Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How can I get a technical writing job for software apps without a degree? [closed]

+1
−0

Closed by System‭ on Sep 13, 2018 at 12:22

This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.

I have no degree and I cannot afford to have one, however, I would really love to get into technical writing because I love writing and I am interested in web and software development. Right now, I am still learning python and java.

Should I at least get a certificate in technical writing to get a job? Or can I get a job without a certificate as long as I have the skills? How and where should I learn technical writing?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38864. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

In many (most?) companies you do not need a degree or certificate; what you need is demonstrated skill. Technical writing is not a super-common degree to begin with; many technical writers have degrees in English or computer science or other fields. I had a writer on my team once whose degree was in history. Further, for very technical documentation, employers are looking for both writing skills and the ability to understand complex technical topics. Having a head start on the complex technical topics can help.

That demonstrated still is important, though -- you have no degree to back you up, so you're going to have to show that you are a capable technical writer. ("Show, don't tell" applies to careers too.) That means you'll need to build a portfolio, and if nobody is currently paying you to do documentation, this probably means doing some side projects or participating in open-source projects. I wrote more about that elsewhere.

Finally, I said "many" ("most?"). Some companies and some sectors are more regimented and expect a degree. In my experience, US government contractors are like this. You will probably have better luck looking at smaller companies and start-ups.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads