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For people who take the unbelievably complicated things that scientists and engineers devise and make it understandable for non-technical people.

Which online course is the best for a beginner in the technical writing/communications?

Hi, I have just joined as technical writer in SAP Labs (contractual position). I am completely new to this job. Therefore, I am searching for good courses to enhance my skills. I have done my engineering in computer science and done an internship in content writing this year. As a fresher I am clueless and definitely scared as it is a big company and I wanted to perform well. In India (Bangalore) , if you feel there are good technical writing courses offline. Do let me know. Also, I was considering to buy this Udemy course: https://www.udemy.com/technical-writing-and-editing . For offline courses, I thought of taking Tech Total's course. Let me know what do you think of these mentioned courses. If you have other online courses or suggestion in mind, do let me know that too. Apologies if I have not put my thought across in an articulate manner as I am very scared that I have already joined and I have no clue how to go about it. It would be great if the courses would be cheap as I am a fresher.

Technical Writer Certification Course

Become a Certified Technical Writer and Learn the Fundamentals of Technical Writing

What are you going to get from this course ?

Over 70+ lectures, 10+ downloadable technical writing templates, and exclusive interviews (more added over time) with technical writing professionals in the industry.

Learn key fundamentals of being a technical writer, how to dominate technical writing interviews, create a portfolio, and how to stand out as a better candidate to land the job.

We cover topics including:

• How to Implement Technical Writing Key Responsibilities
• How to Set Scope and Purpose of Your Documentation
• How to Analyze Your Audience
• How to Conduct Proper Research
• How to Create Information Architecture
• How to Structure and Design Your Sentences
• How to Create Great Documentation Layout
• How to Conduct User Interviews
• How to Create Learning Objectives
• How to Work with Product Managers, Engineers, and Designers
• How to Foster Learning and Development
• How to Manage a Knowledge Base 
• How to Use Tools for Your Documentation
• How to Write and Edit Documentation for Most Use Cases
• How to Write an FAQ
• API Writing
• How to Write White Papers
• How to Write User Manuals
• How to Write Case Studies
• 20+ Technical Writer Interview Questions Answered
• How to Craft Your Technical Writer Resume
• How to Create a Technical Writer Portfolio Using Your Capstone

Exclusive interviews with current technical writing professionals from companies like Airbnb, PlayStation, Spotify, and Oracle including insider tips on breaking into technical writing, popular questions they like to ask candidates during interviews, and their recommendations on standing out in the recruiting process

Access to downloadable templates used by actual technical writers on the job.

Instructor feedback on your capstone project . Yes! I will actually review your work to ensure you've made progress.

Learn the process of answering the most popular technical writing interview questions in order to stand out as a technical writing candidate.

Build a complete technical writer portfolio

Earn a certificate of completion upon finishing the course

Bonus Content:

• I have been 100% committed to adding more BONUS course content and interviews with tech product leaders over time (I love all things Technical Writing and highly enjoy adding content!) and you'll get FREE LIFETIME ACCESS to all future content!

Your Instructor

Josh is the founder of Technical Writer HQ and Squibler, a writing software. He is considered one of the top product influencers by Product School and one of the top technical writers. He has been writing software tutorials, manuals, handbooks, and white papers for over eight years. His technical writing has been read by over 200 million people. He has written several books about software and another book about copywriting for personal brands. His work has been praised by LinkedIn's and Facebook's engineering team, Reuters, Inc., and Forbes.

Enroll in Technical Writer Certification Course Today

Technical writing certification course, become a certified technical writer.

Earn Your Certification

Each certification is hosted on Technical Writer HQ's website ensuring its authenticity with hiring managers.

