Jobs
Technical Author
A technical writer is a professional communicator whose task is to convey complex information in simple terms to an audience of the general public or a very select group of readers. Technical writers research and create information through a variety of delivery media (electronic, printed, audio-visual, and even touch).[1] Example types of information include online help, manuals, white papers, design specifications, project plans, and software test plans. With the rise of e-learning, technical writers are increasingly hired to develop online training material.
According to the Society for Technical Communication (STC):[2]
Technical writing is sometimes defined as simplifying the complex. Inherent in such a concise and deceptively simple definition is a whole range of skills and characteristics that address nearly every field of human endeavor at some level. A significant subset of the broader field of technical communication, technical writing involves communicating complex information to those who need it to accomplish some task or goal.
In other words, technical writers take advanced technical concepts and communicate them as clearly, accurately, and comprehensively as possible to their intended audience, ensuring that the work is accessible to its users.
Kurt Vonnegut described technical writers as:[3]
...trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writing. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to the reader.
Engineers, scientists, and other professionals may also be involved in technical writing (developmental editing, proofreading, etc.), but are more likely to employ professional technical writers to develop, edit and format material, and follow established review procedures as a means delivering information to their audiences.
Shropshire (/ˈʃrɒpʃər, -ʃɪər/; historically Salop[3] and abbreviated Shrops) is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south, and the Welsh counties of Wrexham and Powys to the west. The largest settlement is Telford, and Shrewsbury is the county town.
The county has an area of 3,487 square kilometres (1,346 sq mi) and a population of 498,073. Telford (155,570), in the east of the county, and Shrewsbury (76,782), in the centre, are the only large towns. Shropshire is otherwise rural and characterised by market towns such as Oswestry (15,613), Bridgnorth (12,212), and Newport (11,387). The county contains two districts, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin, which are both unitary areas.
Shropshire is generally flat in the north and hilly in the south, where the Shropshire Hills AONB covers about a quarter of the county, including The Wrekin, Clee Hills, Stiperstones, Long Mynd, and Wenlock Edge.[4][5] Part of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, which extends into Wales, occupies the low-lying north west of the county.[6] The River Severn, Great Britain's longest river, runs through the county in a wide, flat valley before exiting into Worcestershire south of Bridgnorth. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature (in terms of weather) in England and Wales.[7]
There is evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age human occupation in Shropshire, including the Shropshire bulla pendant. The hillfort at Old Oswestry dates from the Iron Age, and the remains of the city of Viroconium Cornoviorum date from the Roman period.[8][9] During the Anglo-Saxon era the area was part of Mercia. During the High Middle Ages the county was part of the Welsh Marches, the border region between Wales and England; from 1472 to 1689 Ludlow was the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches, which administered justice in Wales and Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.[10] During the English Civil War Shropshire was Royalist, and Charles II fled through the county — famously hiding in an oak tree — after his final defeat at the Battle of Worcester.[11] The area around Coalbrookdale is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[12][13]
