I Didn’t Get That Technical Writing Certification to Impress You

My Dear Readers,

Have you checked out my resume? Right there, at the bottom, you'll see the certification in Technical Manual Writing. Stop yawning - I know, it sounds like the dullest piece of paper in my professional pile. But here’s the secret: that training, and others like it, is the antidote to the endless, exhausting cycle of professional guessing.

It was the mid-90's, and if you haven't fallen asleep yet, I appreciate you reading on. When you bought software, it came with a PHYSICAL MANUAL. Thick, bulky and wordy! If you were going to bring a product to market, you had to think about the end user, which meant - reading material. Early in my career, I worked with a software developer who was bringing a new product to market. He needed a manual, I needed a new career. I had no idea what documentation was. Didn't understand the concept of an end user, or a Subject matter expert, or just explaining a feature with absolute clarity, I was relying on gut instinct. That’s where training and certification come in. A year after the course, I knew that I could tackle this project, and did. Unfortunately funding ran out, and the software never went to market. Software was never developed, but a manual (for my portfolio) was written.

It never was about the fancy title on the resume; it’s about having a reliable framework. When you learn how to structure a technical manual, you learn how to apply that logic to every piece of content you create - from a bulleted product feature list to an email sequence. It taught me that my job isn't to make the product sound cool, but to make it sound clear and authoritative.

This clarity has a huge, measurable impact on my marketing work. Technical writing is about taking complex ideas, thoughts and processes and converting them to attainable steps and the pride of accomplishing a task. Clear communication reduces customer support calls, increases the perception of product quality, and, most importantly, reduces the buyer’s anxiety. So, while I might write product copy that has a little personality, underneath the hood, the structure is still built on those dry, rock-solid principles of technical writing. It’s what allows me to be creative without being inaccurate.

Happy writing!

Lisa