How I went from not knowing jack about technical writing to publishing articles still baffles me.

What's more intriguing? The fact that this was made possible because I took a chance at the Empower Her Community and Non-Tech in Tech Bootcamp!

Empower Her Community (EHC), is a non-governmental, nonprofit, tech-based organization, whose focus is to groom and promote women in the technology industry.

Non-Tech in Tech (NTIT), on the other hand, is a community that nurtures and promotes non-technical individuals working in the technology industry, especially in Africa.

The Bootcamp was a collective effort of both organizations, in a bid to train women in non-technical paths.

PRE-CLASS ACTIVITIES.

Just like every other newbie, I was worried at first that I might not be carried along, and would get lost along the way.

However, this feeling melted away immediately after the onboarding on the Slack channel and Twitter space hosted by the organizers of the Bootcamp.

The YouTube live session where I got to meet the organizers and facilitators of the Bootcamp helped me to become comfortable. I suddenly felt relaxed and confident.

THE CLASSES.

The classes lasted for six weeks, and the technical writing track held theirs virtually on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Week one.

The first week of the Bootcamp centred on Introduction to Technical Writing, was taught by my amazing facilitators Benny Ifeanyi Iheagwara and Blessing Ene Anyebe.

The class concentrated on:

• Areas of technical writing.
• Forms of technical writing.
• Skills one should have as a technical writer.

Subsequently, an assignment which tasked us to create our own blog was given, which I did and submitted.

Week two.

The second week of the Bootcamp was handled by Timonwa Pelumi Akintokun, who exposed us to the tools used in technical writing, and how to use markdowns.

The tools were categorized into:

• Research tools.

• Note-taking tools.

• Authoring tools.

• Media tools.

• Editing tools.

• Publishing tools.

• Documentation tools.

• Collaborative and management tools.

We were also given a second task as an assignment for week two. This entailed writing our first article.

Week three.

The third week was focused on reviewing the written articles. My teachers made sure to correct all the necessary errors and encouraged us to do better.

We were then asked to publish it on our desired blog, which I did here on hashnode.

The third week's task was to try our hands on a more challenging article.

Week four.

In the fourth week of the program, we were taught Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in technical writing.

The subject outlined:

• The meaning of SEO.
• The importance of SEO.
• How to optimize in technical writing.
• Things not to do in the hopes of ranking your content.
• SEO tips for technical writers.

Week five.

Segun Light Olumide was our teacher during the fifth week of the training.

He introduced us to Documentation in Technical Writing, and explained how to successfully document REST APIs; which include:

• Describing your resource.
• How to use endpoints.
• How to use parameters, etc.

Week six.

The sixth week marked the end of the technical writing classes.

We were therefore tipped on how to:

• Become Open Source Software contributors.
• Write our resumes.
• Present our portfolios.
• Prepare for interviews.
• Make money from freelancing.

We also had a Google-meet webinar, where we got to talk with a technical writing professional, Zainab Daodu.

Our task for the sixth week was to choose from a variety of topics and write on one of them, which will serve as our project.

I chose to write on my experience at the Bootcamp, which is what you are reading now. Cool, right?

AND NOW…

I must say my technical writing skill has improved greatly, for someone who knew little or nothing six weeks ago.

I have also become an editor at satellite.ng, and have published a number of news articles.

Currently, I am applying for a number of paid Open Source Software programs, where I can become a contributor.

IN CONCLUSION…

I acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the organizers of this Bootcamp, especially the founder of Empower Her Community, Elizabeth Okaome, for this great opportunity.

I am also grateful to my facilitators for their time, care and patience throughout my learning period. I felt at home.

My fellow trainees are not left out in this train of gratitude. You are all amazing minds, and I am open to connect!

And you, who is reading this article. Thank you for reaching this point. You are loved.

Want to become a technical writer? Click here to start.