Working with developers in a docs-as-code environment can lead to some undesired and time-wasteful consequences.

Many ancestors of mine have been craftsman and artisans. Smiths, clockmakers, musicians. I come from a coal-mining county where almost everyone knows their way around tools and building.

True blue-collar environment in a poor but proud country. Work hard party hard kind of mentality.

Leadership is an exercise in endurance. Not physical—emotional. You unify the vision, translate different perspectives into a single narrative, and you do not flinch when that narrative gets challenged. You know when to push and when to say no. That is the job.

As anybody who has done it even a little bit will tell you: technical writing is mostly—not writing.

While every company has its own definitions of skills, responsibilities, and expectations it is important to understand that there are also different dimensions of these definitions. You could be looking at pure technical competencies but the position is a leadership one. In which case, you are more akin to an engineering manager than what is usually referred to as an individual contributor.

In both of those cases, it's good to have a handy resource with general, or even very specific, guidelines as to what different levels of an individually-contributing technical writer mean. Whether you manage people or are looking to take charge of your own career, the levels below cover most of the technical writing career ladder.

Whatever can be, will be.

You may think of a technical writer as the person who produces documentation. But the role has changed. It now sits at the center of design thinking, context protocols, content strategy, user journeys, AI-augmented authoring, automated workflows, docs as a product, and communication between humans and machines.

If you still treat technical writing as a support function, you will miss where product value now lives.

Language is no longer a layer on top of software. It shapes how software behaves. In AI-native systems, language is part of the system.

You do not need a better writer. You need someone who designs how knowledge flows across your organization and your product.

I've always pondered our definition of human intelligence. Civilization even. A definition that I like is—our ability to manipulate our environment.

Tech keeps you capable. Art keeps you sane.

I tried this insert product so you don't have to.

There's a myriad of AI tool reviews out there. Kind of reminds me of the whole microservices hype. I swear, for about two years this buzzword was in every single meeting I attended. Now it's "AI-powered" everything. AI-powered toaster. AI-powered calendar. AI-powered AI.

Adam Savage once said that as a hobbyist, you should buy the cheapest tools you can find and use them until they break. When they break, and they will, you'll know two things: you're serious about the craft, and you now know exactly what you need. Then you buy the best tools you can afford.

This translates beautifully to technical writing.

Something weird is happening in tech.

The people who build the apps, configure the notifications, and automate everything they can—are the same people turning it all off.

What are the most important aspects of being a technical writer?

Sometimes, you just need to write it down.