A client asked me this today, and I was a bit stumped. That because I don’t see myself as a technical writer. I see myself as a writer, who happens to have a technology background.
I’m not disrespecting Technical Writing as a profession. I’ve done it myself on one or two projects and it’s hard but satisfying work. The effort required to understand a new system and then communicate every feature in an ordered way should not be underestimated.
And while I can do that, it’s not really my bag.
Where I excel is in taking the idea for a thing and then communicating it. The thing might be technical, or it might be something else. But it’s the big picture, and it’s how your thing makes other things better. Where the Technical Writer focuses on the detail of your thing, I see my job as helping you sell potential. It’s almost the opposite.
And while clearly detail is important in my work, it’s the detail which throws the potential into sharp relief as opposed to the minutiae which will help a stuck user solve a problem.
So, I’m not a Technical Writer, but a writer about technical things. I think there is glory in both pursuits.