Question: How can one do independent/freelance software documentation?

[qsmrf]

I was wondering if its possible to pursue software documentation or technical writing independently. People do software development independently - I was wondering if I can contact companies/start ups/potential clients if they require software documentation just like freelance software developers might reach out to prospects. I apologize if it sounds a bit naive but I was just brainstorming some ideas since I was interested in software documentation.

Cheers.

[givemeethekeys]

Yes, I think you definitely can. I'd approach it similarly to how one would approach freelance software development.

1. You already have a day job, and through your network, someone asks if you have time for side work.

2. You create some kind of a public portfolio that anyone can check out and market yourself to the type of clients you're interested in.

Your work will be viewed by most companies as a vitamin, rather than a pain killer, in that it's nice to have but not but not solving the most critical business problem - and this is why most documentation sucks - but, with some persistence you'll find clients who put value on your service.

[qsmrf]

yeah that's what I was thinking of doing especially the second point. Thanks.

[Aulig]

Not sure if this helps, just a random idea I had.

Companies that are looking to get acquired might want to get their docs in order before getting acquired.

[qsmrf]

Could you elaborate more on the type of documents you are referring to. Are these the same documents like software documentation or some auditing reports type stuff?

[lovelearning]

I have seen part-time/contract remote technical writing jobs on AngelList. Opportunities definitely exist.

But that doesn't necessarily free you from interviewing their SMEs, sitting in review meetings, and other typical TW activities. If, by "independent", you mean working by yourself with little dependency on or communication with others, then it's a bit of a toss-up because every company is different.

[qsmrf]

yup I agree with you on that one. Thanks for mentioning AngelList - I had forgotten about it completely. Seems like a nice site for lead hunting. Also LinkedIn.

[weitzj]

You could do specific software documentation and say that you help write documents so that your clients’ software will meet some kind of certification like ISO27001 as an example.

So your niche would be software documentation with regards to what needs to be documented to meet some external criteria

[qsmrf]

Hmm, Interesting. Doesnt ISO27001 have like a really tough barrier or something - I did some googling and I guess one needs to have some certifications or something under their belt.

Still tho, I think this seems like a niche enough thing to pursue.

[weitzj]

Insurances or banks benefit from this kind of documentation job. ISO 27001 was just an example. There is enough compliance documentation to be written out there :)

You could do technical writing to meet German BSI Grundschutz certification for some kind of software or SaaS usage

[bruce511]

My personal history with documentation from a programmer perspective is complicated.

20 something years ago I wrote a big system. It needed documentation so I hired a full time technical writer. He produced mountains of documentation, more than enough to satisfy the pickiest customer. And I'm pretty sure it was useless (beyond the sales process.)

It described everything in detail, but lacked any sense of how things worked together, or how the program might be used to solve problems. He had a very shallow understanding of the customers and the domain.

In other words it was all technical, no business or domain information.

From this experience I learned that the best documenters are those who deeply understand the subject, and (critically) can impart that information to the user base. Good programmers with good communication, and good writing skills, are, well, rare.

You've probably noticed this yourself online. If you are interested in say Grid stuff in CSS, you're unlikely to get value from the RFC and more likely to read some variety of blog posts on Grid until you find one that resonates.

And it will resonate because the writer started where you are now, and shared how they got to where you want to be, and were able to write that journey down in a useful way.

These days I write my own docs, and I consider docs to be part of the job. I don't release unless the docs are "done" (for some definition of done.) Apart from anything else, writing the docs helps me identify the clumsy parts of the program, so it's a feedback loop that causes me to improve the program.

So, to answer your question, I think being a generalist "technical writer for hire" is hard. Ideally you would have a very deep understanding before writing, which implies some sort of specialisation. You'd also need a very close relationship with the creatives making the product. Doing that as an independent would be tricky.

Personally, I wouldn't hire an external freelance documenter, but that's just me. We have hired internally, but I can't say we've had great success with it. Mostly because the creatives aren't interested in taking the prodigious amounts of time it would take to educate the newbie. Also because when we do take the time the result can be weak, which just makes the cycle worse.

Probably the bigger need for us is internal documentation. I would hire someone to come in, and document "what people do all day". As a small business things have evolved, and lots of "end to end" business processes are "in someone's head". We've reached a size where retro-documenting our own business processes would be useful, and that's best done by an outsider.

So maybe that's a better avenue to explore, although it's very niche.

[qsmrf]

Thanks for such a detailed response - It really helps alot.

Interesting explanation about the trade-offs between an external software document expert vs someone hired internally. And I get that completely.

Very intriguing point about the internal documentation/day to day type stuff. I will look into that as I have not come across something like that as of yet. Could you nudge me in the right direction into what should I look for on the internet if someone was interested in the type of documentation you are referring to? What I'm understanding is that its the business analyst type documentation you are referring to?

Cheers.

[bruce511]

>> Could you nudge me in the right direction into what should I look for on the internet

Not really. I've no idea how you would go about finding this sort of work online. LinkedIn maybe?

It's worth noting that this kind of independent contracting is a terrible business model. We did it as programmers when we started. It was hard to find work, and we basically started from 0 everytime a job finished.

During the downtime (and there wax plenty of it) we wrote our own code, and it was only once we got some market traction with that that we started getting a regular paycheck. Before that we had to work hard to get paid, and there was not a lot left after costs for things like salaries. The months we got paid 100% were few.

So, to your question, can you write independently, I guess the answer is yes, but it's not done thing I'd recommended. Hopefully it's just a step to a much better gig, which I assume is writing books. If you are an independent you want to be doing something to generate reoccurring revenue.