Questions for Technical Writers

Recently I was thinking about the various questions/requirements/nice to haves that various companies have looked for in the Technical Writer/Editor/Copy Writer and/or Editor they have looked for. So, I put together this list and I had to remember to have only a few items of each. Yet, be mindful that this is only a small list, of the array of the skills some companies what the next person to have that walks into the role.

Duties to include:

• Ability to develop design artifacts such as wireframes, mockups, user personas, journey maps, and product visions.
• Ability to lead or contribute to the development and execution of an internal communication program.
• Ability to write, edit, and manage the content lifecycle
• Skilled in the administration, management, and operations of a digital signage program.
• Researching, developing, writing, and editing technical content, e.g., articles, manuals, and presentations
• Analyzing documents to maintain correctness of information and continuity of style
• Managing updates and revisions to technical literature
• Collaborating with project managers, engineers, and subject matter experts to scope and define projects
• Writing clear, concise content that simplifies complex technical concepts into consumable content for all skill levels
• Contributing ideas, influencing the process, and taking ownership of key deliverables
• Hand-on experience in UI/UX design, software development, or related area
• Ability to work with Product Owners, Users, SME's, technologists, and other stakeholders to gather requirements, user needs, and other design inputs to create an application with a high degree of usability
• Strong interpersonal skills allowing for the development of relationships with stakeholders in order to foster collaborative two-way communication of design ideas and requirements

To be considered you may need:

Clearance: N/A, Public Trust, Secret, TS/SCI Required

Bachelor’s degree in science, communications, or English, Bachelor's degree with 8 years, Master's degree with 6 years of experience

Need Experience in the following:

writing manuals, step by step guides/manuals, hardening guides, DR, COOP, run guides, blogs, articles, marketing material, social media posts, course curriculum development, SOP, SOW, As Is & To Be docs, flow diagrams, UI/UX documents, employee handbooks, internal & external policies, marketing materials, scripts for video presentations, 508 compliance standards, org charts, sprints, research, articulated technical concepts, compelling user-facing product documentation, white papers, strong collaboration & listening skills, experience interviewing SMEs, and building good working relationships with other teams such as customer success/solutions architects/quality assurance and even engineering

Software Experience with the following:

Adobe XD, Jira, Visio, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Snag-It, Sketch, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, Arbortext, Notepad, WordPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Framemaker, XML Author

Seth Blanken