Introduction

Hi folks, this is my first blog on hashnode and in this blog, I will be sharing my experience attending bootcamp organised by hashnode which is a great start for developers who are beginning their journey in technical writing.

The bootcamp spanned over 3 days from May 1 to May 3, 2023, with a total of 5 sessions. The main objective of the bootcamp was to help the developers in boosting careers, amplifying voice, expand their network and improve their technical writing skills.

In the following sections, I will be listing down some valuable points that I came across in these sessions.

The Importance of Writing as a Developer

This session was conducted by Ankur Tyagi, who is a developer, technical writer and consultant. He started by explaining how he started technical writing when he worked in a big team scattered across the globe and it was important to manage common documentation for the project so all the members can access it.

Following are some key points discussed in the session:

• Writing along with a full-time job can be hectic, so write when the motivation strikes. You can always edit the content later.

• To be a good technical writer, you have to be a good communicator and be good with at least one tech stack.

• These skills can be developed during the journey, no need to wait till you get perfect.

• To get started, you can check others' blogs to get an idea of their style. But you must put your touch and style in your blog.

• As you grow in your corporate career, it is even more important to be a good writer and communicator to handle other team members.

• Does not matter if there is an article published on a topic which you want to write. Different people like to read from different ways of explaining the topic.

Leveraging Technical Writing to Land Opportunites and Boost Your Developer Career

The speaker for this session was Swapna Kumar Panda. He is a technical writer and educator. He started by explaining the importance of technical writing by giving the analogy of historical documentation. What would happen if our ancestors did not document historical events? Similarly, if developers do not document their findings, how would someone 5 years down the line understand what was done to solve a particular problem or which feature was added, etc?

Some of the important points discussed in the session are as follows:

• Developers are first-hand problem solvers. They must document their findings and research for later reference.

• Doing research, finding a solution, documenting it and sharing it publicly, why do it for free? The good news is, it can be monetized.

• Developers can earn through collaborations, subscriptions, paid content or full-time opportunities once they become good at technical writing.

• Doing all this will improve communication skills, greater visibility and improved lifestyle.

• Developers can also explore other paths such as educator, mentor, public speaker or brand ambassadors.

• Developers can write about what they are learning daily. The title and description of the blog must clearly say what you are writing in a blog.

• Taking it to the next level, developers can connect to the audience to understand what they are looking for.

• Also, it is crucial to maintain a balance between work and writing. And, it is important to diversify the topics to write on.

Leveraging Social Media for Monetization

This session was conducted by Nader Dabit, who is the Director of Developer Relations at Aave. He spoke about personal branding, online presence and content creation.

Some key takeaways from the session are:

• Have clear bio sections in your social handles. Show who you are or what you want to be. Links to your portfolio must be available.

• Do a photoshoot for a clean, clear and consistent profile picture. It is very important to have a good impression of you.

• Specialize in one area and be known for it. Be a reliable source of information in this area.

• Optimize for time constrained. Make your blog such that people can scan it and find the information they are looking for.

• Online presence is important. Learn in public, be consistent, and actively engage.

• To create technical content, learn something new, build something with it, document the process and make a video tutorial of it.

• Try to collaborate with other content creators.

• Can reuse the content for multiple formats.

• To increase followers, one can tap into others' networks by being useful and respectful in the discussions.

• If something has been done already, do it differently or do it better.

Building Personal Brand on Social Media

The speaker for the session was Akos. He is a software engineer, helps people in the community to get into writing, and shares his learning in public. He spoke about why one should build a personal brand on social media.

Following are some points which answer the above question.

• It needs simple tools to build it. Tech writing, idea generation, storytelling, and repurposing are some of the tools needed.

• The quality of the audience you attract is directly proportional to the quality of the content you create.

• It is simple to build a personal brand. You just have to be clear about who you are helping and how you are doing it. Then it's just a game of impression, profile clicks and the decision to follow.

• There is simply no competition while building a personal brand.

• Also, there are no hard rules on how you are going to do it. Just be aware of the algorithm the platform is using and make it work for you.

Freelance Writing Opportunities for Developers

James Quick conducted this session. He is a Javascript developer and content creator. He started by sharing how he got into technical writing as part of his first job.

Following are some important points discussed in the session:

• There are companies that have high budgets for technical writers and also for maintaining good documentation.

• One can also try to become a paid guest author for companies.

• Personal portfolios and links to previous work are crucial to attracting more clients for freelance work.

• Some important tools for being productive and effective in technical writing are ChatGPT, hashnode AI or video tap.

• Being able to explain a technical concept to a wide range of audience in an easy way is what recruiters look for.

• Make content on what you are learning and teach others in the community.

• Must focus on quantity in the initial stages and should improve quality on the way.

• One can make a good living from a full-time content creation job.

Conclusion

The bootcamp was a great push for all the developers who want to start their journey in technical writing. All the speakers gave valuable points and guidance to the beginners. The most important part is to just get started with content creation and the rest will fall in place by being consistent and improving content quality over time. Be good in your niche, understand the needs of your audience and try to add value. This is a great recipe for becoming a successful technical writer.