Udemy podcast (with me) and infographic on technical writing
Recently Alex Bankoff from Udemy interviewed me for a podcast on technical writing. He and his team also created an infographic based on the podcast as well. You can check out both the podcast and infographic here:
The infographic adds visual appeal and provides a nice summary for the podcast.
The infographic lists all the topics covered in the podcast, but here’s a list of the questions covered on the podcast:
- What was your career path? You have a MFA in non-fiction writing and used to be a writing instructor, but how did you end up doing technical writing specifically?
- For those who are unfamiliar, what exactly is a technical writer? What separates a technical writer from a copywriter, for example?
- How much technical knowledge should an aspiring technical writer have? Is there a typical background for a technical writer? I imagine many have experience in journalism or creative writing?
- What advice do you have for folks looking to break into the technical writing field? Do you have different advice for people looking to work in startups vs. larger, more stable environments?
- What are your thoughts on certifications or graduate programs in tech communications? Are these necessary?
- Is there specific software an aspiring technical writer should be familiar with?
- How is being a technical writer is a bit like being an investigative journalist (as you mention on your blog)?
- What are the latest trends in the field of technical writing?
- Where do technical writers best fit into the org chart in a company?
- How can you evaluate the salary offer for a technical writing position?
- What’s the single most important factor in writing good documentation?
Sponsored content
One purpose of the podcast/infographic is to help promote the technical writing courses available on Udemy, which you can see by browsing the link above. Currently there’s a course available from Ugur Akinci (I haven’t yet taken it — I believe it’s geared more towards beginners). Larry Kunz reviewed it recently here.
At any rate, the podcast/infographic and course on the same page are related only by subject. Of course the idea is that the podcast and infographic will drive traffic to the course. But the course will also drive traffic to the podcast/infographic, as well as my blog, so this works out quite well.
About Tom Johnson
I'm a technical writer / API doc specialist based in the Seattle area. In this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, visual communication, information architecture, writing techniques, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out simplifying complexity and API documentation for some deep dives into these topics. If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the field, be sure to subscribe to email updates. You can also learn more about me or contact me.