What I Learned During The Empower Her Community And Non Tech In Tech Bootcamp

The past six weeks have been intriguing, challenging, demanding, and awesome as well. We had six weeks of intensive learning on becoming a technical writer, and I believe that the time spent was worth it. I am glad that I was selected among so many aspirants for this Bootcamp. We were taught by well-experienced facilitators. Those facilitators were eager to share their knowledge and experiences with us. It was exciting and learning-filled. Thank you once again, @empowerhercommunity and @nontechintech, for this awesome privilege.

First week: Introduction to technical writing

The first week was full of anticipation, but thankfully I met my expectations and more. Before the Bootcamp, I thought technical writing was all about tech. I learned the proper definition of technical writing. Technical writing is the process whereby a writer writes about a particular subject that requires direction and instruction. Not only writing tech-related topics, as I earlier believed. There are various forms of technical writing. Some of them are:

market requirement documents User guides Release note Onboarding guides Blog posts and API documentation, business requirements and legal policies for companies.

These types allow technical writers to write on topics that they are good at while they learn.

Just like in every other profession, there are skills required as a technical writer. These skills will make your work widely accepted. Some of them are writing skills, understanding the use of proper English, knowing how to explain things clearly and simply, and research skills.

There are a lot of platforms where technical writers can post their work. Some of them are personal blogs (like hashnode, dev. to, and medium ), personal websites, and client sites.

Week two: writing tools

As a technical writer, writing tools are essential in composing unique and interesting articles. These tools are classified as follows:

Research tools: Research is an important tool in technical writing. It directly impacts the quality of our work as technical writers. It is through research that a technical writer gathers data. Data can be gathered from Google and Wikipedia, books, libraries, and others.

Note taking tools: This is important for storing data during research. There are various ways we can store data and they are Default notes, Google Keeps, Notion, Google Docs, and Evernote.

Authoring tools: These are tools that help one to write. through creating content using text, media, and interactions. Some of the authoring tools are SimpleMDE, Microsoft Docs, Visual Studio Code, Markdownpad, and many others.

Media/visual tools: These tools are used for creating and editing images, videos, screenshots, and screencasts. It is also used for creating diagrams, flow charts, banners, and gifs. There are a lot of tools under this category. Some of them are:

Canva: This is a media-creating tool. Gify.com—This is used for creating gifs. Fireshot - This Is used for creating screenshots of the webpages in the browser. Adobe After Effect— This is used for video editing Sketch - This is used for design. Excalidraw - This is used for sketching and drawing tools.

Publishing tools: These are platforms where technical writers can share their work. Some of the platforms are personal blogs, personal websites, WordPress, Youtube, Google Scholar, Academia.edu, and Reddit.

Documentation tools: Documentation tools are used for documentation. Tools like Confluence, Docusaurus, Guestbook, and Swagger. Collaboration and management tools: These tools enable teams to streamline the creative process and collaborate more effectively. Some of the tools are Google Drive, Trello, Asana, and Airtable, Notion.

Week three is dedicated to the writing process

Processes are very important in every field to be able to get a near-perfect finished product. In technical writing as well, some processes involve good writing and they are;

Plan: begin with an outline, conduct research, and understand who you are writing to, what your goal is, and having a deadline.

Draft: refers to the process of writing, deleting, and updating one's work.

Review: re-reading of one's work; spell-checking, using tools like Grammarly, and editing by yourself or through someone else.

Publish: this means to make your work available to the public.

No matter how prepared I am or how knowledgeable I am on a particular topic, I am always afraid to begin. During the class, I learned some wonderful tips that will aid me in writing, especially as a beginner. These tips will be at the back of my mind whenever I am writing and they are:

Not to expect to be very good as a beginner. Deliberate practice. Start every piece with an outline. Your writing should sound like you. Research. Nobody is truly original.

Reviews, Week 4

During this period, a review of the assignment we did was done. Corrections were made where they were needed. More explanations are done regarding the past week's class.

Week 5: SEO ( Search Engine Optimization)

During the 5th week, we learned SEO and how to optimize our work as technical writers. SEO is simply the process of making a site or article better for search engines. For so many reasons, SEO is important to a technical writer, some of the importance of SEO are:

It helps people easily find your content. It helps build your brand and increases visibility. It improves credibility. It showcases the value, relevance, and quality of work.

Week 6: API Documentation and Contribution to Open Source

This week was one of the most interesting weeks of our class. API documentation was taught, and the different types of API documentation were well explained. We learned the process of API documentation. From structure to drafting, editing, and reviewing; everything was well explained. I also learned what open source is and how best to contribute to open source. Before this Bootcamp, I didn't know much about writing professionally. The knowledge I have been impacted by throughout these past six weeks has made me more enthusiastic and eager to write. This Bootcamp taught and guided me in creating my blog. I published my first article during the week as well. I learned the beauty and process of what it entails to become a technical writer. The skills I have acquired through this learning have made me more confident for the future. To my wonderful facilitators; Ifeanyi Iheagwara, Blessing Anyebe, Timonwa Akintokun, and Light Olumide, I'm truly grateful for your teachings. You all selflessly poured out your knowledge. Thank you also to the founder of this Bootcamp. This wonderful initiative has truly blessed African girl children.