Why You Should Hire Me As Your Technical Writer

Introduction

Imagine this: You just posted an open technical writer position for your team on the job boards, like 15 seconds ago. Great, one more thing checked off your list.

You decide to reward yourself with a cup of coffee. Perhaps it’s a salted caramel latte with fancy foam art. Or maybe you prefer to keep things simple: coffee, black, piping hot. ☕

You’ve been crushing your to-do list, and you deserve the treat—and the break. You also know you’re going to need that caffeine to get through the avalanche of resumes that are about to pour in.

So, let me make this easier for you.

What I bring to the table

As a professional wordsmith, I make sure my clients look and sound their best.

I have 10+ years of technical writing and editing experience, and high-profile clients trust me with their content. Over the years, I’ve been hired by cybersecurity professionals, forensic data experts, global security operations managers, and Microsoft MVPs.

I also have experience working for major tech publishers and global companies—including Nestlé, Wiley, and Pearson.

Not only do I have a ton of practical knowledge that you can leverage right away, but more importantly:

• I empathize with your customers and users and ask smart questions that lead to better documentation.

• Your subject matter experts and stakeholders won’t try to hide from me when it comes time to do interviews. Why? Because I’m actually fun to talk to.

• I respect everyone’s domain authority on the team and the unique value they provide. I’m tactful when I need to provide constructive feedback, and I don’t shy away from letting people know that I appreciate them.

Oh, yeah. And clients say I’m really, really good at what I do.

Notable accomplishments

I have more than twenty 5-star reviews on Reedsy (a platform that connects authors with talented publishing professionals) and several glowing recommendations from clients on LinkedIn.

I’ve also had the honor of coaching other writers to success. After working with me, two of my clients reached #1 bestseller status on Amazon, and another landed a major publishing deal.

What clients are saying

• Ami Toben, Global Security Operations Manager. “Sarah was instrumental in helping my book reach #1 bestseller status on Amazon.”

• Marcus Carey, Cybersecurity Expert. “Sarah absolutely exceeded my expectations.”

• Joe Sremack, Forensic Data Expert. “I was amazed by the quality in the editing and the ability to grasp such a technical topic.”

My approach to technical documentation

When writing technical documentation, I don’t just present the facts. I dig deep, conducting research to uncover the hidden issues real users are experiencing. My Python installation guide is a great example of this.

You want to convey the facts—clearly and accurately—in your technical documentation, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be dull and lifeless. At the end of the day, you want your customers and users to feel energized and inspired to take action after reading your content.

And that’s where I step in. I listen to your customers, I empathize, and I do research. Then I present solutions to them in a way that makes learning a complex topic easy and painless.

Working on teams to bring everyone’s genius together

You’ve probably heard the saying, “It takes a village.” Well, that’s also true when it comes to creating great technical documentation.

Often, multiple people in your organization hold pieces of the larger puzzle. There isn’t just one person with the answer. While some might find this challenging, I love collaborating with people across teams to bring everyone’s genius together.

Making complex topics simple to understand

During my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazingly talented tech professionals—taking their highly complex ideas and making them simple enough for the everyday user to understand.

A great example of this is when I was hired to work on Marcus Carey’s book Tribe of Hackers.

Marcus is a respected cybersecurity professional, and he hired me to be the editor on the first edition of his book. I helped Marcus write the introduction and conclusion for his book and performed deep, substantial edits on dozens of interviews with cybersecurity professionals from around the world—many from esteemed agencies like the NSA and CIA.

One of the contributors was even a consultant on the hit TV show Mr. Robot. It was a fun project to be part of.

Shortly after the book was published, Marcus landed a major publishing deal, and the book was republished under their imprint.

My secret weapon as a technical writer

One of my secret weapons as a technical writer is this: I’m not an expert in the technologies I write about.

This may sound counterintuitive at first, but trust me, it’s an advantage.

I’ve worked with dozens of very smart technical professionals over the years, and I can tell you that their #1 hurdle as writers is that they’re too familiar with the topics they’re writing about.