Course Curriculum

• Technical Writing Certification Course Overview (3:07) Start
• Certified Technical Writer Workbook Start
• To Become a Great Technical Writer (5:25) Start
• Capstone Project (4:30) Start
• Get Started with Technical Writing (1:41) Start
• Who is a Technical Writer? (3:50) Start
• Technical Writer Roles (5:03) Start
• How to Use Technical Writing (6:40) Start
• Business Writing vs Technical Writing (1:27) Start
• Technical Writing Challenges (7:33) Start
• Technical Writing Examples (2:51) Start
• User Stories (5:33) Start
• Examples (0:59) Start
• Quiz 1A Start
• Knowledge Base (7:04) Start
• FAQs (1:59) Start
• Release Notes (3:04) Start
• Instruction Product Manuals (2:07) Start
• User Guides (3:36) Start
• Proposals (3:42) Start
• Science Writing (2:06) Start
• Medical Writing (2:58) Start
• White Papers (3:38) Start
• Case Studies (3:49) Start
• Quiz 1B Start
• API Writing (6:35) Start
• Roadmapping (10:44) Start
• Competitive Analysis (8:48) Start
• Market Requirements Document (4:58) Start
• Product Requirements Document (8:46) Start
• OKRs (3:08) Start
• Prototyping (8:57) Start
• User Journey Map (2:51) Start
• Meeting Notes (2:06) Start
• Other Documentation (2:35) Start
• Quiz 1C Start
• Agile Technical Writing (8:58) Start
• Scrum (6:33) Start
• Collaboration (3:23) Start
• Research vs Writing (8:00) Start
• Information Architecture (13:44) Start
• How to Create Information Architecture (10:45) Start
• Exercise: Create Example Information Architecture for a Website Start
• Common Writing Problems (2:56) Start
• Audience Analysis (11:39) Start
• Audience Analysis Learning Curve (11:51) Start
• Exercise: Create a User Persona and Audience Definition Start
• SMEs (1:21) Start
• Learning Objectives (13:45) Start
• Refining Learning Objectives (5:14) Start
• Effective Learning Objectives (12:46) Start
• User Interviews (5:14) Start
• Google Analytics (9:02) Start
• Quiz 2A Start
• Scope and Purpose (5:20) Start
• Purpose Statement Homework Start
• Gathering Information (4:10) Start
• Gathering Information Homework Start
• Understanding Grammar (3:16) Start
• Verbs (1:43) Start
• Adjectives (1:28) Start
• Adverbs (1:24) Start
• Prepositions (1:16) Start
• Conjunctions and Transitions (1:35) Start
• Commas (3:22) Start
• Semi-colons (2:56) Start
• Em-Dashes and Parentheses (2:00) Start
• Common Word Mistakes (2:59) Start
• Quiz 2B Start
• Sentence Structure and Design Part #1 (5:07) Start
• Sentence Structure Design #1 Homework Start
• Sentence Structure and Design Part #2 (4:48) Start
• Sentence Structure Design Part #2 Homework Start
• Sentence Structure and Design Part #3 (1:24) Start
• Sentence Structure Design Part #3 Homework Start
• Document Structure and Design (3:40) Start
• Document Layout (1:27) Start
• Style Guides (3:54) Start
• Quiz 3A Start
• What is SEO? (8:04) Start
• SEO Optimization (8:07) Start
• Markdown and HTML Editors (2:52) Start
• Writing for Accessibility (1:16) Start
• Graphs and Charts (3:38) Start
• Tables (2:39) Start
• Tables Homework Start
• Quiz 3B Start
• Post Writing Organization (1:41) Start
• Revise Content (3:07) Start
• Revise Content Homework Start
• Repeat Key Words (1:57) Start
• Repeat Key Words Homework Start
• Begin with the Point (2:14) Start
• Begin with the Point Homework Start
• Transition Words (2:35) Start
• Transition Words Homework Start
• Vertical Lists (3:20) Start
• Vertical Lists Homework Start
• Procedural Guidelines (2:35) Start
• Formatting Tips (5:12) Start
• Understanding Illustrations (7:26) Start
• How to Document an API (7:12) Start
• Editing Flow (13:23) Start
• Quiz 4 Start
• Editing and Proofreading (6:38) Start
• Concrete Words Homework Start
• Use Active Voice (6:14) Start
• Active Voice Homework Start
• Simplify Tense (3:47) Start
• Simplify Tense Homework Start
• Avoid Subjunctive Mood (3:20) Start
• Avoid Subjunctive Mood Homework Start
• Identify and Replace Ambiguity (4:46) Start
• Identify and Replace Ambiguity Homework Start
• Use "You" (2:32) Start
• Use Standard English (1:38) Start
• Ensure Modifier Replacement (3:01) Start
• Ensure Modifier Replacement Homework Start
• Edit for Economy Part #1 (1:42) Start
• Edit for Economy Part #2 (2:40) Start
• Edit for Economy Parts #1 and #2 Homework Start
• Edit for Economy Part #3 (2:56) Start
• Editing for Economy Part #3 Homework Start
• Wordiness (1:56) Start
• Editing for Readability (2:00) Start
• Editing for Readability Homework Start
• Avoid Negative Writing (4:06) Start
• Overall Editing Homework Start
• Quiz 5 Start
• Technical Verification (17:12) Start
• QA Technical Verification (4:44) Start
• Technical Writing Tools (5:51) Start
• Working with Support (3:08) Start
• Working with Engineers (6:04) Start
• Calculating Scope (4:47) Start
• Exercise Start
• Quiz 6 Start
• How to Write a Technical Writer Resume (14:51) Start
• Freelancing (10:14) Start
• How to Create a Technical Writer Portfolio (12:38) Start
• How to Optimize a Technical Writer LinkedIn Profile (20:38) Start
• Get Ready to Submit Your Capstone Start
• Technical Writer Interview Questions (11:21) Start
• Salary Negotation (15:40) Start
• First 90 Days on the Job (13:03) Start
• Quiz 7 Start
• Congrats! (1:42) Start
• Qumulo and Amazon Technical Writer Interview (30:17) Start
• Extreme Networks Technical Writer Interview (23:32) Start
• Spotify Technical Writer Interview (11:33) Start
• Oracle Technical Writer Interview (22:01) Start
• SailPoint Technical Writer Interview (14:30) Start
• Certification Exam Start
• Capstone Project Submission Start
• Get 20% your next course Start

This course has no prerequisites and you do not need a technical writing background

• You should NOT take this course if:
• You are already an experienced technical writing professional
• You aren't willing to spend 30 minutes every day for about a month to complete course content 
• You SHOULD take this course if:
• You are curious about technical writing and want to learn more about the role and responsibilities
• You have no prior experience and you want to transition into a technical writer role
• You are trying to determine if the technical writer role is right for you
• You are beginning your career in tech or are making a career change

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the course start and finish?

This course is intentionally structured so it can be completed over the course of just 1 month. It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish, but I highly encourage you to complete at least a few lessons a day so that you can finish the course at the end of the month.

How long do I have access to the course?

How does lifetime access sound? As mentioned before, I am 100% committed to adding even more bonus content (I love all things technical writing and enjoy adding content) as well as bonus interviews with awesome technical writing leaders. After enrolling, you will have FREE LIFETIME ACCESS to all of it for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.

What if I am unhappy with the course?

We would never want you to be unhappy. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.

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Technical Writing Certificate - Online

Are you interested in getting a job or launching your own business as a technical writer? Do you work in a technical field and want to advance your writing skills? Are you interested in getting feedback on your writing from an OSU writing instructor?

