How to succeed as a freelance technical writer
Literate lessons from lockdown life
So you want to be a freelance technical writer? Maybe not, but maybe you’re at least wondering:
- What does a technical writer do?
- What’s it like working as a freelancer for a startup?
- How does it feel working remotely for a product launch?
Hopefully, I can answer those questions and shed some small insight into working remotely, as a freelance writer, for an exciting startup.
The setup
Quix is a small startup with a very strong team, headed by four McLaren engineers. Their work is, quite frankly, mind-bogglingly complex. They’re fighting the good fight: taking a pile of complicated concepts and technologies, wrapping them up into a manageable package, and selling access to a much-improved way of working. Classic SaaS stuff.
The mission revolves around data streaming. Even for a technical-minded writer such as myself, it’s a world of confusing terminology, acronyms, and opaque concepts.
The company is just over a year old now, and I started working for them a couple of months before launch. This is probably the most exciting and daunting period in any team’s lifecycle, and this was no exception.
Taking a product to launch in a world hit by global pandemic requires a whole new way of working. We’ve heard how long-established companies have struggled to adapt, but what about trying to build a company culture and product under such conditions?
Skills
This example of one of the company’s principles sums up their attitude best:
We operate at the edge of our comfort zone, which means we are ok with knowledge gaps and mistakes, as long as we’re learning and growing together as a team.
It’s a perfect message and one that, as a freelancer, is music to my ears. One of the most valuables skills a freelancer can possess is the ability to hit the ground running. But if there’s room for patience…
