Monetizing Your Expertise and Exploring Opportunities- Day 3 of Hashnode Bootcamp
Introduction
Technical writing is a high-level skill in today's world, as technology continues to rapidly evolve and innovations emerge. Technical writers play a critical role in translating complex information into easily understandable language for various audiences.
In this blog, we will explore the discussions of the sessions of Day 3 and take advice from amazing technical writers and get the answers to the questions.
Day 3
On day 2, we had James and he discussed Freelance writing for developers. Full-time content creator, developer, and public speaker, creating videos,
Questions
What inspired you to start a Freelancer writing as a developer? How did you get on this journey what was the kickstarting point to get started?
It was his requirement to get started with freelancing. He has a computer science degree. He got turned down from Microsoft to two different jobs and came to a Technical Evangelist role where he have to create demos, videos, and speak. Then he talks about the first earnings from Youtube by creating content.h Then he tells about the written content and that writing at least one article for Scotch.io was her aim and he got paid 150 or 200. Then he used to create a blog post for every video that he created so, that he are getting exposure to blogging and at the same time building personal brand and earnings.
What types of freelancing opportunities are available for Developers?
There are lots of different programs like the Guest Author program and he worked with Twilio, scotch, and Pod Rocket there are tons of companies who are looking to bring in people to create content because lots of times the teams don't have the ability to hire them different technical writers on a consistent basis and they bring in outside people to get work done and paid.
Questions from the audience
How to find a niche in freelance Writing?
If we see, From a Growth standpoint, if you find a specific topic that you are interested in it that also is Broad enough for people to be interested in it Typescript is one that's really trending right now. There are tons of people creating typescript courses and if are able to create content on it then you're gonna have a good audience.
Let's say, the typescript does not trend after two years, it doesn't mean that your niche is to be long-term, you could do a certain niche for six months or a year then you can able to find out what you to do next.
How can writers themselves effectively attract new clients?
Having your own blog or content you create, have a series of articles that are grammatically, and technically correct and the articles are high quality for the guest author programs.
When you wrote a blog, you have to share it, it needs to reach out to many people. And being active in the community, helping others and you are building your personal brand.
Having a strong set of articles and then also showing up in the community, and networking, engaging with the community members.
What are some resources or tools that freelance writers can use to improve their productivity and efficiency?
Many people can't start their blogging because they are thinking should I build my own blog or should I blog on another website? Hashnode is an amazing platform, you can get started blogging with hashnode and then crosspost the articles in your own blog. The tool front matter CMS plugin in VScode, you can use to cross-post articles.
Have a track of ideas list down like he uses Notion to list down the ideas. And AI tools are helpful tools, he uses ChatgPt to resolve his doubts. Another Tool Video Tab converts videos to blog posts.
As Content creators, can you advise us on the correct way to work with AI technologies and the incorrect way ?
As I talk about Videotab that has AI in it. Leverage the tools of AI to create content and in the end you have to create part of the content on your own, it meets with your style and quality of blogging. Using AI to auto-generate blogs can't be a good thing, starting point is to use it as an inspiration and then go on top of that to add your own style. Using AI to create article titles is helpful.
What do recruiters see in a candidate when hiring for a technical writer?
There are positions, such as the Devrel team which works around public speaking, creating video content, and engaging with audiences at conferences, and the Content team which manages the blogs and documentation. We can reach out to companies if they don't have good documentation and you can help with them. Technical writers also have different levels.
The important thing that recruiters see is that communicate technical concepts that are understandable to people of different levels of experience and the audience. You can get this by writing, writing blog posts, and contributing to documentation which are open-source.
Do you believe we can make a good living from blogging, youtube, and paid courses instead of Full-time developers?
It's our choice, But you can make a good living as James made six-figure by creating content in six months. And the opportunities you will get by creating content are huge. You can also convert it into business by leveraging your content. Leveraging in a good way that provided value, If you create the first product free and the next product you have to say, I provided the free value here, here is a paid thing if you are interested in getting deeper into it. It's not easy, you have to be patient and consistent.
Initially, focus more on quality or quantity to attract the audience.
At first, Just get started with blogging and publish it, even if the first blog was not good the second blog would be better than the first. At begging try to focus on quantity and then move to increase quality.
How do you get back to creating content after a vacation? when the procrastination kicks.
It's more of doing things that you're excited about. When you came from a vocation, then you are excited about doing the work you're not gonna procrastinate it.
How do I deal with writer's block? Also is it safe to run a series on a particular topic?
When you are exhausted by content, you can code and build a side project or you can take a rest, walk. It is fair to continue to a series. He also addresses the fear of creating content on topics that have already been covered, emphasizing that there is always room for more unique perspectives and experiences to help make a topic click for someone.
Sharing our own journey as a content ?
James emphasizes that sharing your journey is the best way to get exposure to content. When you learn something and you share it, that worked as a portfolio as well which can be used to showcase technical knowledge.
The benefit is:
The more you share, the more people see and respond to you, and the more people follow you, when they have job opportunities, they now know that you're looking for a job because they are hiring based on skillset and they know that you have that skillset. James also notes that as one learns something, one becomes the best voice to teach it because one intimately remembers what it was like to learn the concept.
How do you see the role of technical writing evolving in the future?
James emphasizes that this field is growing in terms of content and documentation teams. From a developer perspective, if you want to use a product and the product doesn't;t have good documentation then you don't use that product if you can't understand. We can know how important the documentation is. And the companies hire you to create content and you get paid as your content increases the audience.
What are some best practices for writing clear and concise technical documentation?
James explains that what you write for the five minutes of that topic is a clear explanation of the topic. James notes that he used to give 5 minutes to read or watch videos and then 20 minutes to talk to himself about the topic, then according to the audience he arranges the content. Adding bullet points, removing paragraphs and adding a hierarchy of points, adding quotes in between, and placing the most relevant stuff.
Learnings
On the Day 3 of Hashnlde BootCamp, we have James Q Quick.
My learnings are:
-> Got to Know about Guest author programs.
-> Advice from James is Niching down, building a personal brand, and utilizing AI tools in the correct way.
-> Enjoying the work you do. Excited to complete the work.
-> Cross-post the blogs and share your blogs on socials.
-> Involving in communities and sharing knowledge, engaging with the community members.
Connect with me
Check out Day 1 and Day 2 of Hashnode Bootcamp.