Our online Technical Writing Certificate is designed to help you build targeted skills through a series of courses that each focus on a specific skillset. Take any of the technical writing courses individually to gain just the training you need or complete the series to earn your certificate and launch your technical writing career!

What is Technical Writing?

Technical Writing Certificate

The online Technical Writing Certificate series includes the following component courses, which may be taken together or individually:

• Technical Writing Course: Free Introduction (self-paced)
• Technical Writing Course: Manuals - Instructions and Overviews
• Technical Writing Course: Technical Editing - SOPs and Flowcharts
• Technical Writing Course: Single-Sourcing and Methodology
• Technical Writing Course: Usability and User-Centered Design
• Technical Writing Course: Portfolio Creation

Please note that the Free Intro to Technical Writing class is self-paced and not required to receive a certificate. If you are new to technical writing, it is recommended that you complete this course and also take the other courses in the order outlined here.

Learn How to Become a Technical Writer

In these targeted courses, you’ll build knowledge and skills to help you:

• Write clearly, correctly, and concisely.
• Understand technical writing as a practice distinct from other forms of writing.
• Use professional technical writing conventions of clean and clear design, style, and layout of written materials.
• Create document layouts that are accessible and aid end-user experience.
• Incorporate feedback and notes into editing and revision processes.
• Understand UX design and why it’s important for technical writing documents.
• Identify your target audience and craft a document that resonates with that audience.

Multiple dates

Asynchronous

Full Certificate: $2,495 (+$60 registration fee) Individual Technical Writing Courses: $499 (+$60 registration fee, per course)

Request more information.

Technical Writing Course Start Dates

Manuals: instructions and overviews, technical editing: sops and flowcharts, single-sourcing and methodology, usability and ux design, technical writing portfolio creation.

The online technical writing courses don’t focus intensely on any specific tools in this program. Rather, the focus is on the writing itself and how to produce high-quality technical writing. This isn’t to say that the course does not discuss the common tools that are used, but rather it does not spend time training on them.

The projects in the online Technical Writing program are self-contained, you will not need to collaborate for group work or to find an external individual to work with.

The Technical Writing program costs the same regardless of where you are from. And there are no restrictions on location, so you can complete this certificate anywhere in the world.

The technical writing series is entirely asynchronous, which means there are no specific dates or times when you need to be online and there are no live meetings. There are assignments due weekly that can be completed at any time during the week prior to their due date.

Newcomers to the technical writing field are welcome and encouraged to complete the certificate program. If you are brand new to technical writing, it is recommended you take the free, self-paced Intro to Tech Writing course first.

The online Technical Writing Certificate is entirely asynchronous, which means there are no specific dates or times when you need to be online and there are no live meetings. There are assignments due weekly that can be completed at any time during the week prior to their due date.

Each Technical Writing Course is four weeks long, and there are five courses in the program. However, the courses do not typically run back-to-back, so you will not be in class for 20 weeks straight. Students typically finish this program in a little under a year and gain their certificate in technical writing.

  Anyone is welcome to join the program and there are no prerequisites. All you must do to participate is register.

All five courses are required to receive your certificate in technical writing. You are not required to take all the courses in the series, but you must complete all of them to earn the certificate. Please note that you may not take the Portfolio course until after you have completed the four core courses.

Due to the technical writing program's popularity, we typically extend the registration date for a week after the course begins. However, once each course reaches capacity, the registration window effectively closes. 

This certificate program is a non-credit program. Though it is taught by OSU instructors, a degree is not needed to register. So, even though a degree is not needed, it can be ideal for someone looking to supplement their degree.

"I definitely feel more confident about technical writing after deciding to take this course. Technical writing is an important field of communication that should not be neglected by anyone wishing to broaden their skills in today's high-tech work place. The class is presented in a clear, straight-forward and professional manner. Kudos to Rich Collins for his ability to make a specialized field of writing accessible to anyone."

"The instructor was awesome. She replied promptly to my inquiries and was always ready to help with any problems. Her grading was quick and almost immediate. helpful"

"This course was great - I really, really enjoyed it. The learning materials were focused and applicable. Best part? I looked forward to the weekly modules and assignments. I felt that I learned something new, could apply it directly to each weekly assignment (reinforcement) and then immediately apply it to the writing I do at work. Adult learners tend to want to know, "What's in it for me?" For me, the fact that the concepts and techniques applied immediately to my job meant a lot. No wasted time; just focused instruction."

Instructors

Elizabeth delf.

Liz Delf (MA, Oregon State University '11) developed and piloted the Career Preparation for English Majors course in 2017. She teaches writing across the university and beyond, including sections for the Honors College, INTO, the Beijing Normal University Summer Program, and an INTEL Technical Writing Boot Camp. Courses regularly taught at OSU include English Composition, Argumentation, Technical Writing, Writing in Business, and Intro to Literature: Fiction.

Emily Elbom

Emily Elbom is a writing instructor at Oregon State University. Emily has an MA in English from the University of North Dakota and an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Oregon State University. Courses regularly taught at OSU include Technical Writing, Technical Writing for English Language Learners, Engineering Specific Technical Writing, Business Writing, Writing for the Media and more.

Erin Dalton

Erin Dalton has a background in technical writing, editing, and instructional design. She holds an MA in Professional Communication and a BA in English. Past courses taught include Technical Editing & Style, Technical & Presentation Writing, Business & Administrative Writing, and Brand Development. She has also developed and facilitated technical communication trainings for engineers and scientists at a Department of Energy national laboratory.

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My review of the Technical Writer Certification Course from Technical Writer HQ.

