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This is interesting, I'm actually making the change from technical writer to front-end developer.

I worked in technical support, and sys admin roles for about 8 years before I became a technical writer. I enjoy teaching people software, concepts, abstract ideas. I get a real satisfaction out of taking something complicated, and helping someone make sense of it. It's really rewarding.

There are so many areas in technical writing. Do you have an idea what you want to tech write for? You could create financial reports, engineering documents, user guides, e-learning courses... for almost any industry. All of them are usually specialized though.

For instance, do you want to focus on tech writing for software development and API documentation? Or scientific technical writing? Or user guides for products?

I'll give you a little info on my background...

I went to art school for 3 years studying Multimedia and animation. I dropped out in my 3rd year. I love art as a hobby, but as a job it really wasn't for me. I tended to be more satisfied working in I.T.

So I worked as help desk at first, then junior sys admin, service desk. I've worked for various companies like Lucasfilm, Round Table Pizza, Posit Science... and for the last 6 years for cloud hosting and now online training software company. So I've been in a variety of environments.

About 3 years ago my company was beginning to really grow. We went from 15 people to 50 in a couple of years. At this point they needed a tech writer and curriculum developer to start writing user guides, making training videos, and documenting our internal processes.

I have a pretty solid English skills, and a design background. Plus, working in technical support, I knew our products well, and I am the type of person to constantly teach myself new things. I know a lot of different software, such as the Adobe Suites, Camtasia, After Effects... all from my art background. I also am pretty handy with HTML / CSS and JavaScript.

I Googled tech writing for about a day. Came up with a sample document guide and Camtasia training video, and boom got the position.

So then first thing I did was purchase some books

1. Microsoft Manual of Style.
   
2. Handbook of technical writing: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Technical-Writing-Tenth-Gerald/dp/1250004411/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473462347&sr=8-3&keywords=technical+writing
   3.Document Design - A guide for technical communicators.
   
3. Bought some Udemy courses on using Adobe technical communications suite.
   
   My first few documents were pretty weak. My company was OK with it though, we had nothing to begin with. They actually hired a contact tech writer for 3 months to help teach me and get the hang of it. In all honesty I didn't really need her help.
   
   Over the last couple of years though, I've constantly improved my documentation and it looks pretty good now.
   
   I'm also very good with Camtasia, I can make really great voice overs, and I mostly make training videos now, as that is what a lot of users like to see in my industry. Because of my strong video editing background, I also make our marketing videos for new products. I've been able to write pretty good scripts, I get to know our products incredibly well, because I have to know how to use them and all the in's and out's.
   
   Now with being social: I'm an introvert as well. I actually hardly talk to anyone about what I need to be doing. When a new website or product is about to be released... I get access to it and play with it as much as I can. My tech support role helped me with this. I know our systems in and out. If I have questions I don't understand, I just email my boss and he responds.
   
   Now this is a little specific to my company and role. I know other tech writers to create documentation for developers. They technically do have to get to know some of them well. They are your SME, or subject matter experts. You need to learn what they know, and communicate that to a target audience. So, there can be times you need to communicate a lot with people, when you don't know the subject well.
   
   However, the advantage you have is you already program. If you want to write documentation for that, you have an advantage that you understand the process and can read it and explain it. The key is, can you communicate it as simply and directly as possible to the correct target audience?
   
   Also, how are your skills with Microsoft Word? Documents don't really need to be fancy, but knowing how to format cleanly helps. Also, a lot of knowledge bases are created with HTML/XML/CSS which sounds like you would have no problem doing.
   
   Hope this helps. Oh also, I'm not the best writer in the world, but I am a pretty good editor. You can tell from all my spelling and grammar mistakes in this post.

Professional writer and hiring manager here. A strong portfolio and a relevant degree like English will help interview at entry level assuming the posting doesn't require strong advanced toolset experience like Framemaker, Robohelp, or DITA. Your folio should have technical communication type stuff like SOPs, policies , and help documentation. Google some templates or use the books I list below. Make them up for existing programs you know if you don't have real world examples. Managers will want to see that you you know the language and will ask for samples at some point during interview if not up front (If they don't ask for samples they probably don't know what they are doing ).

Recommend you at least familiarize yourself with staple toolsets like the Adobe technical communication suite (there may be a free trial or it is like $50 a month or so for subscription) until you are comfortable with it then cancel. Also diagram software like Visio. Screen capture software like Snagit. That will cover the typical core tools in the field. A lot of places will still use MS Word but more advanced places will use technical communication software.

Invest in some theory books to learn and reference. An English degree is great but there are theory and best practices behind technical writing that will help you in the long run and being familiar will help set you apart from all the other English majors that don't know what to do with their degree (it is quite common ).


Get these must have books to read and reference in your career :

(How to write as a tech writer )
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0133118975/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

(How to design documents)
https://www.amazon.com/White-Space-Your-Enemy-Communicating/dp/1138804649

(Reference document for just about everything )
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Technical-Writing-Tenth-Gerald/dp/1250004411

Arguably most popular style manual
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/p/microsoft-manual-of-style-microsoft-corporation/1104743122/2678008132375?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Catch-All,+Low_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP79700&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIycubtNvO1wIVTiOBCh232wKvEAQYASABEgKsUPD_BwE

Look for junior level jobs or contract to hire. A lot of companies will hire temp writers or contract to hire to see If they will work out. Worst case you get title experience on your resume and most recruiters know there is a lot of contract work in the field and it won't look odd.

Try to be open and communicative in your interviews. A lot of the gig is building relationships and getting information out of people you don't know well. Personable people that can communicate quickly, effectively, and confidentlly are desirable.

Good luck !

Edit: Ensure your resume is flawless. It is the first and most important document you will ever make as a technical writer and should be considered the first page of your portfolio.

Look up if there is an active STC chapter in your area. If they have meetings consider going as that is a good place to start networking. I can't recommend joining it if there isn't an active chapter as the ROI is meh ( I may get downvotes for this ).

Get setup with local temp agencies and let them look for jobs for you. Like I said before s lot of companies will go through them to fill temp or contract to hire positions.

Edit edit :

Last thing. It isn't a bad idea to get familiar with some coding languages to strengthen your resume and open doors when applying. W3schools has good , free online lessons to get your feet wet. You can get a certification after a test for $90. It is inexpensive and a good way to prove you are familiar. Html , xml , and css are good starters and you may want to expand from there depending on Your interest and Your local market.

Books:

Writing Software Documentation. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Great text to help with learning the basic concepts behind tech writing (task orientation, audience analysis, etc).

Business and Administrative Communication. Super expensive, but, imho, one of the most solid all-around books about writing in the business world. It covers everything from memos and effective PowerPoint presentations to RFPs and Feasibility Studies, and it does it extremely well. This was one of my college textbooks that was so useful that I kept it, and when the HR department "borrowed" it and "forgot" to give it back, I bought it again.

I remember The Handbook of Technical Writing being a good base, too. That was the text for my intro to technical writing class. Covers usability studies and other fun things.

A style guide of your choosing. If you want to write for software, though, get the Microsoft Manual of Style. Otherwise, Chicago or AP.

Software:

Download a trial version of RoboHelp and play with their sample projects, and learn how to use it. After you do that, try the same for madcap Flare. FrameMaker is important to some technical writers, but I've never had a job that didn't phase it out way before I started working there. It feels like one of those products that is slowly dying but just won't let go (but, then again, RoboHelp felt that way in 2007, so I am probably wrong about that one!). FrameMaker is primarily used for publishing layouts and such. If you work in hardware you might see it more often. Software generally doesn't ship with printed guides these days, though...

Learn to use MSWord like a pro. Specifically, learn to use styles, the reference tools, automatic TOCs, indexes, review, the developer's tab, and pretty much everything that is on the MS Word certification exam. Secondary to that, make sure you understand Excel and all the other office tools fairly well.

Learn a CMS, like SharePoint.

Personal:

Get used to criticism. Everyone thinks that their writing is better than anyone else's, and everyone has ideas. People will pull your writing in fifty directions every day.

Extinguish passive voice. Forever. Kill it dead.

Use fewer words and send your adjectives on vacation. Simple and sweet.

Be awesome at figuring things out on your own.

Visit a whole bunch of help and documentation for various products and geek out on it. Study the good and bad, the effective and not, the appealing and the ugly. Keep notes about what you like and want to emulate and what you hate and don't find helpful.

Practice:

Take your new skills and use them. Find a good open source project and volunteer some time writing up some documentation. Some potential projects are tiki.org, Mozilla, etc.

Fun:

Read all of the Tina the Tech Writer strips from Dilbert. That will be your new life. :)

I'm focusing on your questions near the end:

>what software would be ideal, what type of formatting would be most effective, and how to achieve an overall presentation that looks professional.

Software

Microsoft Word still works perfectly fine for a project like this, especially if the end goal is to create a paper document. There isn't any need to use anything fancier. I recommend getting familiar with using styles if you're not already. This enables a lot of features that are helpful, including an automatic table of contents.

