Regardless of the industry they work in, technical writers should be on the constant lookout for new trends, mastering new technologies and upgrading their skills.
One way to do all of that is to attend certified courses.
They provide structured and fresh knowledge, and that’s something all technical writers, beginners or advanced, can benefit from.
So, what are some of the best certifications you can get?
Read on and find out!
Technical Writer Certification Course by Technical Writer HQ
Technical Writer HQ is one of the leading training and certification platforms online. They offer several courses, one of which is the Technical Writer Certification Course.
This course is designed primarily for beginners—it starts with fundamentals about a technical writing career, such as the role and responsibilities of a technical writer, where technical writing is used, etc.
The course has a lot of material. There are 95 video lessons, and you get assignments and quizzes on top of that.
As we mentioned, the course is intended for beginners and is structured that way.
You’ll get the fundamentals, learn how to create technical documentation, write samples, build your resume, and perform well in a job interview.
Also, you’ll have access to downloadable templates for writing.
Josh Fechter, the founder of Squibler and a technical writer with over a decade of experience, designed this course.
He features in many video lessons and gives feedback on the main assignment in the course.
This course is available for $299, which includes lifetime access to everything mentioned above.
If you’re starting in the technical writing world, this course might help build the groundwork for your career.
UX Writing Certification Course by Technical Writer HQ
User experience (UX) is crucial in many apps, software tools, websites, and other digital products. Technical Writer HQ has a course specifically designed for aspiring UX writers.
UX Writing Certification Course offers everything needed to start your UX writer career.
It’s another course from Josh Fechter and Technical Writer HQ, like the one we examined in the previous section.
It has many of the same advantages and features—it’s a self-paced online course, mainly video-based, and offers a structured approach that eases you into UX writing.
It starts with the basics, and throughout the course, you’ll learn about writing microcopy, deciding on the tone and voice of your writing, content creation, building a portfolio, etc.
For example, one of the sections is dedicated to building a chatbot.
As you can see above, there is a capstone project at the end of the section.
There are ten of those in the course, and they serve as an assignment that encourages you to employ the knowledge you gathered until that point.
In addition to the projects, there are over 60 video lessons and frequent quizzes.
The course is priced at $499, with lifetime access and bonus content.
To sum up, a course like this is beneficial if you want to start in a fast-growing field like UX writing and don’t know where to start.
TechWriter-Certification
This platform is suitable both for beginners and more advanced technical writers with its plethora of courses and certifications.
It’s one of the platforms that aim to cover many levels of experience and various industries so that most technical writers can find something for themselves.
TechWriter-Certification has six different certificates in its catalog:
- Basic Certificate in Technical Writing
- Certificate In Writing for Current Technical Writers, Editors, and Designers
- Comprehensive Career Builder Certificate in Technical Writing
- Writers at Work Certificate Program
- Certificate In Professional Technical Communication/Portfolio
- XML Structured Authoring for Technical Documentation: Advanced Certificate Course
Each specializes in a particular level and has a specific purpose.
For example, as its name implies, the Basic Certificate in Technical Writing is designed for beginners.
As you can see, that certificate has three courses, which take 90 hours, or roughly four months, to complete.
Throughout the courses, instructors grade your assignments, comment on your activities, and suggest improvements to keep you engaged.
When it comes to prices, they depend on the course. The cheapest, XML Structured Authoring for Technical Documentation:
Advanced Certificate Course, costs $349, and the most expensive is Comprehensive Career Builder Certificate in Technical Writing for $2399.
You can see the price for every certificate when you click the “Enroll Now” button.
TechWriter-Certification platform can be valuable for technical writers of every level—beginners can find a course for learning the basics, and advanced writers can boost their skills.
Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC)
This course is designed by the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the world’s oldest professional association dedicated to technical communication.
Therefore, it has a certain significance that could be valuable when applying for technical writing jobs.
But let’s see what the course is all about.