Linda Ikechukwu

07 April, 2022

If you google for recommendations on Technical Writing certification courses, you'll find the Technical Writer Certification Course from Technical Writer HQ featured in 8 out of 10 sites. In fact, I also recommend it as one of the courses for newbie technical writers in my blog post ' Everything You Need to Know About Technical Writing '.

One day, one of my Twitter followers asked me what I thought of Technical Writer HQ's Technical Writer Certification Course and whether it was worth the money. To provide an honest review, I purchased and completed the course.

About the course

The Technical Writer HQ's Technical Writer Certification course costs $299 . It is hosted on the teachable platform, so you can complete it at your own pace.

The course claims that it will teach you:

• the fundamentals of technical writing,
• how to create great documentation,
• how to answer technical writing interview questions, and
• how to stand out in the interviewing process to land a technical writing job.

Most sections of the course include exercises as well as answers that you can compare to your own to evaluate yourself.

You are required to complete a capstone project featuring seven different forms of documentation discussed during the course. You are also required to submit your capstone project to the course creator for feedback.

After you submit your capstone project, you'll receive feedback on the quality of your work and your certificate of completion. There'd be no certificate if you don't submit your capstone project.

This course will be valuable to you if you are utterly new to technical writing. It does deliver on its promise to teach the fundamentals of tech writing. You'll learn what it means to be a tech writer, different technical writer roles, and some key principles/techniques that you should be aware of in order to succeed as a technical writer.

Additionally, you'll learn some invaluable editing tips to improve the overall presentation of your writing. You'll also learn how to write a technical writer's resume, negotiate your salary, and answer common technical writer interview questions, among other things you'll need when interviewing for a tech writer role.

I feel the course falls short in teaching how to actually write documentation.

First, the course is heavily theoretical and delivered in a monotonous narrative tone. It was like the creator was reciting the course content from a whiteboard or paper. I got super bored on several occasions and almost slept off. I would have preferred to read instead.

Secondly, most parts of the course just felt inconsistent and thrown together without adequate practical instructions. For example, in the section on 'how to document an API', I assumed that we'll be shown practical steps on how to write API documentation. Instead, I got a 7-minute recital of the factors to consider when deciding whether to document a third-party API integration.

I also expected hands-on demonstrations on how to write the different types of documentation mentioned in the course. I hoped that the creator would use any software product as a case study and then show how he would go about creating the different types of documentation — thoughts processes, note jotting, errors, the whole package. Instead, what I got was the definitions of each type of document, why it was important, and a sample of what it looks like.

The course also failed to focus on a single niche of technical writing, namely software, and instead seemed to be all over the place, occasionally discussing hardware, medical equipment, and so on. It also sometimes shifted from software documentation to proposal writing. I'm not sure how those relate, but I guess the same principles apply.

As I mentioned, this course will be good for total beginners.

However, if you're like me, and you have some experience with any form of technical writing, I doubt this course will be helpful to you. But, I did enjoy the last sections of the course on editing and proofreading, salary negotiations, and the interviews with technical writers at top organisations like Google, Spotify, Oracle, and Amazon.

I hope this review helps you decide whether this course will be right for you or not. If you do decide to purchase it, use my link to get 20% off.

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Free technical writing courses

Every software engineer is also a writer. Improve your technical writing skills by taking one of Google's free technical writing courses. We've aimed these courses at people in the following roles:

• professional software engineers
• computer science students
• engineering-adjacent roles, such as product managers

The courses are free, fun, and valuable to your career. Thousands of Google software engineers have taken and loved these courses. Note that these courses focus on technical writing, not on general English writing or business writing.

You need at least a little writing proficiency in English, but you don't need to be a strong writer to take these courses. You will find these courses easier to understand if you have at least a little background in coding, though you don't need to be an expert coder.

We're currently offering the following courses:

• Technical Writing One, which covers the critical basics of technical writing.
• Technical Writing Two, which covers intermediate topics in technical writing.
• Tech Writing for Accessibility, which covers how to make your documents more accessible for everyone.

Each course consists of the following two parts:

• self-paced online pre-class material
• virtual live session

To attend a virtual live session, you need to join the class using a Google Account with access to Google Meet and Google Docs. You can turn captions on in Google Meet.

Though not a requirement, we strongly recommend studying the self-paced online pre-class material prior to attending a virtual live session. Click one of the following links to access the self-paced online pre-class material:

• Technical Writing One
• Technical Writing Two
• Tech Writing for Accessibility

Facilitators

Some of the public courses listed in the "Schedule" section are facilitated by people who don't work for Google. We are very grateful to these volunteers! As these volunteers are not Google employees, Google can't accept any responsibility for false or misleading statements made during these public classes.

Thank you to all the facilitators who led technical writing classes in 2023 and to all of our wonderful students.

A big thank you to our external teachers, Kevin McGrail and Charlene Kuye, for leading wonderful classes in 2023!

We don't offer a way to preregister for virtual live sessions. To attend a virtual live session, consult the following table and click the appropriate Google Meet link at the specified time.

• PT: United States Pacific Time ( UTC -7 )
• ET: United States Eastern Time ( UTC -4 )
• GMT: Greenwich Mean Time ( UTC +0 )
• CEST: Central European Summer Time ( UTC +2 )

Train the Trainer

A Train the Trainer session helps prepare you to teach Technical Writing One or Technical Writing Two. During a Train the Trainer session, an experienced trainer will explain how to teach a course and will answer any of your questions.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License , and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License . For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies . Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2024-05-16 UTC.

