Become A Technical Writing Specialist

You don’t need a four year college degree to become a successful technical writer. But there is something you could do to multiply your chances of getting hired as a technical writer.
Before I reveal to you this strategy I have to caution you. This is purely a marketing strategy. If you’re new to the field of technical writing, then you may not use it. It specifically applies to those who have some technical writing experience.
The Strategy
You could market yourself as a specialist technical writer. This may give you an edge over generalist technical writers. For example, let’s say that you’re a technical writer with 3 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. And you want to get a job as a mid level technical writer. But you want to stick to the oil and gas industry. Instead of marketing yourself as a technical writer you can call yourself an oil and gas technical writer.
The key is to market yourself as a specialist. If you market yourself successfully, chances are that you will be given preference over senior level technical writers who have decades of experience. They are generalist technical writers. You, on the other hand, are a specialist within your industry.
Think about it. If you were the owner of a software company and you were looking for a technical writer to write your software documentation, would you hire a generic tech writer with ten years of experience or a specialist software technical writer with four years of experience?
It’s like comparing doctors who are general practitioners and those who are specialists. The specialists make much more money than general practitioners. But remember – even specialist doctors have to go through basic medical school and then choose their specialty. So to become a specialist technical writer you have to first go through basic technical writing training. In other words you must first be a generalist and then become a specialist.
You should only use this strategy if you want to stick to one industry. However, if you want exposure to different industries then you should not market yourself as a specialist. Secondly, depending on your location, you may not have much of a choice. Certain cities are heavily dependent on one industry. For example, if you live in Detroit, you may only get the opportunity to work for the automotive industry.
On the other hand, if you live in Houston, you have the oil and gas industry, the aviation and the bio medical field. You could specialize in one of these industries.
How to market yourself as a specialist technical writer
For starters include that in your resume’, your cover letter and all your marketing materials. Introduce yourself as a technical writer specializing in a specific industry. When you speak to recruiters tell them that you are a software technical writer or an oil and gas technical writer or a biomedical technical writer. If a job opens up within your chosen industry then recruiters will immediately think of you.
In the beginning of this essay I said that you should only use this strategy if you have some experience as a technical writer. There is an exception to this. If you have experience working within a certain industry and want to become a technical writer specializing in that industry then you could market yourself as a technical writing specialist.
For example, let’s say that you’ve worked in the health care industry as a nurse. And you want to become a technical writer in the health care industry. You could market yourself as a health care technical writer and specialize in the health care industry.
The choice is yours. You could market yourself as a specialist technical writer. But no matter what you do, you need to know the basics of technical writing. It’s the foundation upon which your technical writing career will be built.