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Technical writing as a career and form of Open source contribution

@coder_blvck

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ABOUT ME

@coder_blvck

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What is Technical Writing

"Technical writing is a type of writing where the author writes about a particular subject that requires direction, instruction, or explanation." - Grammar

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Skills That Every Technical Writer Needs to Succeed

  • Writing Skills
  • Technical Skills
  • Research and Exploration Skills
  • Ability to Work With Modern Tools
  • Testing and Troubleshooting Skills
  • Interviewing Skills
  • Proofreading Skills

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Forms of Technical writing

  • Blogging
  • White Papers
  • Documentation
  • Articles
  • Tutorials.
  • Guides

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A Technical Writer Toolbox

  • Dictionary
  • Grammarly
  • Wordtune
  • Hemmingway
  • Another person’s eyes 👀

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Platforms you can practice writing on

  • Medium
  • Dev.to
  • Hashnode
  • Hacker News
  • Freecodecamp Blog

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IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL WRITING TO OSS

  • It helps educate people and keep track on all aspects of the software.
  • It helps improves the quality of the software.
  • It helps inform people on all changes made on the software including version updates(release notes).
  • It helps inform people on what aspect of the software is currently being worked on by the maintainers of the OSS projects (roadmaps)

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Benefits of Contributing to Open-Source Projects

  • You will gain experience and improve your writing skills. That’s what you need at the beginning of your career. Sometimes, open-source projects offer specific and non-standard tasks.
  • You will add new samples to your portfolio. Looking for a position, you need to show your best samples. People often think about where to get them. That’s where.
  • You will expand your network. Surely, you’ll get acquainted with professionals who can give you tips on how to write high-quality documentation. Most probably, they may help you find a job.
  • You will get recommendations. If you apply for a job, a strong recommendation letter will definitely help you.
  • You will learn to collaborate with others. That is a useful skill for technical writers.
  • ​

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TIPS FOR CONTRIBUTING TO OSS AS A TECHNICAL WRITER

  • Pick a project you like, Check the issues list and search for issues with the tag of “README”, “Docs” etc.
  • Follow the style guide of your documentation and enforce it
  • Follow the Project’s markup style and stick with it
  • Focus on using an active voice.
  • Make use of simple and short sentences(efficient communication).
  • Make sure to format the documentation properly for easy reading.
  • Include sample code and examples
  • Use visual devices to represent information e.g illustrations, tables, graphs etc.
  • Always spell check your documentation to avoid errors.
  • Read contribution guidelines

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Open Source Technical Writing Programmes

  • Google Season of Docs
  • Fedora Docs Project
  • Write the Docs

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Paid Technical Writing Programs

  • Smashing Magazine
  • LogRocket
  • Digital Ocean
  • Auth0
  • Draft Dev
  • Contentlab
  • Find more here

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Personal Technical Writing Advice

  • Before you start writing, create an outline and build up your story from the outlines.
  • Do not write about something you do not understand yet.
  • Make “research” if you are new to the topic.
  • DO NOT plagiarise content.
  • If you need to use someone else's words, always give credit and provide reference.
  • Don’t be pressured to start writing.
  • One of the ways to get better as a software developer is to teach people what you know.

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Important Links