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Certificate in Professional Technical Writing

Communicate Clearly on a Wide Range of Technical Subjects

Program Details

• Location: Online
• Duration: 8 months
• Times: Evenings, Flexible
• Cost: $3,995

Next start date:

October 2, 2024

About this Program

Technical communication today goes beyond writing traditional software documentation to include diverse web content, white papers and scientific publications, plus elements related to design and production. Technical writers are expected to bring both broad and deep knowledge, and skilled professionals are in high demand.

In this three-course certificate program, we’ll cover all the fundamental concepts and practical applications of technical writing. You’ll learn about the styles, formats and requirements for different kinds of technical communication. Become a well-trained, confident technical writer who can hit the ground running in a variety of organizational roles.

▸ Related Article:   How to Become a Technical Writer

DESIGNED FOR

Professionals with some writing background who want to develop their technical writing abilities.

See Requirements

Requirements

Admission requirements.

To apply, you must:

• Four years of college, plus two years of work experience in any field
• Two years of college, plus four years of work experience in any field
• Be familiar with authoring tools such as Microsoft Word, including the ability to create a document, add comments, track changes, and format styles and templates

Time Commitment

Including time in class, you should expect to spend about seven to nine hours each week on coursework.

English Proficiency

If English is not your native language, you should have at least intermediate English skills to enroll. To see if you qualify, make sure you are at the B2 level on the CEFR self-assessment grid . To learn more, see English Language Proficiency Requirements – Noncredit Programs .

International Students

Because this offering is 100% online, no visa is required and international students are welcome to apply. For more information, see Admission Requirements for International Students .

TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS

• Access to a computer with a recent operating system and web browser 
• Microsoft Office 365 (available to students free of charge though the UW Microsoft Student Advantage program) 
• High-speed internet connection 
• Headset and webcam (recommended)

Earning the Certificate

You earn a certificate of completion by successfully completing all required courses. For more information, see Earning the Certificate .

▸ Explore More:  Check out the new specializations in  Regulatory Medical Writing  and API Documentation  or see all our programs for writers and editors .

Video Overview

Hear from Carl Chatfield, instructor in the Professional Technical Writing certificate program. Find out how the program helps to set up graduates for a career in the field.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• The principles of visual and user-centered design, software user assistance, editing conventions, usability testing, layout concepts and publication formats
• The role of style and structure in technical communication
• Design techniques for different document types
• How to use industry-standard software tools and systems

GET HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

Produce a document development plan and a variety of work samples for your portfolio.

EARN DIGITAL BADGES

You can earn a digital achievement badge for successfully completing this certificate program, as well as a separate badge for each course. These badges can be shared on LinkedIn and other social media sites. Learn more about  digital badges .

APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP

You may be eligible to apply for a UW Certificate Scholarship or Rotary Scholarship to cover most of the costs of this program. Scholarships are awarded based on financial need and the potential of the program to positively impact your career. For more information, see the Scholarships page.

Career Stats

Projected job growth for technical writers in Washington state (2020–2030)

Average salary for technical writers in Washington state (2023)

OUR ENROLLMENT COACHES ARE HERE TO HELP

Connect with an enrollment coach to learn more about this offering. Or if you need help finding the right certificate, specialization or course for you, reach out to explore your options .

Program Overview

Complete the courses listed below to earn the certificate. You may be able to take individual courses without enrolling in the certificate program; check the course pages for details.

Foundations of Professional Technical Writing

Intermediate technical writing, advanced professional technical writing.

Approved by the  UW Department of English .

View this program's advisory board .

Advisory Board

Each of our programs uses an advisory board to review content, guide design and recommend updates to ensure the program remains current as the field of study evolves. By tapping the minds of the top thinkers, doers and leaders in the field, we offer a transformational learning experience. The following individuals serve as the advisory board for this program.

Ratula Chakrabarti , Senior Technical Writer, Microsoft through Aquent

Teresa Floreano Geortz , Senior Content Strategist, Jungle Scout

Brian R. Gutierrez , Program Manager, International & Academic Programs, UW Continuum College

Tom Johnson , Senior Technical Writer, Google

Lin Laurie , Principal, Lin Laurie & Associates & President of the Society for Technical Communications, Puget Sound

Christine Loucks-Jaret , Technical Writer; Lecturer, UW Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering

Mike Maisen , Senior Technical Editor, Aspect Consulting, LLC

C. Blaise Mitsutama , LMS Administrator/Instructional Designer, Tombolo Institute at Bellevue College; Founder & Principal, TechFleur

Marita Stevens Graube , Principal, Pixel Theory Inc.

Stacy Smith , Attorney and Professor, Paradise Valley Community College

Jim Travis , Editor in Chief, developer.android.com, Google

Kate Walton , CEO, Steyer Content

Jacob Warren , Senior Documentation Manager, Amazon Web Services

Attend an info session

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How to Become a Freelance Technical Writer (6 Key Steps)

Companies are increasingly looking for people that can transform complex conceptual ideas into straightforward content for customers and stakeholders. If you have a technical background but are looking for a more flexible career option, freelance technical writing might be excellent.

By learning how to become a freelance technical writer, you can become your own boss and work from anywhere. In other words, you can turn your expertise into a flexible, lucrative, and rewarding career.

Excited? Let’s go!

Check Out Our Video Guide to Becoming a Technical Writer

What Is Freelance Technical Writing?

There’s much more to freelance writing than blogging and drafting social media posts . Pretty much any writing work can be done by freelancers.

Freelancers don’t just work for one company. They work with several writing clients who pay you as a non-employee service provider.

In particular, freelance technical writers specialize in creating written content about highly technical or specialized topics such as engineering or website development.

Benefits of Working as a Freelance Technical Writer

Whether you decide to freelance full time or you want to earn extra money on the side, freelance writing offers several benefits, such as the ability to work from anywhere on your own time.

Flexible Schedule

When surveyed, 68% of freelancers chose this work style over the traditional day job because of the increased flexibility. Since freelancers aren’t considered an employee to clients, you don’t need to clock in and out every day.

Freelance writing work revolves around deadlines, not regular work hours. This type of schedule can give you the freedom you need if you have non-work obligations (like raising children) or just want more control over your time.

Work Anywhere

In addition to schedule flexibility, location independence is one of the most significant benefits of a career in freelance writing. No more requesting time off to travel — you can work anywhere as long as you have a computer and an internet connection.

Higher Salary Potential

Freelance writing isn’t just a side hustle option ; it’s an excellent full-time career choice. Furthermore, freelance technical writers can demand a higher salary because of their specialized knowledge and skills.

Freelance technical writing opens the door to work on a wide variety of projects across multiple industries. You can find clients in IT, finance, government, manufacturing, education, and medicine, to name just a few.

What’s more, you’re not limited to one industry at a time. Working with several clients at once lets you add variety to your work and explore the topics and industries that interest you.

Freelance Technical Writer Salary

According to ZipRecruiter , freelance technical writers earn more than the average freelance writer. On average, a general freelance writer makes around $61,935 annually or $30/hour. On the other hand, freelance technical writers earn an average of $70,191 a year, or $34/hour.

Several factors affect your rates as a freelance writer, including industry, level of expertise, and content type. Technical writers that have higher levels of knowledge or specialize in niche topics can price their services higher.

Most Common Types of Technical Writing

As a freelance technical writer, you can choose from various content types to offer your clients. Here are some of the most common types of freelance technical writing projects.

Technical Articles

Technical articles refer to any editorial pieces focused on a specialized topic or product. These articles are typically published in magazines or other online publications, and they don’t require supervised research.

You can find work writing technical articles for almost any type of client, from robotics manufacturers to legal firms and everything in between. Here are a few examples of technical content from some of these industries:

• A New Way to Launch Rockets: Microwave Power (Tech Briefs)
• Cryptoassets: Accounting for an Emerging Asset Class (The CPA Journal)
• 5 Best Markdown Editors for WordPress Power Users

Technical Guides and Manuals

Technical guides and manuals are how-to handbooks intended to help customers learn how to use a product and get the most out of it.

A technical manual may include instructions for installation, use, maintenance, troubleshooting, and best practices depending on the product. API documentation is another popular type of technical guide used by software companies.

Some popular examples of technical documentation include Salesforce’s Pardot API Guide , Blue Star Cooking’s Free-Standing Range Installation , and our step-by-step guide on website usability testing .

Policies and Procedures

Businesses use policy and procedure manuals to define a standard protocol for various situations. As a technical writer, you can work on documents such as hiring procedures, work-from-home policies, employee benefits packages, or workplace conduct guidelines.

These projects are especially relevant in the education, government, and healthcare sectors as they’re frequently subject to federal regulations. A good example is the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct published by SHRM.

Business Plans

Business plans serve as the roadmap which defines a company’s goals, objectives, and strategies. Startups, in particular, may employ technical writers with acute business acumen and product-related knowledge to draft a business plan to present to potential investors.

Two great examples worth peeking at are the Culina Business Plan and the OrcaSmart Business Plan .

White Papers

If you have experience working in a B2B industry , you may already be familiar with white papers. White papers are documents used by sales and marketing teams to explain new solutions or highlight product or service details.

White papers range in length from 6 to 15 pages, and they’re one of the more lucrative offerings for writers, clocking in at $3–6,000 on average. High-end white papers can go for $10,000 or more; however, you will often need to research and create or suggest designs for the document.

Two white papers you can peruse for inspiration are McKesson’s Preparing for a Medicaid MCO Transition and Microsoft Azure’s Azure Stack HCI Overview (Microsoft Azure).

Case Studies

Similar to white papers, case studies are used to help sales and marketing teams sell their products. But, instead of explaining product features, a case study provides an in-depth look at how a product (or solution) helped a single customer or solved a specific problem.

Besides Kinsta’s case studies , you can check out MailChimp’s How Her Campus Media Increased Subscribers by 72% , and Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Evaluating Biochemical and Cell-Based Profiles using Nexavar to see examples.

Corporate Reports

And finally, we have corporate reports, which detail a company’s financial information for potential investors. Corporate reports include quarterly reports (Form 10-Q), annual reports (Form 10-K), and reports of significant events (Form 8-K).

To write corporate reports, you need to understand accounting basics, financial documents, and the company’s product and competitive environment.

Our favorite examples of solid corporate reports include the Oracle Fiscal 2021 Fourth Quarter and Annual Report and the ExxonMobil Corporation Annual Report 2020 .

Skills You Need to Become a Freelance Technical Writer

If you want to become a successful freelance technical writer, you need to have technical acumen and the skills to build and run your own business .

Here are the top requirements and skills you should have before starting a career as a freelance technical writer.

Technical Knowledge and Expertise

Some freelance writing niches don’t require formal education or training. However, that’s not usually the case with technical writing. Technical writing is one of the freelance niches where you’ll regularly find clients that want you to have at least a Bachelor’s Degree.

Since clients need you to break down complex concepts into user-friendly language, they’ll often look for someone who has relevant working experience too. Or, if you’re writing articles for someone’s website, you should know best practices for on-page search engine optimization (SEO) .

Written Communication

For any professional writer, written communication skills are a must. Technical writers should be able to write in a plain, concise, and neutral style of voice. Most importantly, it would help if you could distill complex material into approachable content.

