The Non-Linearity Of My Path To Technical Writing
Hashnode Technical Writing Bootcamp
The Starting Point
I didn't know anything about technical writing until I read an interview of Edidiong Asikpo by Monica Lent, through which I also learnt of a new word and the name, Hashnode, which was successfully marketed to me as a community where not just developers, but developers like me, who were still trying to find their feet in the tech world, could freely write about their views and ideas without harsh judgement, but rather be encouraged to further express themselves and guide other developers in their journey in the tech industry.
The convincing interview turned out to be the best decision I took last year.
Motivation On The Path To Technical Writing
Two main things motivated me.
The first thing that came to mind while I was about to write on this sub-topic was Hashnode, because of how kind and welcoming the community is and also how personalized the services are for the developers who use it.
Like I earlier said, my first experience with technical writing was here on Hashnode, but the way I was welcomed into the Hashnode community made me feel as if the platform was created for me and only me in mind. It was later on that I realized that it was done that way for everybody in the platform.
With this, I knew I could
- help others
- help myself
My second motivation came in later, when I realized that I could earn money from writing technical articles.
Discouragement On The Path To Technical Writing
I had to include this sub-section because the story of my motivation on the path to technical writing would be incomplete without the story of my discouragement on the path to technical writing. I also had to write on this so that other technical writers and aspiring technical writers would avoid and learn from my mistakes.
Prioritizing what people might have thought about my article ideas took me on a downward spiral, making me take a long break from technical writing. I had many article ideas to write on, so many things i was learning, so many things I wanted to question, but the fear of " what if " brought me to a stand still and made me shy away from something I loved doing for up to 7 months.
The truth about all of this fear was that it was all in my head. The fear was exaggerated. How did I have proof that the fear was all in my head? People reached out to me, many months after my last article, which was in December, 2020, to enquire from me, why I was no longer publishing my articles, and I further found out from them that they enjoyed my articles. What fear could do ! That was when I published my article on how to create mock APIs.
I had to write this sub-section not to encourage writers to wait for readers to reach out to them before they would know that they had to write, but to urge fellow technical writers and aspiring technical writers not to go into technical writing caring whether people read or liked their articles but to write from their hearts what they learned with their heads, without fear.
Truth is, people actually read your articles, or let's just assume they don't, your articles would always be there for you as a reference point for learning.
My Goals As A Technical Writer
- To become the developer for the developers, and the technical writer for the technical writers
- To become a multi versed learner
- To build and learn in public