# "Technical Writer" means something different now than it used to **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474 "2019-05-24T19:49:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/1 "2019-05-24T19:49:20Z")
Technical writer used to be a documentation specialist for physical products. They were the people who wrote owner’s manuals. But now if you search job postings for Technical writers they are all for software. So if the job under that name has changed, is there a new name for the old job? ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/2 "2019-05-24T19:57:39Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Technical writer used to be a documentation specialist for physical products. They were the people who wrote owner’s manuals. But now if you search job postings for Technical writers they are all for software. > > So if the job under that name has changed, is there a new name for the old job? I work for a company that has dozens of technical authors. We author owner’s manuals for other companies. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/3 "2019-05-24T20:11:50Z")
I don’t see that technical writers for software are doing a different job than technical writers for a physical product. They’re both writing owner’s manuals. Having worked in the software industry for many years, I can attest that “technical writer” as the name for someone who writes software documentation goes back at least to the 1970s and I would assume earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/4 "2019-05-24T20:14:45Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Technical writer used to be a documentation specialist for physical products. I started working in the software industry in 1981 and all our documentation was written by Tech Writers. When was this time when the term only applied to hardware? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/5 "2019-05-24T20:15:19Z")
Agreed. “Technical Writer” is still the right job title. But the title applies much more broadly (and always has) than just “owners manuals for physical things.” But as with much of the world, there’s a lot more software that needs manuals than hardware, these days. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/6 "2019-05-24T20:39:24Z")
With few exceptions, if it’s non-fiction and tells you how something works or how to use said something, then a technical writer is (or should be) involved. That includes tools, equipment, flight manuals, prescription inserts, proposal requests and responses, and software. Not included are legal briefs, academic papers, history books, and the like. The job title hasn’t changed, but the scope has expanded dramatically. Sadly, too many companies that produce products have gotten to the point of thinking “anyone can write”, and farm their documentation demands out to engineers and the like. I’ve seen documentation for products that make me shudder because they’re organized badly, leave out information, and have atrocious mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/7 "2019-05-25T16:04:47Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I started working in the software industry in 1981 and all our documentation was written by Tech Writers. When was this time when the term only applied to hardware? Well I guess it’s just my perception. The market for software documentation is probably hotter than physical products. There may be a skew in the first language of the majority of employees for software firms versus factories as well. ---
**Author:** ![EdelweissPirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/8 "2019-05-25T16:45:19Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Sadly, too many companies that produce products have gotten to the point of thinking “anyone can write”, and farm their documentation demands out to engineers and the like. I’ve seen documentation for products that make me shudder because they’re organized badly, leave out information, and have atrocious mechanics. I’ve seen this far too often. I’m a mechanical engineer now, but I studied philosophy and literature as an undergrad and worked as a journalist for a few years prior to grad school. I was the only one in my cohort who could write coherently. It’s not that I’m so good…it’s that engineers (as a group) are so bad—and few of them can tell the difference between decent writing and terrible writing. I suspect those who decide that the engineers should write the manual can’t tell the difference either. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/9 "2019-05-25T17:58:34Z")
[Tina the Tech Writer](https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-08-28)has been writing software documentation for over 20 years. If the meaning has changed, it isn’t a recent one. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technical-writer-means-something-different-now-than-it-used-to/834474/10 "2019-05-25T18:56:06Z")
As the others say, the job hasn’t changed. Software has always needed documentation, and in most cases that documentation has very little indication that it is not documentation for a complex physical machine.