How to create an Engineering Blog
Writing is an unnatural act. According to Charles Darwin, “Man has an instinctive tendency to speak, as we see the in the babble of our young children, whereas no child has an instinctive tendency to write”.
It’s natural for engineers to convey their thoughts verbally. But when it comes to writing, it’s a laborious task.
Speaking and writing involves two different personalities. For engineers, spoken conversation is instinctive. But for writers, it’s the writing part that is instinctive.
It's important that writers and engineers collaborate when it comes to blogging.
Engineers should look at blog posts as a way of crystallising ideas like the code.
The major challenge is to identify what to blog.
Being an engineer, you have insights into technology that may not have been elucidated. You need to ask what others do not understand, and how can I explain it clearly.
You can also highlight the specific problems that you encountered, methods that proved to be a workable solution, and some advantages/disadvantages of alternative solutions.
As a writer, your role is to sieve the content from the fat, give life to the technical jargons like characters in a novel.
Six principles for a good story-telling are
- Absence of lengthy verbiage
- Total objectivity
- Truthful descriptions
- Extreme brevity
- Audacity and originality
- Show and not tell
During my tenure as a Technical Writer at Grab, I have published engineering blogs by collaborating with engineers. It takes at least 2 to 3 months from conception to publishing.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.
Visit my blog: http://technicalwritingsingapore.blogspot.com to read about my life experiences that shaped my career as a Technical Writer. For any questions, email me at abeeshthomas@yahoo.com.