7 Best Online Technical Writing Courses

In this fast-paced world where technology is booming, the need for technical writers to bridge the gap between the common man and the technical world is also ever-growing. Technology is an inevitable part of our lives and technical writers can help simplify the complex technical jargon. So developing technical writing skills will be surely beneficial, as the need for technical writers is only going to grow. So if you’re someone who loves technology and can communicate effectively, this article is for you. This article will provide a list of some of the best online technical writing courses out there to nurture your technical writing skills.

What is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is the process of simplifying complex technical language into simple understandable language for various purposes. Technical writers require specialized writing skills and a clear understanding of the technical aspects. They are in demand in a host of industries including software, health care, financial services, and telecommunications.

Technical writers are experts in science, engineering, or information technology. They’re in charge of compiling technical documentation including instruction manuals and other instructional materials, guidebooks, technical product descriptions, and research reports, among other things.

A technical writer’s job varies based on the industry and company where they work. They frequently work in heterogeneous teams, serving as a bridge between technical workers and non-technical readers. They’ll collaborate closely with these groups to create a communication plan.

A good technical writer should be able to translate technical jargon into a common language. It’s also critical to have excellent communication and technical writing abilities. This article will help you build and polish your technical writing skills by introducing to you some of the renowned online technical writing courses.

Skills Required for a Technical Writer Include:

• Research
• A thorough examination of your target audience to match information to their requirements
• Communication skills
• Technical skills
• Excellent writing skills
• Designing documents: Including graphics and formatting documents to aid the audience in better understanding the information
• Should be able to navigate different digital tools

7 Best Online Technical Writing Courses

1. IIM SKILLS

IIM Skills is one of the renowned online educational platforms out there. They provide you with the necessary skills to make you industry-ready immediately. Through a combination of theory and practicals, their professional courses cover everything from the most basic to the most sophisticated subjects. Candidates will be able to gain the necessary information and insight through their learning format.

IIM Skills will help you reach brilliance in your professional life by providing top-notch professional courses that help you build competence, enhance your existing skills, and attain brilliance. In their technical writing Master Course, You’ll learn how to transform and explain difficult technical information into reader-friendly written documentation.

With their experienced guidance and tried-and-true methods and strategies, technical writing will be a breeze making their master course one of the best online technical writing courses. Their other salient features include access to the LMS or learning management system for a lifetime, industry experts as faculty, a flexible schedule, internship, and master certification upon the completion of the course.

Name of the Course: Technical Writing Master Course 

Duration: 5 weeks

Course Fee: Rs 14900 

Technical Writing Course Curriculum:

This course is taught by industry experts to make you job-ready. This course will teach you various types of technical writing and provide you with essential skills. Here is a list of their comprehensive curriculum:

• Introduction
• How to write
• Creating your content
• Technical Reports 
• White papers/Journals
• DDLC & Versioning
• Conversational Writing
• Reviewing & publishing
• API documentation using XML
• Datasheets, User Manuals, and application notes
• Effective writing
• Medical writing
• Case study- Application notes from texas

Eligibility:

There are no prerequisites to attend the course but an ideal candidate should be:

• A graduate in any field who is interested in technology and writing
• Should be able to communicate effectively
• A basic understanding of the internet

Key Features:

• Interactive classes
• Flexible learning options
• Expert trainers
• You can access all course material on LMS
• The certificate will be provided upon completing the course
• Internship opportunity
• Practical training
• Mastery of the most relevant tools
• Free support beyond the training sessions

2. Technical Writer HQ

The technical writing training course will teach you the fundamentals of the technical writing profession, as well as the skills required for success and how to increase your compensation. The course was designed by Josh Fechter who is also the founder of HQ and scribbler which is a writing and publishing software.

The Technical Writer Certification Course from TWHQ was designed for aspiring technical writers or those who want to improve their technical writing skills. Fundamentals of technical writing, how to write amazing documentation, how to answer technical writing interview questions, and how to stand out in the recruiting process to land a technical writing job are all topics covered in this course. All in all this course is surely one of the best online technical writing courses out there.

Name of the course: Technical writer certification course

Duration: 1 month, but the course is completely self-paced and you can decide when you start and finish the course, but it is highly recommended that you take at least a few lessons a day so that you’ll be able to finish the course by the end of the month.

Eligibility: There are no prerequisites for joining this course and no technical writing background is required

Cost of the course:  $299

Certification: Earn certification upon the completion of the course

Curriculum:

• Introduction to technical writing
• Writing great technical documentation
• Formatting your technical documentation

Key Features:

• More than 50 lectures and more than 5 downloadable templates
• Interviews with technical writing professionals in the industry
• Instructor feedback on capstone project
• The certificate will be provided upon the completion of the course

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3. University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

They provide innovative programs in a variety of areas. They offer a range of professional development programs to help professionals learn new skills. They provide several courses on technical writing, from basic to advanced, and many more. Some of the most beneficial courses provided by them include:

• Basic Certificate in Technical Writing

This basic certificate in technical writing consists of three courses that have been specially designed for beginners. The program is taught by industry experts. This course is perfect for those who lack the necessary experience or those who want to improve their existing careers in technical writing, which makes it one of the best online technical writing courses.

Upon the completion of the course, you’ll be able to analyze the audience, write effective technical documents, Learn to write clearly and precisely, create good layouts, and more.

Duration: 90 hours

Cost of the course: $975.00

• Intermediate Technical Writing

This intermediate online course will teach you how to use basic page design standards in the technical publishing business today. You’ll get the chance to write instructions, experiment with page design, obtain comments, and talk to your instructor about technical writing challenges.

Readings, quizzes, writing and revising, and other exercises are among the activities that will help you enhance your technical writing. In this course, you’ll learn about the best design practices, learn to use standard design in different writing projects, Instruction writing, Audience, and task analysis, and solve common problems.

Cost of the course: $335.00

• Advanced Technical Writing

This advanced course will provide you with the knowledge and confidence to promote yourself as a technical writer or just to handle more difficult professional responsibilities. This course stresses audience analysis, document organization and design, supplements, visuals, and research approaches, and builds on the abilities you learned in earlier technical writing courses. The course consists of a single proposal that covers all aspects of technical writing, including planning, writing, designing, and rewriting.

Cost of the course: $335.00

4. Udemy

Udemy is a major online platform that provides a huge amount of courses in a variety of fields, and they also provide online technical writing courses. They have courses for beginner to advanced audiences at a reasonable price, with offers on prices most of the time. They also provide a wide range of courses on technical writing. Their most popular courses in technical writing include:

Business Writing and Technical Writing Immersion

This curriculum is one of the highest-rated business and technical writing courses online for a reason, as over 25,000 students and 3,250 reviews attest:

• It’s ‘clear, informative, and succinct.’
• It’s ‘detailed, practical, and full of helpful hints.’
• “Conversational and engaging” instructor

The program consists of 38 video modules and supporting materials, each lasting about 7-10 minutes.

Eligibility:

• Anyone, from a recent college graduate to a seasoned CEO, and everyone in between, can benefit from this training. It can be used for skill refreshing or immersion training.

• Anyone who needs to communicate simply and efficiently, whether it’s through email, a proposal, a technical document, or something else.

Duration: 4.5 hours

Cost of the course: ₹3,499

Technical writing: Master your writing career

This course is taught by joseph Phillips, a project management consultant, lecturer, technology consultant, business owner, and technical writer with over 20 years of expertise. This course will guide you through the technical writing process, not only how to write, but how to write efficiently, swiftly, and precisely.

Joseph shows you how he’s refined his approach to technical writing over the last two decades. To increase your technical writing demand, you can modify his technical writing approach to your career. It is one of the best online technical writing courses on udemy.

Duration: 5.5 hours

Cost of the course: ₹3199

Udemy offers a lot more courses on technical writing. Their courses are perfect if you’re looking for small prices. It is a great place to start if you’re not sure technical writing is for you. This may not be as helpful for experienced technical writers but it’ll still be useful in increasing your knowledge or skill

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5. Coursera

Coursera like udemy is also a major online learning platform that offers online courses and degrees from top universities and companies. They also offer technical writing courses for professionals of all levels, making them one of the best platforms for online technical writing courses. Some of their top-rated technical writing courses include:

Writing Skills For Engineering Leaders

Rice University offers a beginner-level course in this subject. This course will teach you critical writing skills that you may use in your daily work as an engineering manager. You’ll learn important concepts in

• Taking on different engineering genres
• Creating high-quality documents through the writing process
• Make your writing more organized
• Make your writing clear and concise.
• Managing voice, style, and tone

Duration: 17 hours

Key Features:

• This Course in Combination with the Complete Specialization
• Certificates with Shareability
• Optional Self-Paced Learning 
• Course Readings and Videos
• Quizzes for Practice
• Peer Feedback on Graded Assignments
• Quizzes with feedback and grades
• Programming Assignments with Grades

Communication Skills for Engineers

This is also a beginner-level course offered by rice university. It is one of the courses in their 3-course specialization. It is one of the best online technical writing courses. This technical writing program is beneficial for engineers who are looking forward to developing their communication skills to excel in their professions.

You will practice designing and giving strong, persuasive presentations in this three-course Specialization; you will learn how to communicate across cultures, genders, and generations, how to create your brand and leadership presence, and how to hold effective meetings with global teams.

You will learn how to handle difficult conversations, and how to handle crisis communication, and you will learn writing skills that you can immediately apply in your daily activities. Faculty from the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL) teach the courses.

Duration: 4 months

Key features

• Course Certificates and Shareable Specialization
• Option for Self-paced Learning
• Readings and Videos from the Course
• Quizzes for Practice
• Peer Feedback on Graded Assignments
• Quizzes with feedback and grades
• Programming Assignments with Grades

6. Oregon State University

Oregon state university also offers a technical writing course. This technical writing course will provide you with an overview of the genre and educate you to write instructive, informative, and compelling texts that are based on well-defined and attainable goals. This online course will teach you how to analyze writing situations and how to efficiently produce effective, clean, and reader-centered papers.

The author’s style is determined by the document’s purpose and intended audience. You will analyze these style choices in this course, taking into account document layout, terminology, sentence and paragraph structure, and graphics, among other things.

You will get awareness and knowledge of several technical writing papers, such as reports, feasibility studies, proposals, and specifications, after completing this course. It is one of the best online technical writing courses out there.

Duration; 4 weeks

Cost of the course; $ 425

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7. Henry Harvin

Henry Harvin is also a major online learning platform. Through their technical writing course, you’ll be able to master the art of condensing difficult technical information into well-organized texts. You’ll learn to write thesis and research papers, among other things. They also teach you a lot of different technical writing tools in this course, making them one of the best online technical writing courses.

Key Features

• Internship  assistance
• 100% placement support
• Certification available
• 1-year gold membership available
• Taught by industry experts

Duration: 36 hours

Curriculum

Module 1; Introduction to technical writing
Module 2; the Documentation process
Module 3; Technical writing process
Module 4; Grammar and editing
Module 5; Technical writing software tools
Module 6; A technical document’s components
Module 7; Technical writing techniques
Module 8;  How to create a technical document template
Module 9; An overview of technical document formats
Module 10; Advanced technical writing tools

Complementary modules

FAQ

Q1. What is a technical writing course?

Ans. Technical writing is a style of writing that focuses on industry-specific materials such as manuals, legal disclaimers, annual reports, and company documents. A technical writing class is a program designed to teach you the abilities you’ll need to properly express your documents. Some courses may help you improve your writing skills in your current position, while others will prepare you to work as a  full-time technical writer.

Q2. What is the eligibility to be a technical writer?

Ans. Although a technical writer can work without a formal education, the majority of technical writing jobs require a bachelor’s degree. To be successful in this field, you’ll need extensive technical knowledge as well as excellent writing skills.

Q3. What do you learn in a technical writing course?

Ans. You’ll learn how to do the following in a technical writing class:

• Make many types of technical documentation.
• Choose the correct words and sentence structure for your message and target audience.
• Make good use of formatting and accompanying graphics.
• Use best practices in technical writing.
• Your instructor may also provide individual critiques on your work, depending on the class.

Q4. What is the salary of a technical writer?

Ans. Technical writers made a median annual salary of $72,850 in 2019, or a little over $35 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Conclusion

Technical writing is a part of every workplace now. Having technical writing skills will surely be a valuable asset in your workplace. As technology is booming, the demand for technical writers is also increasing. This article showcases some of the best online technical writing courses. You can choose the one best for you based on your experience level, your budget, and your schedule.