Written communication skills also come into play when dealing with clients. As a freelance writer, you’re not going to be in the office with your clients every day. You need to be able to manage expectations and communicate effectively with your clients via email .

While you may be tempted to group editing skills with written communication, editing is a crucial step in the writing process that deserves undivided attention. Some clients may even hire writers and editors separately.

However, if your client doesn’t have in-house editors, you need to hone your editing skills. Make sure you have a solid grasp of grammar and punctuation rules , and then learn how to proofread your work to check for the appropriate tone and a logical flow of ideas.

Time and Project Management

At times, freelancing involves a lot of juggling. When you work as a freelance writer, you don’t have a manager checking in on your progress and keeping you on track. Accurately budgeting time is crucial if you plan on keeping your full-time job while you freelance.

So, to ensure you meet all of your deadlines, you should master your time management skills and learn how to use project management tools . It’s your responsibility to create project timelines, troubleshoot problems, and communicate any significant changes with your clients.

Any successful freelancing business requires some level of self-promotion. If you want to turn freelancing into a full-time career, you need to market yourself to potential clients. You have to think of yourself as a small business and put yourself out there to find new clients.

How to Become a Freelance Technical Writer

Now, on to the practicals! These are the steps to become a freelance technical writer:

• Choose an area of expertise
• Create writing samples
• Create an online portfolio
• Contact potential clients
• Negotiate rates
• Finalize contracts

Let’s have a look at what each of these steps entails.

1. Choose an Area of Expertise

For new freelance writers, there are a few ways that you can select a writing niche. One of the easiest ways to start is choosing industries related to your educational background and work experience.

For example, if you’ve worked as a website developer , you can transition into writing technical articles about UX/UI design or guides for installing website security measures .

You can also choose to specialize in certain types of projects, such as white papers or technical manuals. As you continue to gain experience in a particular area, you can hone your skills and charge higher rates.

2. Build a Writing Portfolio

Once you know what you want to write, start writing. It would be best to have relevant writing samples to create a portfolio to share with potential clients.

Even if you don’t have clients, begin by writing examples pertinent to your writing niche. If writing hasn’t been part of your recent work, it can be helpful to take an online writing course to refresh your skills.

After you have your samples, it’s time to build your portfolio . To start, your portfolio can be a folder of sample documents that you can share with clients.

3. Grow Your Personal Brand and Generate Leads

Starting with a shareable writing portfolio is a good step, but if you want to bring in more clients, you should create your own website that showcases your work and tells clients exactly what types of content you offer.

To optimize your freelance website for lead generation, make sure it has the following elements:

• Services page
• Contact form
• Personal blog or work samples

You can also add positive reviews and ratings to your website once you’ve worked with a few clients.

After your website goes live, make sure to reach out to relevant industry publications to find opportunities for guest posting. With guest posts, you create content for someone else in return for a link back to your website .

We also recommend choosing one social platform where you can consistently share content to showcase your expertise and gain exposure to potential clients. LinkedIn , Quora, Medium , and Reddit are all excellent choices for technical writers.

4. Contact Potential Clients

If you’re not hearing from prospective clients right away, you might need to use some outbound contact strategies to get your first few jobs. When you start freelance writing, there are a few places to look for your first clients.

To start, reach out to your existing professional network, browse job boards to bid on projects, and then make a list of target clients you can contact.

At this point, you need to learn how to pitch your services compellingly to get clients to take meetings with you. The good news is that plenty of successful freelance writers share their best pitch templates online. Find one that works for you and start contacting people.

5. Negotiate Rates

As you develop relationships with potential clients, you can uncover writing opportunities. If someone is interested in hiring you, they’ll typically ask for a project proposal. In that proposal, you’ll outline exactly what you’ll deliver and when.

After you review your proposal together, it’s time to negotiate a rate. We recommend coming up with a price per project (rather than per word or per hour) for highly technical projects. Do your research on market prices and decide your minimum acceptable rate before you negotiate.

6. Finalize Contracts

Always write up a contract for your freelance projects. Contracts help protect you and ensure that you receive payment for your work.

While they don’t need to be complicated, your contracts should define the scope of work, content ownership, payment terms, deadlines, and revision policy. In some cases, clients may ask that you include a non-compete clause or confidentiality statement.

Here are some freelance contract templates you can use to create your own:

• Freelance contract template
• Freelance writer contract/letter of agreement
• Freelance non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

Getting Paid as a Freelance Writer

So, you’ve got your first client, and contracts are signed. Once they’re happy with the work, how do you get paid?

Well, for the most part, you’ll get paid like any other business. Most freelance writers use invoices to bill their clients at the end of a project.

How to Send Invoices

Your contract should include how much you get paid and when. You’ll use these details when sending out invoices.

Make sure to include the following information on your invoice:

• Invoice number
• Your contact information
• Issue date (the date the invoice was created)
• Due date (for payment)
• Line item description
• Total amount due
• Payment methods

Using invoicing software helps you keep your finances organized and lets you accept more payment methods, such as bank transfers or credit card payments. Popular options for freelancers include Freshbooks , Quickbooks Self-Employed, Bonsai, and PayPal .

Understanding Freelance Taxes

In addition to understanding the invoicing process, you need to know the basics of paying freelance taxes. As a freelancer, you’re considered self-employed, which means your income is subject to self-employment taxes .

Accounting software such as Quickbooks Self-Employed can help you keep track of tax documents and estimated tax payments. However, if you’re starting, it’s helpful to consult with an accountant who can explain how self-employment taxes work.

