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Q&A Does a technical writer need a technical background?

No, you don't need to have taken classes or earned a degree in your area. What you really need is an insatiable curiosity. One of the best examples I know of this is Martin Gardner, who for over ...

posted 12y ago by Dan C‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T01:22:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6171
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Dan C‭ · 2019-12-08T01:22:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
 **No** , you don't need to have taken classes or earned a degree in your area. What you really need is an **insatiable curiosity**. One of the best examples I know of this is _Martin Gardner_, who for over 20 years wrote a column for Scientific American called _Mathematical Games_. He is given much credit for the popularization of recreational mathematics in the 20th century.

According to wikipedia: "Ironically, Gardner had problems learning calculus and never took a mathematics course after high school." As I recall, Gardner credited his _lack of training in mathematics_ for some of the success of his column. Each month for his column, _he_ had to learn about the topic, before he could teach it to his audience.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-08-06T21:20:46Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 0