemy are priced at just Rupees 360/- (prices may vary but the starting prices are most of the time student-friendly ranging from rupees 300-1000 and above) and is highly recommended for beginners who wish to explore technical writing at its initial stage. 

The courses on Udemy vary from learning API technical writing, business and technical writing immersion, JSON, XML and REST for writers and so many more. 

Duration of the course: depends on the course you enrol for

Mode of Classroom: 100% online

Certification: Almost all the courses at Udemy are certified however, it is suggested to ask the selected course provider for the same

Post-course benefits: depends on the course you enroll for

4. Vskills:

Managed by Cubezoid Solutions Private Limited, Vskills is one of the largest certification bodies in India. Vskills is best known for its skills testing and certification exams to improve employment opportunities. All the tests and examinations are conducted in an unbiased manner managed by affiliating body IIM Alumni.

Vskills technical writing course trains the candidate as per the company’s need for documentation of both scientific and technical events, products and services. This technical writing course is perfect for professionals and graduates as well as working candidates.

The course will cover the following technical writing formats namely proposals, lab reports, research proposals, email, typography, graphics in content, etc.

Duration of the Classroom: 60 minutes

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes, Government certification by ICSIL

Post-course benefits: Vskills certified trainees will get to become a part of jobcentre, candidates will be highlighted on Shine.com’s job seeker database

5. Tech-writer certification:

Developed by Dr John Reid and Dr Kenneth Rainey, tech-writer certification provides courses exclusively for technical writing. Tech-writer certification courses provide a significant range of technical writing courses such as basic certification course at technical writing, a comprehensive career-building certificate in technical writing, certificate course in structured writing for technical documentation.

The basic technical writing certificate includes a total of three courses namely introduction to technical writing for industry, intermediate technical writing and advanced technical writing. This course is a must-have for those who need to prepare for professional communication and advance in both documentation and technical communication position.

All three courses from the basic technical writing certificate will cover all forms of technical communication, audience analysis, documentation, style guide, page design units, guidelines, gathering and interpretation of data,  levels of articulation of documents, the impact of visual design, style guidelines, and so much more.

Each course has its assessment process, where the participants will demonstrate what they learned throughout the course. Every assessment is followed by feedback, suggestions and modifications. The candidate must score at least 80% on their final proposal, for the mastery of advanced technical writing.

Duration of the Classroom: 90 hours

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes, Accredited certification

Post-course benefits: N/A

6. Class central:

Class Central also provides the Coursera Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology’s free online course where you only pay for the certificate.

This course has the same syllabus as mentioned in point no. 2 Coursera.

Duration of the course: 5 weeks, 21 hours worth of material

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes, paid

Post-course benefits: N/A

7. Blue Dots Consultancy:

Please note that Blue Dots Consultancy is based in Bangalore but it’s one of the best Institutes recommended by qualified professionals for learning technical writing in 

India.

Blue Dots Consultancy rated as one of the top 25 most promising consultancies in 2017 provides best Technical Writing, product documentation, IT staffing services training. 

Blue Dots Consultancy lets you hands-on practises at Adobe RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Captivate, Madcap Flare, Confluence, Jira, XML, DITA, etc and provides on-site, virtual and offsite programs.

Duration of the course: 2 months of intensive training

Mode of Classroom: Offline, Bangalore

Certification: N/A

Post-course benefits: Merit driven placements

8. Metapercept:

Metapercept is the most trusted and leading technical publication and development, professional training service provider. Best known for their niche in providing end-to-end DITA-XML solutions that are cost-effective and meet your organization’s objectives.

All the team members at Metapercept are certified engineers. The course syllabus covers five modules and includes an introduction to technical writing, roles and responsibilities of a technical writer, the importance of grammar, style guide and writing structure, content mapping, technical writing tools and techniques, the difference between DDLC and SDLC, content drafting,  and so much more.

Duration of the course: Approx. 90 hours (2 hours on weekdays, 3 hours on weekends)

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes

Post-course benefits: N/A

9. Alison:

Alison is one of the leading free education and learning platforms, wherein the learning experience is free of cost and you get an option at the end of your course to only pay for the certification.

Technical Writing Essentials course by Alison is one such free online learning course, you will study six modules that covers basics of documentation, professional style writing and learning outcomes, document design style tips, research methods and terminology, technical descriptions and definitions, progress reports, proposals, long reports and so on.

Duration of the course: 1 hour to 3 hours

Mode of Classroom: Online

Certification: Yes

Post-course benefits: N/A

All the above mentioned technical writing courses are widely recognized online course providers in India. However, it is advised to seek experts advise and research each site individually.

10. ECT
11. School of Information Technology
12. Nic Computer Division

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All the Best!

What are the roles of a Technical Writer?

Study and research product samples
Communicate with product designers and developers
Work with the internal technical team, collaborate with the staff
Analyze the product sample, provide supporting content
Produce quality content that meets the company’s repute
Provide information in writing as well as in graphic (images, gifs, icons, illustrations, infographics)
Gain valuable feedback and work towards a user-centric approach

What are the main forms of technical writing?

Technical writing involves user-guides, manual, technical documentation, regulatory reports & summary statements, business policies, protocols & procedure, agendas etc.

What are the most common skills required to be a technical writer?

Significant knowledge about the industry
Ability to understand the inner workings of the industry
Ability to translate complex terms into simper, understandable language
Critical thinking skills, time management skills, interpersonal or social skills, ability to interact, excellent communication skills
Must be a detail-oriented, imaginative and critical thinker

Post Graduate Program in Technical Writing

Strengthen your Writing prowess as you master the art of simplifying Complex Technical details into clear and well-structured documents

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