Coming into technical writing with no technical background? No problem!

I went into my technical writing program with a degree in Linguistics and a year of writing procedures in a healthcare office. But I was nervous about going in with no technical background and I was worried about what it would mean for finding a job.

I have since written a whitepaper on swarm robotics and created a prototype of a help website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I'm no expert—and it's no problem.

Whether you can be a technical writer without a technical background is a common question. It can help to have background knowledge of what you're writing about, but it's not required. In fact, being an expert in what you're writing about can actually hurt your writing!

Having no technical background can help your writing

When I was training at my first job in dental with no experience, I had a hard time understanding primary and secondary insurance. The reason it was so difficult (other than the fact that it's insurance...) is that the person training me had expert-level knowledge. She knew it so well that she had a hard time explaining it simply and often left out basic but essential information.

The problem wasn't that she didn't know the topic, it was that she knew it too well from an expert point of view and couldn't see it from my beginner perspective.

Technical writers are skilled at being able to explain difficult information at the right level for the audience. Coming into a topic at a similar level as the audience lets you experience the same point of view and pain points. By the time you're an expert in the topic, you may forget these pain points or take for granted what you think is common knowledge.

What you need to succeed as a technical writer

Being an expert in what you're writing about is optional but being an expert in certain skills is essential. Here's a list of what makes a successful technical writer:

• Asking the right questions—If you can ask the right questions, you can get the right information from an expert.

• Learning quickly—It doesn't matter if you've never used the software you're documenting if you can learn it quickly.

• Being excited to learn—You're writing about new things all the time and you'll get more out of the learning experience if you're excited about it.

• Being a good communicator—You must be able to communicate clearly and concisely.

Having these qualities more than makes up for not being an expert in what you're writing about. Don't let your background hold you back from pursuing technical writing! I'm glad I didn't let it stop me.

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Thanks for reading!

I'm a new technical writer and I want to be part of the community. I'd love to hear your feedback and if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn!