Technical Writing ToolBox

A Blog on Technical Writing

Category Archives: Elements of Technical Writing

Thank You for 200,000 views!

Dear Viewer, Thank you!

What else can I ever say to express my humble gratitude to all the viewers of my personal technical writing blog (TechnicalWritingToolBox.com) who viewed my humble words over 200,000 times?

Almost a decade ago, I was working as a Technical Writer in New Delhi, India in the hi-tech IT/Semiconductor industry. The position was very challenging, and it paid damm well, making it a pretty cool job.

However, I wanted to grow and develop myself, and one fine day I finally decided to get uncomfortable, left that comfy job for a year-long study sabbatical (Technical Communication Course @ Seneca College, Toronto), and came to Canada as an International student and that was the beginning of a tough yet interesting journey.

Leaving all of my friends, my family, the familiar sights and smells of Indian Bazaar, and a promising career was not easy. It was the single most difficult and perhaps the most important decision of my life.

I researched Universities in Canada, USA, UK, Australia and finalized Canada as a destination because of the great culture (weather was better in Australia, USA had more job opportunities) and least racism compared to other countries.

I graduated with honors and started working as a technical writer. Then the exciting world of DevOps caught my interest and I transitioned myself into a DevOps Engineer. Read my personal DevOps blog at DevOpsBlog.ca.

When I was debating myself whether to leave my job and all the comforts of my job to start again as a student in a foreign land, one little-faint voice kept me awake at nights which always asked “What if you don’t go and regret the decision after 10 years?”.

It has been 10 years and I am glad that I made that tough decision and I will encourage you to have faith and listen to that little-faint voice in your heart which begs you to get uncomfortable today to be very comfortable tomorrow!

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Meet Technical Writers at Google!

What makes technical writing at Google so exciting?

STC India Salary Survey 2017

STC India is conducting its annual salary survey for technical writers in India.

If you are a technical writer based in India, please consider giving your valuable input to the survey which should take only a few seconds to response (trust me, only 5 questions).

Link to the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STCSal2017

Read STC India 2016 Salary Survey results here.

Technical Writers and Subject Matter Experts (SME)

Can you think of a better way of promoting a product, such as a bulletproof glass, other than by giving it to public and asking them to break it? While screaming “our product is better” does not really sound convincing, “Ok, come on, try to break the glass and get the money” sounds like a better and more3m_securityglass1 interesting proposal.

The company (3M) was so sure of the strength of their glass that they placed a huge amount of cash (three million dollars) between panes of a bus stop and challenged people to break it.

Of course, they only had $500 on stake as only that much worth of real currency was stacked on the top and rest was fake.

People could only use their hand or foot to break the glass and a security guard was on duty to enforce this rule.

In essence, they were saying “If you can break it, you can take it”!

Now replace the word money with information and think about getting information from a SME. A subject-matter expert (SME) or domain expert is a person who is an authority in a particular area or topic.

Isn’t this scenario sounds familiar where the information exists in the mind of a SME and we need to break the virtual glass barrier between a writer and SME to deliver useful and accurate documentation?

Have you ever faced challenges in getting information from introvert SMEs that do not mix well with others? Most engineers (I’m one too) are introverts and do not openly provide information which we, the technical writers, often need. Just curious, how do you overcome this challenge at your work?

 

Technical Writing: The 24th Best Job in 2015

technical_writing_2015

Careercast released the 2015 list of top 200 different jobs in the U.S. The ranking is based on four critical aspects that are inherent to every job: environment, income, employment outlook (Growth, Income Growth, and Unemployment), and stress. The data for this report came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies in U.S.

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Technical Writing: The 32nd Best Job in 2014

Technical Writing is the 32nd Best Job in 2014

Technical Writing is the 32nd Best Job in 2014

Careercast released the 2014 list of top 200 different jobs in the U.S. The ranking was based on four critical aspects that are inherent to every job: environment, income, outlook and stress. The data for this report came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies in U.S.

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STC Webinar Recording- Higher Education in Technical Communication

I recently conducted a webinar on Higher Education in Technical Communication for STC India Management SIG. You can view the Youtube video recording of the session on this blog post.

I would love to hear your feedback regarding this session. Is it exciting? Is it boring? Would you like to attend my next webinar? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Youtube Webinar Recording- API Documentation

I recently conducted a webinar on API documentation for STC India Management SIG. You can view the Youtube video recording of the session on this blog post.

I would love to hear your feedback regarding this session. Is it exciting? Is it boring? Would you like to attend my next webinar? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Webinar on API Documentation for STC India Management SIG

I am conducting a webinar on API documentation for STC India Management SIG. Please register if you are interested in learning more API documentation.

Registration link: http://www.stc-india.org/events/webinar-api-documentation/

API_Webinar_Gurpreet_Singh

Top 10 Best Jobs in 2013

best job

In my last blog post, I talked about the 60th best job in 2013– Technical Writing. But what about the top 10 best jobs in 2013?

Comcast released a list of top 200 different jobs in the U.S based on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. The data for this report came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies in the U.S.

Technical Writing: The 60th Best Job in 2013

Technical Writing is the 60th best job in 2013

Technical Writing is the 60th best job in 2013

Following the yearly tradition, Careercast released  a list of top 200 different jobs in the U.S based on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. The data for this report came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies in U.S.

Technical Writer was the 60th best job in 2013 though it slipped 23 ranks as it was the 37th best job in the same survey in 2012, and it slipped 34 ranks as it was the 26th best job in the same survey in 2011. Read the complete list of Careercast 200 tops jobs in 2013 here and the methodology of ranking here.

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How to document a sound?

As intriguing it may seem, have you ever considered the idea of documenting a sound in your writing? It seems impossible, right?

Apparently, technical writers working at Electrolux have discovered a creative way to do exactly that. This illustration describes various sound (noises) which occur inside a freezer during its normal use.

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Indian Technical Writer Salaries in 2013

Indian Rupees

It was Marsha Sinetar who once said “Do what you love and the money will follow” and technical writers in India seems to get both love and money out of this noble profession.

STC India chapter recently released their salary survey results for 2013 which provides an insight about the technical writing salaries in India and also about the technical writing industry growth in the region. Data collection, analysis, and report was published by Paresh Naik. Kudos to Paresh’s great efforts in publishing this salary survey!

About the Survey

STC India chapter conducted a survey of salaries of Technical Communicators working in India. This anonymous survey was open to all Technical Communicators working in India including those who are not the members of STC. The survey was conducted through a web based questionnaire open from 10th to 25th October 2013.
A total of 165 respondents completed the survey. One invalid response was excluded from the analysis. All the salary figures mentioned in this report are in Indian Rupees unless specifically mentioned otherwise.

The conversion rate between INR and USD or CAD is (approximately):

1 USD= 62 INR & 1 CAD = 56 INR [ USD = US Dollars, CAD= Canadian Dollars, INR= Indian Rupees]

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The ambiguity of it!

The ambiguity of it!

The sign stopped me– or rather, this text stopped me. Words are my profession; I seized these and demanded that they explain themselves, that they cease to be ambiguous.
― Daniel Quinn

Difference between Literary Writing and Technical Writing

Top 10 reads for the Year 2012: 30,000 views from 129 countries

Dear Readers,

Thank you for reading my posts and for sharing your thoughts and meaningful comments. It has been an incredible year and I feel grateful for so many gifts I received from God this year. I graduated (with honours!) from a post graduate certificate in technical communication (read about my journey here), I started a new life in Canada, got a great technical writing contract,  and visited my family after a long time.

I started blogging in March 2012 and even though I had posted only 41 blog posts, readers from over 129 countries visited my blog more than 30,000 times!

My top 10 blog posts in 2012 were (according to the number of views):

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Adaptability and Flexibility for Technical Writers

A stretching lion at Ouwehands Dierenpark.

Adaptability and Flexibility skills are now becoming a necessity, and not just a desired quality, to get hired as a technical writer.

Employers want to hire highly adaptable and flexible technical writers who can learn latest technologies, new documentation tools, and can find their way in the maze of social media.
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Working as a Technical Writer in Canada

A lot of readers often ask me to blog about my experience of working as a Technical Writer in Canada.

I’ve lived and worked almost half of my life in the mesmerizing, beautiful, and energetic land of India. India is a land full of opportunities, especially for a technical writer. I was fortunate enough to work with very talented colleagues and supportive bosses and have learned a lot from the Indian Technical Writing industry through STC sessions and TWIN mailing list.

However, one fine day I decided to leave everything to pursue my dream of getting formal education in technical communication. I was fortunate to get a paid co-op (internship) which got extended even during my last semester. Not only that, I was fortunate enough to receive two great job offers and I started working even before my course was finished.

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KeePass- The Best Open Source Password Manager

Program Name: KeePass

Use: Password manager

Cost: Free (Open Source)

Version: Classic and Professional (based on .NET architecture) Edition. Read comparison chart for more details.

Works on:

Classic Edition: Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 7 / 8 / Wine, each 32-bit and 64-bit.

Professional  Edition: Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 7 / 8, each 32-bit and 64-bit, Mono (Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, …)

Download Link: http://keepass.info/download.html

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Enrolling for a Technical Writing Course?

A depiction of the world’s oldest continually operating university, the University of Bologna, Italy.- Image Credit, Wikipedia

Learning on the job is a great thing. But, is getting a higher education in Technical Writing after gaining some real-world experience a good choice as well?

I worked as a technical writer for eight years in New Delhi. Recently, I took a sabbatical to pursue a post-graduate certificate in technical communication from Seneca College, Toronto. The term sabbatical (from Latin ‘sabbaticus’, from Greek ‘sabbatikos’, from Hebrew shabbat, that is Sabbath, literally means “ceasing”) means – to take a break from work for an extended period of time, to pursue a goal.

Looking back at the golden triangle of cost, time, and scope, my decision to pursue higher education in technical writing after getting the real-world experience, was challenging and satisfying at the same time. I often felt that the learning outside the classroom is more important than studying in the classroom. For example, walking a kilometer to my class in -25 degrees, and under a heavy snowfall was as challenging as writing a technical autobiography for my technical writing class.

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