Technical Writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing and business communication, used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Good technical writing clarifies technical jargon; that is, it presents useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience.
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Freelance, Independent, Contractor, Consultant...
If getting into the technical writing business is a challenge, and it assuredly is, defining our employment status often poses a few questions too. Naturally, there’s the common full-time employee status we all know and understand fairly well, but when we find ourselves dealing with a technical services or technical consulting firm there can be some murky waters, and more than a few aberrations of the “traditional” understanding of the term. So, we need to define some “terms” of employment since the majority of technical writers will ultimately encounter variations.
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Freelancing in Technical Writing – Part I
Freelancing is one of the most lucrative options available to Technical Writers. While being your own boss may sound pleasant, it is not as easy as it sounds.
Pandit, Makarand M. Indus (2003). Careers>Freelance>Writing>Technical Writing
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Friend or Foe? Web 2.0 in Technical Communication 
The rise of Web 2.0 technology provides a platform for user-generated content. Publishing is no longer restricted to a few technical writers—any user can now contribute information. But the information coming from users tends to be highly specific, whereas technical documentation is comprehensive but less specific. The two types of information can coexist and improve the overall user experience. User-generated content also offers an opportunity for technical writers to participate as “curators”—by evaluating and organizing the information provided by end users.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. Scriptorium (2008). Articles>Web Design>Technical Writing>Social Networking
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From Email to the Web: Teaching an ESL Technical Writing Class
This paper discusses the author’s experience of teaching an English as a Second Language (ESL) technical writing class. The class consisted of students from several European and Asian countries who work for the same company as the author. The class began as an email “correspondence” class, but the author developed a web page which served as a “home” for the class to meet. As with most good classes, the teacher ended up learning as much or more than the students. This paper shares some of what the author learned from teaching.
Crawley, Charles R. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Education>Online>Technical Writing
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From Technical Writer to Book Author
Technical writers conceive, plan, and write documentation needed by their company or organization, including user guides, reference manuals, white papers, reports, and proposals. This paper describes one career growth opportunity: that of authoring a book that is published by a commercial publisher and sold in bookstores. The rewards of writing a book for publication include satisfaction in the jinished book, reaching a wider audience, and working with a professional publisher The goal of this paper is to encourage technical writers to consider this career path and to give specijic, practical advice on how to achieve it.
Keene, Sonya E. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Writing>Publishing>Technical Writing
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From Technical Writing to Knowledge Engineering
This paper describes one writer's journey from capturing disparate bits of information as a technical writer in a large corporation to creating knowledge bases of related and evolving data, information, and knowledge. It illustrates how information development professionals can leverage their communication skills into highly-valued, interactive positions, working on teams with domain experts, information technology and information retrieval professionals, and end-users.
Knodel, Elinor L. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Knowledge Management>Technical Writing
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For some time now, machines have been constructed and built using modules. i.e. encapsulated and reusable standard components. In manuals, the modular approach has only slowly been gaining acceptance. With XML and a wide variety of editing tools, the technical prerequisites for the change are by now only a matter of the individual requirements – a right solution can be found for virtually every purpose. But for technical communicators the question arises what needs to be considered when texting under these changed conditions. This language tip is intended to be a basic aspect: how can one determine whether a text component is suited as a module?
Nickl, Markus. tekom (2005). Articles>Language>Technical Writing
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The Front Line of Tech Writing
Tech writing for browser-assisted online help systems does resemble 'writing for the Web' in some significant ways – but there are substantial differences, too.
Roberts, Jennifer. Contentious (1999). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Full-Employment Legislation for Technical Writers
Most of us view government regulations negatively. Yet they provide a multitude of opportunities for technical writers. What are these opportunities? Where are they? How can you take advantage of them? A chance opportunity knocked on the author's door. Her experience can guide you to find and knock on opportunity's door.
Dean, Carolyn. STC Proceedings (1993). Presentations>TC>Legislation>Technical Writing
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Functional Spec Tutorial: What and Why
Functional specifications (functional specs), in the end, are the blueprint for how you want a particular web project or application to look and work. It details what the finished product will do, how a user will interact with it, and what it will look like. By creating a blueprint of the product first, time and productivity are saved during the development stage because the programmers can program instead of also working out the logic of the user-experience. It will also enable you to manage the expectations of your clients or management, as they will know exactly what to expect.
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The Future of Technical Writing in India 
It is not surprising that India will have to go through the process of creating academic programs in the field and you all are the evidence that this is happening.
Pathak, Pratul. TWIN. Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>India
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Gender-Neutral Technical Writing
In recurring discussions on the TECHWR-L list, many technical writers argue that they write in 'correct English' and are not going to change their style just to suit the political-correctness police. 'I won't use 'they' as a singular pronoun because it's not grammatically correct' and 'Using contrived phrases such as 's/he' is just too awkward' are arguments I've heard frequently in the debate. But using 'incorrect English' or contrived phrases is neither the goal nor the outcome of gender-neutral writing.
Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (2002). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Gender
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Gender-Neutral Technical Writing
Gender-neutral writing uses language that does not stereotype either sex nor appear to be referring to only one sex when that is not the writer's intention. In this article, you'll see why gender-neutral writing is important for technical writers to use, what gender-neutral writing is not, and how you can use gender-neutral writing in the documents you develop.
Weber, Jean Hollis. STC Northeast Ohio (2002). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Gender
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George Saunders: Taking Technical Writing into the World of Fiction
For George Saunders, recipient of a MacArthur Grant and former technical writer, years working on reports and proposals proved to be excellent training for creative writing.
Moran, Tom. Intercom (2007). Articles>Interviews>Writing>Technical Writing
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Try to rid your writing, especially business writing, of unnecessary words. They take up space, look impressive only to naive readers, and say nothing.
Leigh, Heather. Crazy for Words (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
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Getting a Technical Writing Job, Even If You Have No Experience 
Technical writing jobs can be hard to get if you have little or no experience. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting hired.
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Getting Started in Technical Writing
This summary provides a collection of tips and advice for getting started in the technical writing profession. The following categories are included in this summary: Finding and Getting That First Job; Types of Technical Writing; Types of Technical Writers; Degrees and Technical Writing; Transferring to Technical Writing from Other Professions: From Journalism; From Teaching; From Academia; From Marketing; From Law; Essential Skills; On Being a Technical Writer.
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Getting Started with Graphics for an Enriching User Experience
Good web design does not necessarily mean good use of colors and layouts, but it does transcend beyond it. Design elements like color, font, size, frame, etc. play an important role nonetheless, but what is more important is that how it affects the aesthetic sensibilities of the users. The warmth and the feel of the web site, or in another words, the texture of the web site is a crucial area to turn our attention to. By texture of the web site what it means is the subtleties of the surface of the web site. Varied aspects as discussed in this article, when sensibly used -- and in combination with good deign skills aimed at creating intuitive appeal -- are of definite help of when it comes to developing engaging graphics on your web site.
Rahbre Azam. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>User Experience>Technical Writing>Graphic Design
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The gaps in your documentation aren’t there because you haven’t consider a particular level of user; the gaps in your documentation are there because you haven’t considered how one level of user becomes another. How DO you get from Beginner to Expert?
McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Technical Writing
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Going Global with Technical Writing
Despite your best efforts, it is not uncommon for mishaps to occur when attempting to localize documentation. Learn how to align your technical writing and localization processes and how to optimize the solution you choose for this alignment.
Hill, Nicholas. Intercom (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Localization
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Writers can increase the value of their documentation by visiting customers where the customers work and seeing what they are doing. It's easier to write targeted topics when you know what readers need. Ann Beebe, User Education manager for Visual Studio, gave me two examples of writers who went into the field and discovered how the customer's experience can be very different from the experience in the development team.
Miller, Harry. Microsoft (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>User Centered Design
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Sometimes we focus so much on tools and technologies that we forget the underlying theory of basic, good technical writing. Yes, there are basic laws of technical writing which remain intact despite the constant changes in the way we produce documentation or the way users access it. Whether you are writing a printed user guide, an online reference manual, or context-sensitive online help, these same basic laws apply. I call these basic laws my 'golden rules' for producing effective user documentation and eliminating sloppy habits. This workshop covers each rule in detail, plus provides practical tips for applying them.
Guren, Leah. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Technology>Technical Writing
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A technical writing/technical communication weblog with tips, tools and templates for technical writers.
Walsh, Ivan. I Heart Tech Docs (2003). Resources>Documentation>Blogs>Technical Writing
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Don't you think that it is a tragedy that 95 percent of the people who desire to be technical writers have a poor command over the language? I am sure all of us make a mistake or two, once in a while. But to make it in every sentence and paragraph shows utter disrespect for readers.
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>Editing>Grammar>Technical Writing
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The Great Instauration: Restoring Professional and Technical Writing to the Humanities 
If you wish to start an undergraduate professional and technical writing program at a small liberal arts college, you will find good arguments for your project in the educational writings of Sir Francis Bacon. Unlike other Renaissance Humanists, Bacon located the New Learning (what we now call the humanities) within the related contexts of scientific discovery and invention and professional training and development. His treatise, The Advancement of Learning, proposes to draw knowledge from and apply knowledge to the natural and social world. Bacon's curricular ideas can benefit emerging PTW programs in the humanities in three ways: They make a convincing apologia for most English departments and writing programs, wed humanistic education to public service, and provide a rich but practical theoretical framework for program development and administration.
Di Renzo, Anthony. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Education>Professionalism>Technical Writing
