Technical writing: Mail from the TWIN list
Someone had mailed to the list asking for info on tech writing training institutes. I responded and thought should blog it too – Suman
Hi uma shankar,
Sorry to tell you that there are no formal training institutes for tech writing in India as far as I know; no university considers it as a faculty: they think they have covered it all with B.E. (IT) or computer science. That’s where the bad things end. It is a good career option given we have very few ‘real’ techwriters. We have only people who are skilled in tools like robohelp, office, adobe suite whatever. My idea is get your basics on writing strong. You are not a journalist here, tech writing is for users/technicians who need help to work with software/hardware or any other tech product. So you HAVE TO know how to write for an auidence that has little time for you. You can learn any of the tools (robo help etc) under a week, all by yourself. Do not bother about tools. Worry about your writing and most important, your perspective and understanding of technology. Most tech writers I know, dont know what they have documented (copy and paste and deck it up stuff). PLEASE try and understand technology first. Hope this helps. I am a
tech writer and i am still learning a lot. It is good to be a tech writer. You can make a start with hitting F1 on some application and understanding how they have written the help. OR read documentation on sites like blogger.com, jabber.org, microsoft.com, and you have to lean on google buddy. Google is MY gateway to a great deal of learning. Depends on how smart and patient you are with search and keywords. To sum it up: good writing (to an audience mind you) and a good perspective of the technology landscape and lots of commonsense will get you there. ANd you have to learn how to exploit the internet. Good luck. Dont come in here to make money, for that, you can become a programmer.
Suman
http://sumankumar.com
PS: I have heard of some institutes offering courses. If I were you, I’d be too careful about spending money on them. Speak to people like madman. HE is an expert
and he offers no nonsense advice, and yea, shorter mails 
— Uma Shankar
>
> Hai friends:
>
> I am a new comer to this group. I am a resident of > Chennai. I am in the field of Medical Transcription > for about 4 years. I wish to switch my career to > Technical Writing. I also have some computer > knowledge. I wish to know more about Technical > Writing and I also want a few address of technical > writing training institutes in Chennai.
>
> Please help me friends…
> Thanking you,
> Uma Shankar
>
> —
>
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