As a result, you’ll often find that their work has logical gaps and missing steps, and certain important questions are glossed over—or left completely unaddressed.

And this isn’t due to a lack of empathy. Our brains naturally work by chunking. Once we become familiar with a process, we piece several steps together and do a lot of things on autopilot. Our brains are designed this way to save energy.

It actually takes training to carefully spot all the intricate steps in a procedure and clearly articulate the microdetails—those things that seem almost too obvious to mention but are actually critical for a new user.

Being a non-expert actually helps me when writing procedures.

Educating users requires digging into the subtle details and anticipating the kinds of questions they’ll have. When technical writers skip over steps or fail to address the details, it leads to confusion and frustration for your customers and users.

And the last thing you want is for them to run to Reddit because your documentation didn’t fully address their concerns.

Attention to detail

Notice how in the previous sentence I capitalized the R in Reddit—even though it’s lowercase in most of their branding materials. That was intentional. I only settled on a spelling convention after consulting their Trademark Use Policy page. They capitalize the R on their legal pages, and that’s how I knew I had the green light to spell it this way.

On the other hand, I would never capitalize the I in iPhone—even if it came at the start of a sentence. Why? Because Apple doesn’t support it.

Unusual capitalization and spelling is common in the tech world—both in product names and company names—and I pay attention to that. As writers, we want to respect registered trademarks, and my experience as an editor working for major publishers has taught me to do this kind of legal and brand research.

ChatGPT didn’t write this article

I love using AI to help me do research, come up with topic ideas, and even as a thesaurus to help me find more inspired word choices.

That said, there are limits to what it can do, and it’s important that technical writers understand when it is (and is not) appropriate to leverage AI. I always consult with clients before using AI for writing tasks to make sure it’s appropriate for the project.

When I use AI, I heavily fact-check the outputs. And I usually do a lot of editing to refine and humanize the voice. My ChatGPT FAQs article is a great example of this.

Funnily enough, there’s sometimes so much fact-checking, error-correcting, and rewriting involved when using AI that it doesn’t really speed up the writing process that much.

Still, AI can be an amazing writing and research assistant.

Technical writing samples

1. How to Install Python on Windows (Properly)—And Avoid Weird Problems in the Future

   • This article showcases my ability to write procedural, step-by-step guides with detailed screenshots. Using my research skills, I uncover the issues real users are facing after installing Python. The article is written in a friendly, humorous style and addresses how to tailor your Python installation to your specific needs so you’re fully aware of the choices you’re making during install.

2. ChatGPT FAQs: 13 of the Most Common Questions with Super-Detailed Answers and Helpful Example Prompts

   • This article illustrates how I used ChatGPT to help me write a FAQs page that uncovers some of the most common questions users have about using ChatGPT. I performed extensive fact-checking and research to make sure the content was accurate. (ChatGPT did generate several mistakes that I corrected.) I also added a lot of my own original ideas and example prompts. The article is written in a warm, professional tone.

3. Insight Timer's Hidden Feature Keeps Your Meditation Streak Going—Even When You Can’t (or Don’t Want to) Log into the App

   • This article is a good example of my ability to write “how-to” documentation for an app, and my article reveals a helpful hidden feature to users that’s buried deep within the app’s settings. The article is written in a friendly, lighthearted style.

4. Are AI Deepfakes Flooding the Job Market a Threat to Your Company? The Job Applicant You're Interviewing on Zoom Might Not Even Be Real

   • This article illustrates my ability to write timely, newsworthy content on popular topics in AI and security. The article is written in a professional news style, presenting an uplifting, solution-oriented angle to the problem.

Conclusion

Okay, so the decision to hire me is essentially a binary one (pun intended). You have two choices:

• 0 = No. Don’t hire me if you want confusing technical documentation that leaves your customers feeling frustrated.

• 1 = Yes. Hire me if you want flawless technical documentation that your customers love to read.

Contact me 📧

I’d love to hear from you! If you’re interested in working together, shoot me an email at s_cisco@yahoo.com.