CPTC has three tiers:
- Foundation Certification
- Practitioner Certification
- Expert Certification
You need to earn the certification in that order—for example, only when you complete the Foundation Certification can you proceed to the Practitioner Certification and so on.
The Foundation Certification is based on acquiring knowledge of the technical writing field.
The candidate has to show that they understand the theoretical side of the field to pass the 50-question exam.
In the Practitioner Certification, candidates apply their knowledge in a given situation.
The exam is also based on scenarios where candidates should demonstrate their comprehension of the fundamentals acquired in the first course.
Lastly, the Expert Certification requires a set of work products and expert interviews. Currently, that level is labeled as “Coming Soon”.
The pricing depends on the level of certification and whether you’re a member of the STC:
- Foundation Certification costs $260 for members and $515 for non-members
- Practitioner Certification costs $410 for members and $615 for non-members
Having a certificate from an organization like STC can be a valuable addition to your resume. If you’re looking for a way to boost your career, this might be it.
Dalhousie University Technical Writing Certificate
If you’re looking for an in-depth program on technical writing that provides you with a certificate from a university, this might be the right choice for you.
The Technical Writing Certificate from Dalhousie University is an interactive online course that’s divided into multiple sections.
You can obtain the certificate only after you complete Technical Writing Essentials, which is a required course, followed by three more elective courses. For the latter, you can choose from these:
- Grammar Tune-up
- Persuasive Writing
- Project Management Documents
- Writing Clear Technical Reports
- Writing Emails That Get Results
Each course takes around 20 hours to complete. You can do them at your own pace—the only requirement is that you complete them within four years.
In addition to the required course that is all about the basics of technical writing, the other courses are more specialized and aimed at people who have a certain level of experience, particularly in the STEM field.
That is also reflected in the price, which is on the steeper side when it comes to certificates in this article.
The required course plus three additional ones needed for the certification cost $1980, or $495 per course.
In short, this is a good option if you want a comprehensive, university-designed course.
University of Wisconsin Technical Writing Online Certificate Programs and Classes
Whether you’re a newcomer in technical writing or a seasoned professional, the University of Wisconsin offers many different programs and classes.
Online Certificate Programs and Classes is their collection of courses that, upon completion, provides you with a certificate in technical writing.
They offer nine programs for different levels and purposes:
- Basic Certificate in Technical Writing
- Intermediate Technical Writing
- Advanced Technical Writing
- Certificate in Professional Technical Communication-Portfolio
- Certificate in Technical Writing for Current Technical Writers, Editors, and Designers
- Introduction to Technical Writing for Industry
- Technical Communication, an Introduction for Current Technical Writers, Editors, and Designers
- Workplace Experience Certificate in Technical Writing
- XML Structured Authoring for Technical Documentation: Advanced Certificate Course
As you can see, the list is diverse and covers a range of experience levels and interests.
However, regardless of the course, the University of Wisconsin guarantees that their best instructors teach the candidates.
Another advantage of this course is its option of enrolling as a group. That can be ideal for teams of technical writers and their companies.
The courses vary greatly in terms of pricing. Below you can see a free one:
Conversely, the Certificate in Professional Technical Communication-Portfolio is the most expensive, costing $1200.
However, most of them are available for $335.
This certificate program can be valuable for a wide variety of technical writers, and it’s especially worth considering if you have teammates interested in education.
Udemy Technical Writing Certifications and Courses
There are many online learning platforms, but Udemy has emerged as one of the best and most diverse ones.
On it, you can find courses on virtually anything you can think of, and it’s not surprising that they also have a range of technical writing courses.
Currently, there are 45 courses on technical writing on Udemy.
They are very diverse—you can find courses for beginners or advanced writers, general courses about technical writing, or industry-specific ones.
Whatever you choose, the enrollment process is simple—every course has its price, and you only need a computer or a mobile app to participate.
Udemy makes it very easy to find what you’re interested in.
Their search engine has many filters you can set up, so, for instance, you can sort the courses by price, popularity, ratings, and level, to name just a few criteria.
