Technical writers are responsible for the management of the consistency of technical written content. Because technical writing is versatile in nature and demand, it can be found across many company departments, including marketing and customer relations. Technical writers also assist research scientists and institutions with writing grants and proposals and prepare instruction manuals, how-to guides, journal articles and other documents that represent complex and technical information more easily to the reader.
Technical writers help develop and gather relevant technical information and to share the completed information through an organization's communication channels, which could be internal, external, or both. Technical writers may be called upon to work with product liability specialists or customer service managers to improve the end-user experience through design change for new products. They manage the flow of information during product development and testing processes and phases. They can also conduct usability studies to improve product design and gather research courtesy of libraries and websites and their own observations and discussions with technical experts. Technical writers often have a bachelor’s degree in journalism, as well as specialized knowledge or additional degrees in related fields like medicine or computer science.