I was hoping to release it today, but the more tests I wrote, the more bugs and edge cases i found, and the more ways I saw to refactor it to be easier and better.

Also, the ~2,000 words of technical documentation took a while to put together. Just like writing tests, writing tech docs reveal so many usage issues that lead to more refactorings.

(side note: your co needs more #TechnicalWriters 's yo! hire them, and include them in your development process from the beginning. )

Hey fellow #TechnicalWriters and everyone else who writes and maintains #documentation, have you ever used #HelpNDoc or #Paligo as alternatives to #RoboHelp or #MadCapFlare? I'm researching "affordable" alternatives for creating offline docs (PDF and/or other outputs), so if you have any suggestions, fire away. Thanks!

Note: #MSWord is out of the question. 😁

Don't forget today's online #TechnicalWriters #meetup on hot topic #templating for #documentation : https://www.meetup.com/continuous-documentation-regulars/events/293678917/

We have spent years untangling some of that stuff, but not without a lot of feedback from developers who were confused by what we meant when we said "Realm" (was it the file? The backend app? Something else?)

So much of that could have been avoided if someone who thinks about language for a living had been in the room and said “hey, maybe it's confusing if we name this thing similar to something that we use somewhere else in a different way.”

Hire more #TechnicalWriters 😁

5/5

Engineers at work tell me two tiny tweaks to make to a documentation page. I make them. When the release goes out, I test them before merging.

Instead of publishing the docs, I go back to the engineers with 5 new questions about things they didn't mention from my brief testing the thing.

This is one of many reasons your org needs #TechnicalWriters . We are User #1, we *KNOW* the product, and we can identify and resolve weird or undocumented stuff BEFORE external users ever see it.

Fellow #JobSeekers (and #TechnicalWriters) how big of a red flag are local prospective employers who conduct interviews in your mother tongue but ask if you're a native speaker of English (in CV, you clearly stated that you are not), what API documentation tools you are familiar with (in CV, you clearly stated that you have never documented APIs), and what you use to draw diagrams (in CV, you listed and categorized all graphic, diagramming, video, and audio tools)? #AskingForAFriend

I'd love to meet fellow technical writers here on #fediverse, especially those working on #FOSS projects. I'm thinking of allotting some free time to contribute to open-source #documentation needs.

#technicalwriter #technicalwriters #technicalwriting

Well, this is probably the most disturbing dialog I've ever encountered on #macOS

Even better, you can only click "ok" and when you do, it disables Bluetooth.

Given, that was my goal, but after that warning one probably wouldn't want to. Also, it is, of course, a !@#$!ing lie. 🤦‍♀️

I was still able to control my computer, just not with the Bluetooth devices.

This is why we need #TechnicalWriters. Devs should not be allowed to write customer facing stuff. We're demonstrably bad at it.

Docs writers, this may be of interest to you! I wrapped up my hackathon project around automatically scoring documentation for readability, and posted about it:
https://dacharycarey.com/2023/03/10/docs-readability-scoring/

#TechnicalWriters #TechWriting

LinkedIn:
Improve your **Technical Writer** skills for free: Phone-Based Customer Service.

Dear LinkedIn,
I got into this career in part because I don’t even get my own work phone number.
Me

Seriously, what does LinkedIn think #TechnicalWriters do?

Is there a #mastodon instance that houses #technicalWriters?

I'd like to be on an instance where the local feed is interesting on its own.

#techWriterLife #techWriting #writeTheDocs #documentation

Is there a #mastodon instance that houses #technicalWriters?

I'd like to be on an instance where the local feed is interesting on its own.

#techWriterLife #techWriting #writeTheDocs #documentation

For all you #technicalwriters out there, it is time for the Write the Docs annual salary survey. If you're willing, I encourage you to participate - salary transparency is so helpful to the industry as a whole and specifically marginalized members of it.

https://salary-survey.writethedocs.org/