Philip Kiely discusses his recently published book, Writing for Software Developers. While software development primarily involves writing code, strong written communication skills are critical for multiple tasks. SE Radio’s Jeff Doolittle first asked Kiely why software engineers should care about writing things other than code. The conversation then moved toward the elements of effective technical writing and technical writers. Specifics regarding the reason for the book and the approach for writing it were explored. Elements of the business side of writing were discussed as well in light of the possibility to help listeners supplement their income through writing for hire. Additionally, the show explored impostor syndrome, handling criticism, and the importance of technical background when writing technical documents, papers or articles.
Show Notes
From SE Radio
- Episode 403: Karl Hughes on Speaking at Tech Conferences
- SE-Radio Episode 278: Peter Hilton on Naming
From the Show
From IEEE Computer Society
- “Writing Well”
- “Incorporating writing in engineering classes and engineering in writing classes”
- “Incorporating writing into software engineering”
- “Technical Writing”
SE Radio theme: “Broken Reality” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0)
