I am a software engineering graduate from Shuangfeiyi, and I want to be a technical documentation engineer|

I received a consultation from Zhihu netizen @江莱, and with my consent, I will make a public answer here.

Hello Jiang Lai, thank you very much for your trust. At the critical juncture of career choice, you are willing to listen to me, a stranger, chatting about my ideas.

As a "misguided" TC dog who has been in the technology communication industry for more than 10 years, I will briefly share my personal experience for reference only. I hope it can help you make a final decision.

About Technology Communication

What is Technology Communication? What is the current status of domestic technology dissemination?

The technology communication industry originated in the United States, was introduced to China in the 1990s, and has developed to this day.

In recent years, technology dissemination has achieved relatively large development in China, mainly manifested in:

The demand for talent market is growing. You can see more and more technical document engineer recruitment notices on the recruitment platform.
Gradually by the enterprise attention. The technical documentation engineer industry was initially only seen in large overseas companies such as Huawei and ZTE. Now many small-scale start-ups will also set up technical documentation engineer positions.
Academia participates in personnel training. Many universities (Peking University, Fudan University, etc.) offer majors and courses related to technical communication; Tsinghua University even takes technical writing and communication as a general education course for undergraduate students.

I personally think that the technology communication industry is a blue ocean industry. The main reason is:

In an emerging industry, not many people understand and participate in it.
There is a large flow of talents, and there are relatively few senior practitioners in the industry.

But at the same time, there is also the problem of slow development of the industry. In some countries where the technology communication industry has a long history of development, the industry has relatively mature norms, even mandatory. In comparison, there is still a relatively large gap in the domestic technology communication industry. So for practitioners, if the industry they belong to is immature, it will inevitably hinder their deep accumulation and long-term development.

Technology Spreads Values

Why is there a technology communication industry? What problem does technology dissemination struggle to solve?

Combining technology communication with its application scenarios and business goals, each technology communication practitioner may have his own understanding of the value of technology communication.

The industry and business scenarios I belong to belong to relatively typical and traditional applications. My personal understanding of its value is mainly reflected in: enhancing user experience; realizing efficient communication.

First of all, from the standpoint of product and research and development, facing upstream and downstream, and communicating with external customers/users of the enterprise.

Introduction to upstream (marketing/sales/pre-sales/potential customers, etc.): what is it? Where is it used? What are the advantages? ...with a view to striving for a deal;
Introduction to downstream (technical support/users/co-developers, etc.): What is this? How to install, deploy, use, develop? How to deal with abnormal situations, etc.

Only when the information we pass on wins a customer order for the company; or if the user solves the problem by himself through the document and releases the cost of technical support-the so-called "open source and reduce expenditure", then our work is valuable to a certain extent.

This is usually the case. But more often, we need to analyze it in combination with specific scenarios. Although technical communication focuses more on the value of external releases, I think its methodology is applicable to any communication scenario. Therefore, as long as we focus on and solve a certain communication problem and achieve the effect of efficient communication, it should be regarded as the embodiment of the value of technology communication.

About Tech Communication Practitioners

Technical communication practitioners mainly include two types of people: technical professionals and language professionals.

Technical professionals:

Advantage:
- Science and engineering, with a strong technical background;
- Able to understand products and technologies faster and more deeply;
- Able to communicate in depth with the R&D team.
Disadvantages:
- Management, communication and language skills are relatively weak;
- Especially in foreign-related projects.
More suitable: High-tech industries have relatively high requirements for technical background.

Language professionals:

Advantage:
- Liberal arts, with a professional background in language and management;
- Be able to communicate better and achieve the goal of efficient communication.
Disadvantages: relatively weak understanding of products and technologies.
Suitability: Overseas projects have relatively high requirements for language and communication.

Although the job titles are all "technical documentation engineer", due to the different business types and goals of enterprises, the definition of job responsibilities is very different. Therefore, based on the company information and job description on the recruitment notice, you can judge the company's business type and job expectations, and give priority to opportunities with higher technical background requirements, which can better reflect your personal advantages.

About Technical Communication Talents Vocational Skills

What vocational skills are needed to work in the technical communication industry? In my opinion:

Technical communication expertise. Technology communication is a highly specialized industry, related technologies include but not limited to:
- Concepts related to technology dissemination
- Technical Writing/Content Management Skills
- Use of relevant technical tools, etc.
self-study ability. Technology dissemination needs to be combined with the specific business and technology of the enterprise, so it is necessary to continuously learn relevant knowledge, ensure in-depth communication with production and research, and accurately express product and technical information.
management ability. Technical documentation engineers often work alone and need to manage requirements and tasks by themselves, and even need to lead the teamwork of documentation projects.
product capability. Technical document engineers need to combine specific user scenarios, define documents and information output, clarify relevant requirements, and create documents from scratch. If documents are our products, from this perspective, we need to have a product standpoint to a certain extent.
Details control. The specifications in the work of technical documentation engineers are usually as far as possible, and may be as detailed as a punctuation mark. So if you are a careless person, you may encounter more challenges.

Therefore, technology communication is an industry that requires a relatively comprehensive level of personal ability. The advantage is that there is a relatively comprehensive cultivation and accumulation of individuals, and there are more choices for development directions and opportunities; the disadvantage is that due to lack of in-depth accumulation, you may eventually become a chore.

About technical communication talent development

What is a career in technical communication like?

I personally think that the characteristics of the position of technical documentation engineer are:

The entry barrier is relatively low. Although engaging in the technical communication industry requires certain professional knowledge, it can be learned in actual work after getting started. In theory, it is not difficult to switch from research and development to technology communication, as long as you have a certain writing ability.
The growth ceiling is relatively low. If you can't grow into a manager and become a person at the top of the pyramid, it is easy to be replaced by a latecomer.
In the enterprise, the post of technical documentation engineer is less important than the post of production and research, and has less right to speak. When the business of the enterprise is tightened, it may be prioritized for optimization.
Income is low compared to R&D staff. Although there will be relatively high-paying positions, this is related to the size of the company and the level of the position, and the capacity is not large.
The industry is relatively small, poorly regulated, and slow to develop, making it difficult to form long-term advantages.

Due to the low ceiling of technical document engineers, when career advancement encounters a bottleneck, you can consider switching to project management, product manager, content planning, etc. according to your personal preferences and advantages, but it is recommended to make preparations and necessary accumulation in advance to avoid starting from 0 to start.

Technological development may also have an impact on the positions of technical documentation engineers, such as ChatGDP, which has been out of the circle recently. If AI can develop documentation, do we still need technical documentation engineers? Therefore, for technical communication practitioners, do not limit your scope of work to document development, but cultivate higher-level capabilities such as document management, content planning, tool use, and system construction, focusing on the core value of technical communication , thinking about how to use the latest technology and methodology to achieve the goal with strength.

specific to your situation

Specific to your situation, personal advice:

Since you are relatively young (22 years old?), the cost of trial and error is relatively low, so all attempts based on personal wishes are encouraged.
In addition to your interests, I hope you have a more objective understanding of the technical communication industry and consider it comprehensively from the perspective of long-term career planning.
If you decide to engage in the technology communication industry, please don't doubt your personal ability, you can, the threshold of this industry is not very high.
The choice to start from a big factory is right. Although the technical communication industry has a low threshold, it is still very professional and requires systematic study and a solid foundation.
There are certain professional requirements for entering the technology communication industry. If you have no relevant work experience, are you willing to lower your expectations and start from 0?

Finally, thank you again for your trust. The above sharing is for reference only, I hope it can be helpful for you to make a final decision, and I look forward to becoming a colleague with you.

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