Prices differ greatly from course to course. For example, they currently even have one free technical writing course.
On the other hand, their most popular course on technical writing costs €199.99.
When you open that or any other course, you have plenty of information to help you decide if it’s right for you.
We highlighted some of them above—the rating that the participants gave the course, the price and the money-back guarantee, and what the course includes.
In addition to that, you can see the topics it covers, the user reviews, and other useful information.
Udemy courses are a great option for technical writers of any level, but especially for beginners who can choose a very affordable course to dip their toes in the field.
Coursera Technical Writing Certifications and Courses
Like Udemy, Coursera is an e-learning platform that offers thousands of courses on various topics.
Regarding technical writing courses, there are several differences between those two platforms.
First of all, Coursera has fewer technical writing courses, and they are mainly specialized for a particular industry.
For example, there currently isn’t a general course in technical writing available, but there are courses in technical writing for engineers, technical support, or communication for tech professionals.
Also, all Coursera’s courses are free, but the certificates aren’t.
That means that you can enroll for free and get access to materials from the course, but if you want a certificate for completion, there’s a fee you have to pay.
As you can see, you can pay for a certificate for a single course or get a monthly or yearly plan that allows you to earn multiple certificates in that period.
The certificates are shareable, and you can put them in your resume, which is an excellent option since Coursera is widely recognized among employers.
Another advantage is that every course is taught by top instructors from reputable universities and professional educational institutions.
For instance, Rice University offers a Communication Skills for Engineers course.
If you want to try some great courses for free without any strings attached, but with the option to get a certificate, Coursera could be excellent for you.
LinkedIn Learning Technical Writing Courses
You probably know LinkedIn as a business and employment-oriented service for professional networking. But did you know that they also offer a significant number of online courses?
LinkedIn Learning is where you can access them, and if you’re looking for technical writing courses, you’re in luck.
They currently have almost 50 courses that fall under that category.
They range from those which cover the basics and are ideal for beginners to highly specialized ones that deal with a particular topic inside one industry.
With LinkedIn’s search engine, you can filter the courses by language, type, duration, level, topic, etc.
Another advantage of LinkedIn’s courses is that almost all of them offer a free month of learning, like this one about API documentation.
You get your free month when you register, and after that, you have to pay if you want to participate in courses.
The pricing depends on the course. For example, the one below about creating quickstart guides is around $18.
When you complete the course, you get a LinkedIn certificate, which you can show to your potential employers.
All in all, LinkedIn Learning offers plenty of opportunities to earn certificates and improve your knowledge, which can be helpful to any technical writer.
Learning Tree Technical Writing Course
Learning Tree is a global provider of learning solutions focused mainly on technology and business practices.
Among many courses, they also offer a Technical Writing Course.
It’s a four-day course that you can attend both in-person and online. As they say, you will learn how to plan, write and edit technical documents.
This comprehensive course covers the whole process of creating an effective technical document and the structure of the course reflects that approach.
It’s organized into seven modules that follow the logical process of creating a technical document, from learning the fundamentals to designing the look of it.
For example, you can see below what the second module about the writing process covers.
The price of this course is on the higher end if we compare it to other courses we presented earlier.
The standard price is $2,990, and the Government plan is slightly cheaper with the price tag of $2,659.
They also offer the Team plan, which is tailored for organizations, and you need to contact Learning Tree for a quote.
For those prices, they also offer continued support with after-course coaching.
To sum up, Learning Tree has a comprehensive course covering all the basics of technical writing.
Conclusion
Technical writing certifications aren’t a prerequisite for a successful career as a technical writer, but they can be a firm push in the right direction.
If you think about it, it makes sense. A certificate proves that you have skills and knowledge in your field, and no sensible employer would ignore that.
In addition to that, earning certifications helps you stay relevant in your field—it’s a great way to learn and improve.
We hope you found something for yourself in this article that will put you on the path to success.