Formatting

The most effective type of formatting will depend on your audience and the goal of the document. It sounds like you're looking for more of the reference type manual to start, and that it would be used during some kind of guided training and as an on the job reference.

There is a lot that goes into formatting a good manual. Googling "manual writing best practices" can be a great jumping off point to discover plenty to keep in mind. There whole books on the subject of technical writing with chapters dedicated to manuals, but here are few big concepts to keep in mind regarding your manual:

• Use plain language.
  
• Use images and diagrams. These don't have to be fancy; sometimes a simple picture will help get the point across better than any amount of text.
  
• Use a logical structure to your information. Making it easy for your users to navigate your manual is crucial. Include things like sections with headings, page numbers, and a table of contents.
  
  I'm happy to chat about any of the above via pm at any point, too, if it's helpful.
  
  Overall Presentation
  
  What presentation works best will depend largely on what your company wants. They may be fine with printing a few copies with whatever printer they have in the office, or they may opt to get it professionally printed. If I was going to put it in a portfolio, I'd get a copy professionally printed for myself either way.

> So on my LinkedIn profile/resume could I put a link to my online portfolio?

Yes. And you need to have your resume available in some format on your portfolio site too. I suggest Word and PDF.

Some suggestions regarding LinkedIn: spend a few hours reading through some of the tutorials online about how to set up your profile. If I've spent more than five seconds on your LinkedIn profile and it's not blindingly obvious to me that you're looking for an entry-level tech writing job, you're doing it wrong. There are also flags you can set in your profile so that you show up in the searches that recruiters do when they're looking for candidates. I know this varies somewhat by region, but where I live if you're in tech and you're not on LinkedIn, you're invisible.

> The classes. Would they benefit me more once I am employed and not really to leverage a job?

Again, some places will look at that and see it as a sign that you're interested in the profession and are working to improve your skills. Other places won't care. If you can, I'd say go for it. More knowledge is better.

> Why do you have some that you print and hand out? Why not just include them all in the online portfolio.

In the interviews for my current job, not everyone had seen my online portfolio and out of the four people I interviewed with, only one came into the room with a way to look online (he had an iPad with him). Having some writing samples I could hand out and go over with the interviewers was really helpful. It allowed them to ask questions about why I did this or that thing, and let me dive deeper into how I thought through putting documentation together. Also, have multiple copies of each writing sample. One of my interviewers took one of them with him, meaning I couldn't show that one to the next interviewers.

More about personas here: Personas | usability.gov. The book The Inmates Are Running The Asylum is the canonical work on the subject. I have this book, which is based on the work in that book:The Essential Persona Lifecycle.

Regarding my comments on the portfolio - I suggest WordPress because it's fairly easy to set up. It's got an easy install, and most any web hosting company should have it available for their customers. The domain name is up to you - I think that something like "yourname.com" is more professional than "yourname.wordpress.com," but for a portfolio it might not matter.

WordPress has a WYSWIG editor built in that you can enter and format your content with. I suggest a static page because blogs are usually in reverse chronological order and only show snippets of each entry.

Of course, you don't have to use WordPress for this. If some other platform, such as Squarespace or Wix or whatever works better for you, then use that. I know people who have built their portfolio site by hand coding the HTML and CSS so that they could get it to look exactly like they wanted to. My portfolio is hosted on GitHub Pages, using a modified version of Tom Johnson's Documentation Theme for Jekyll.

> Do your guides have indices?

No. Nothing I do is long enough to have an index. Creating a good index is a pain in the ass, and is generally something that should be done manually. There is an entire profession dedicated to indexing, actually.

Here is my list of books:

1.Technical Writing Process by Kieran Morgan. This book is about a five-step approach to creation of almost any piece of technical documentation such as a user guide, manual or procedure. It’s suitable for a wide range of audiences: aspiring technical writers and students of technical writing, non-writers who find themselves assigned with the task of creating technical documentation, established writers who want to bring more structure to their work, and anyone managing a documentation project.

2.Technical Writer Career Guide by ClickHelp.

Whether you only consider becoming a technical writer and not sure where to start, or already have a job and looking for ideas and inspiration to develop further in this direction, you might want to scan through it.

This ebook covers a wide range of questions, from the history of technical writing taking its roots in antiquity (yes, it’s that old!) to technical writing skills, modern tools, workflows and documentation design.

