Technical communication is extremely important in our everyday lives. We live in what’s called the information age, and as technology continues to advance, it’s great to have people who can take complex information most people wouldn’t understand and translate it for the average layperson. Technical communication is the means by which technical writers take information and document it in a variety of ways.
What you see when you get online is technical communication as you receive information by surfing the web, listening to music, reading text, watching videos, and any other means by which you receive information. Essentially, someone is communicating to you through a process using technical communication.
Definition of Technical Communication
When you have a variety of information that you need to make available the people, whether they are students, employees, or customers, is the job of the writer to relay the information needed by means of technical communication. They are transferring information usually through training manuals, guides, packets, videos, interactive training, data sheets, textbooks, and all other forms of documents in a manner that is understandable to the reader.
Scope of Technical Communication
Since we live in what is considered the information age, technical communicators are highly sought after in a variety of important industries. Everything from entertainment to workplace regulations for all shared by means of technical communication. As we become more technologically advanced, we will find ourselves relying even more on this form.
Technical Writing or Technical Communication
It can be fairly easy to mix up technical writing with technical communication. There can be technical writing as part of technical communication with the two terms are not necessarily the same, as technical communication refers to a much broader form of communicating than just technical writing.
Technical communication is essentially any type of communication that takes place in a professional manner. For example, when to colleagues send emails to one another, that’s a form of technical communication. So, while all technical writers can be considered as a technical communicator, there are other ways to do.
If you have a group meeting with your colleagues in an office setting where you exchange ideas, that too is considered a technical communication. One employee your hands an employee handbook to a new worker, that’s technical information is he sharing with work exactly the information he wants them to know.
Jobs within Technical Communication
As noted in the point above, technical communication can be done by almost any means as to professionals communicate with each other. But if speaking about the technical domain specifically, then you would most assuredly find jobs in the electronic world heavily revolving around technical writing and other forms of highly complex technical communication.
Usually work revolving around science, information, economy, marketing, consumers, and technology all involve technical communication, but the subject matter in each field may differ depending on the career of the individual. A lot of technical communication also is displayed from the manufacturer to customer or from employer to employee relating to specific information in the context of teaching or informing.