techwriteher's comments

On: Ask HN: Software Engineers (SWE) turned Technical Writers – How did you do it?

[techwriteher]

EDIT: Got brave and tried the link, it says "Contact Workspace Administrator to join", but there is no link or contact form to contact the Admin?? How do I join? Is it invite-only gated community?

I'm somewhat wary of doing this. Do you know if the community is welcoming of (or hostile towards) newbies?

-SS :)

[undergrowth54 → techwriteher]

The community talks explicitly about the value of being welcoming to newbies. I've drifted away but I suspect that they still live up to that value.

On: Ask HN: Software Engineers (SWE) turned Technical Writers – How did you do it?

[techwriteher]

Thank you! But I live in San Francisco. This conf is in Parague.

-SS :)

[undergrowth54 → techwriteher]

Ah, then you'd probably want https://www.meetup.com/Write-the-Docs-SF/

They seem to have a meetup oxt Thursday.

On: Ask HN: Software Engineers (SWE) turned Technical Writers – How did you do it?

[techwriteher]

Thank you so much! It never occurred to me to try this partime, and see if I enjoy it and if there's a practical fit, rather than risk diving into it full time. I'll email you.

Judging from the lack of response, do you think it's fair to say that not a whole lot of SWEs make the switch to Tech Writer?

-SS :)

[e1g → techwriteher]

I’ve met only a few of SWEs who were good at documenting, and only 1-2 of them who also enjoy it. From my experience, changing from SWE to Tech Writer is highly unusual - I’ve seen QA and BA folks change over, but never SWE.

Have you considered going into Developer Relations instead? It has a big overlap with Technical Writing, but spans beyond that to include community discussions and direct “support” comms.