3. The Insider’s Guide to Technical Writing by Krista Van Laan

Whether you’re thinking of becoming a technical writer, just starting out, or you’ve been working for a while and feel the need to take your skills to the next level, The Insider’s Guide to Technical Writing can help you build a successful career in technical communication.

4.Managing Your Documentation Projects by JoAnn T. Hackos

The book devoted exclusively to technical publication project management, managing your documentation projects, arms you with proven strategies and techniques for producing high-quality, extremely usable documentation, while cutting cost and time-to-market.

5. Technical Communication, 9th edition by Mike Markel.

Known for his student-friendly voice and eye for technology trends, Mike Markel addresses the realities of the digital workplace through fresh samples and cases, practical writing advice, and a companion Web site — TechComm Web — that continues to set the standard with content developed and maintained by the author.

6.Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice.

7.Technical Writing for Dummies by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts.

It shows you step–by–step how to research and organize information for your documents, plan your project in a technical brief, work collaboratively with your reviewers etc.

Courses:

1.Oregon State University

This technical writing course will give you an overview of the genre and prepare you to produce instructive, informational, and persuasive documents based on well-defined and achievable outcomes.

2.Communicaid

Communicaid’s Technical Writing course will provide you with practical frameworks and skills necessary to translate highly complex subjects into reader friendly accessible documents. Attending a Technical Writing course will give you the knowledge and skills to produce technical documents that get read — and understood.

3. Coursera

Every course on Coursera is taught by top instructors from the world’s best universities and educational institutions. Courses include recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums. When you complete a course, you’ll receive a shareable electronic Course Certificate.

4.Society for Technical Communication

The Society for Technical Communication is the world’s largest and oldest professional association dedicated to the advancement of the field of technical communication. The Society’s members span the field of the technical communication profession from students and academics to practitioners and managers.

5. Udemy

This course is aimed at the beginners. In this course, you will learn the principles of technical writing, how to create a document template, and how to write your first User Guide.

The students are required to have Windows PC machines and Office 2007 or 2010 (Word and Excel). Everything else is included in the course. The students do not need to buy any other books, videos, etc. to follow the course.

6.Emphasis

This comprehensive course will help your team communicate their messages clearly, concisely and effectively. “We’ll train them to put their conclusions up front, not buried in supporting detail. And we’ll show them how to make their recommendations clear for their intended audience. Above all, we’ll build their confidence and pride in their writing”.

7. TechWriter-Certification

Dr. John Reid and Dr. Kenneth Rainey originally developed online technical writing courses that were taught at their respective institutions in Georgia. They were borne out of credit side programs offered at Southern Polytechnic State University and non-credit courses through Kennesaw State University. From these efforts, Dr. Reid and Dr. Rainey developed additional courses of study, with the same rigor but targeted to the workforce. These formed the backbone of the now, well-established technical writing programs that have followed.

I work for a Major Financial Firm. My team is two-strong; I've found one other tech writer in the firm. It's incredibly frustrating, but it's also a huge opportunity, as you've seen.

It sounds like you've already proven yourself and established credibility. Excellent.

Push governance and CYA for regulations. In my experience, every team documents their own processes and "hides" it somewhere (network drive, SharePoint, email, etc). When the Fed comes asking questions, everyone scrambles. Make a case that you're the team for knowledge retention, a clearinghouse for regulation-based documentation, and your team should manage all those teams' content.

Feel free to message me if you have further questions.

EDIT: I also recommend Lisa Welchman's governance book, Managing Chaos

Get The Microsoft Manual of Style

Download a trial version of Adobe Framemaker

Learn how to do good screen captures using SnagIt or something similar.

Good luck.

Markel's Technical Communication is a popular textbook among tech writing professors.

https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Communication-Markel/dp/1457673371/ref=zg_bs_170945_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6DGFJMY3B5Y2V6MXV853

I do tech. writing for a software company and use the Microsoft Manual of Style 4th Edition. Depending on your audience, The Global English Style Guide may also be useful to you.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735648719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_CYUyCb7G6WSE1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599946572/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_AXUyCbD9VHMSZ

Yes. The 4th edition (2016) changed the name to Garner's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. To reflect the broader nature of the work compared with previous editions.

Garner's Modern English Usage https://www.amazon.com/dp/0190491485/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VegWzbFS5R2VB

I use this to teach technical and professional writing to ME undergrads.

Writing in Engineering: A Brief Guide (Short Guides to Writing in the Disciplin) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199343551/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Xci-AbSM0WRE9

It’s short, to the point, and fairly affordable compared to textbooks.

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