A technical freelance writing career might be the perfect option for you if you want more independence and flexibility. If you have the technical knowledge and well-trained writing skills, it’s also an excellent way to make extra money part-time.

Freelance writing opens the door for you to work wherever you want and find projects and clients that match your interests. All you need to do to get going is start writing!

Finally, it would help if you had a portfolio website to show off your notable works. To get started building a website for your freelance writing business, explore Kinsta’s plans for WordPress .

If you have any leftover questions about becoming a freelance writer, let us know in the comments section below.

Maddy Osman creates engaging content with SEO best practices for marketing thought leaders and agencies that have their hands full with clients and projects. Learn more about her process and experience on her website, The Blogsmith and read her latest articles on Twitter: @MaddyOsman .

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AI ‘gold rush’ for chatbot training data could run out of human-written text

FILE - Traffic on Interstate 35 passes a Microsoft data center on Sept. 5, 2023, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT could soon run out of what keeps making them smarter — the tens of trillions of words that people have written and shared online. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

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Artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT could soon run out of what keeps making them smarter — the tens of trillions of words people have written and shared online.

A new study released Thursday by research group Epoch AI projects that tech companies will exhaust the supply of publicly available training data for AI language models by roughly the turn of the decade -- sometime between 2026 and 2032.

Comparing it to a “literal gold rush” that depletes finite natural resources, Tamay Besiroglu, an author of the study, said the AI field might face challenges in maintaining its current pace of progress once it drains the reserves of human-generated writing.

In the short term, tech companies like ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Google are racing to secure and sometimes pay for high-quality data sources to train their AI large language models – for instance, by signing deals to tap into the steady flow of sentences coming out of Reddit forums and news media outlets .

In the longer term, there won’t be enough new blogs, news articles and social media commentary to sustain the current trajectory of AI development, putting pressure on companies to tap into sensitive data now considered private — such as emails or text messages — or relying on less-reliable “synthetic data” spit out by the chatbots themselves.

“There is a serious bottleneck here,” Besiroglu said. “If you start hitting those constraints about how much data you have, then you can’t really scale up your models efficiently anymore. And scaling up models has been probably the most important way of expanding their capabilities and improving the quality of their output.”

The researchers first made their projections two years ago — shortly before ChatGPT’s debut — in a working paper that forecast a more imminent 2026 cutoff of high-quality text data. Much has changed since then, including new techniques that enabled AI researchers to make better use of the data they already have and sometimes “overtrain” on the same sources multiple times.

But there are limits, and after further research, Epoch now foresees running out of public text data sometime in the next two to eight years.

The team’s latest study is peer-reviewed and due to be presented at this summer’s International Conference on Machine Learning in Vienna, Austria. Epoch is a nonprofit institute hosted by San Francisco-based Rethink Priorities and funded by proponents of effective altruism — a philanthropic movement that has poured money into mitigating AI’s worst-case risks.

Besiroglu said AI researchers realized more than a decade ago that aggressively expanding two key ingredients — computing power and vast stores of internet data — could significantly improve the performance of AI systems.

The amount of text data fed into AI language models has been growing about 2.5 times per year, while computing has grown about 4 times per year, according to the Epoch study. Facebook parent company Meta Platforms recently claimed the largest version of their upcoming Llama 3 model — which has not yet been released — has been trained on up to 15 trillion tokens, each of which can represent a piece of a word.

But how much it’s worth worrying about the data bottleneck is debatable.

“I think it’s important to keep in mind that we don’t necessarily need to train larger and larger models,” said Nicolas Papernot, an assistant professor of computer engineering at the University of Toronto and researcher at the nonprofit Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Papernot, who was not involved in the Epoch study, said building more skilled AI systems can also come from training models that are more specialized for specific tasks. But he has concerns about training generative AI systems on the same outputs they’re producing, leading to degraded performance known as “model collapse.”

Training on AI-generated data is “like what happens when you photocopy a piece of paper and then you photocopy the photocopy. You lose some of the information,” Papernot said. Not only that, but Papernot’s research has also found it can further encode the mistakes, bias and unfairness that’s already baked into the information ecosystem.

If real human-crafted sentences remain a critical AI data source, those who are stewards of the most sought-after troves — websites like Reddit and Wikipedia, as well as news and book publishers — have been forced to think hard about how they’re being used.

“Maybe you don’t lop off the tops of every mountain,” jokes Selena Deckelmann, chief product and technology officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia. “It’s an interesting problem right now that we’re having natural resource conversations about human-created data. I shouldn’t laugh about it, but I do find it kind of amazing.”

While some have sought to close off their data from AI training — often after it’s already been taken without compensation — Wikipedia has placed few restrictions on how AI companies use its volunteer-written entries. Still, Deckelmann said she hopes there continue to be incentives for people to keep contributing, especially as a flood of cheap and automatically generated “garbage content” starts polluting the internet.

AI companies should be “concerned about how human-generated content continues to exist and continues to be accessible,” she said.

From the perspective of AI developers, Epoch’s study says paying millions of humans to generate the text that AI models will need “is unlikely to be an economical way” to drive better technical performance.

As OpenAI begins work on training the next generation of its GPT large language models, CEO Sam Altman told the audience at a United Nations event last month that the company has already experimented with “generating lots of synthetic data” for training.

“I think what you need is high-quality data. There is low-quality synthetic data. There’s low-quality human data,” Altman said. But he also expressed reservations about relying too heavily on synthetic data over other technical methods to improve AI models.

“There’d be something very strange if the best way to train a model was to just generate, like, a quadrillion tokens of synthetic data and feed that back in,” Altman said. “Somehow that seems inefficient.”

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.