Contract technical author services

3di is one of the UK's leading providers of contract technical authoring expertise. Our team has served this specialist market since 1995 and can provide access to thousands of experienced and qualified technical documentation professionals to work at your premises or remotely.

Technical authors are a diverse group of professionals. They can vary greatly in their areas of technical expertise, the business sectors they have worked in, and the types of documentation they produce.

If you are unfamiliar with the tools and processes technical writers use in their work, you may struggle to find and select the right person for your project. At 3di we will help you to define your priorities in terms of required skills and experience, and then identify a shortlist of candidates to suit your budget, timeframe and culture.

Our many years of experience and commitment to quality enable us to guarantee that our shortlist will only contain individuals who have either worked for us successfully before or been fully screened and assessed.

Contact us today to discuss your technical documentation specialist requirements. The chances are, we already know the right person for the job.

Authoring Tools and Expertise

The number of authoring tools available has exploded in recent years but, with each major advance in technology, a few tools emerge as the best in their class or the most widely used. We offer access to specialists who have developed skills in a wide range of tools including the following (listed by category):

• Documentation authoring: FrameMaker, Arbortext, Word, Quicksilver, InDesign, Quark
• Online help: RoboHelp, Flare, Doc-To-Help, HDK, Forehelp, Webworks Publisher
• Web authoring: DreamWeaver, FrontPage, Bladerunner
• Enterprise productivity: Information Mapping Formatting Solutions Pro/XML, AuthorIT, Resite
• Graphics: Illustrator, CorelDraw, Visio, QuarkXpress, Freehand, Paintshop Pro

Expertise in particular industry sectors or experience of authoring for particular audiences can make a big difference to an author's productivity and effectiveness. The author can be an asset to the end user; he or she can understand what users will want to achieve and the information needed to ensure that the users are successful. An author will also know what questions to ask technical or subject matter experts to get the information that needs documenting.

3di can provide contract technical authors who have specific experience in industries including banking and finance, electronics & IT, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, oil & gas, and utilities (more).

Authoring job titles can be deceptive

At 3di we tend to use the term ‘Information Developer' because it reflects the fact that many of the contract authors we provide are developing information about how organisations work rather than how something technical works.

The basic skill set of a good technical author can also apply to other job roles. Your organisation might not even use the title 'Technical Author' to describe the writing role you need to fill. If applicable, please substitute one of the following:

Perhaps you use another description? We would be interested to know. Each title reflects many different factors such as industry, company culture, departmental structure, backgrounds of existing team members, types of authoring tools used, development environment, and even fashion. The basic skill set is often identical and many of the best people in the profession could, given their range of expertise, use several of these titles. At 3di we understand what lies behind the title and ensure that the specialists we select are able to meet your expectations.

English documentation needs native-English authors

The English language has become the most widely spoken in the world and, as organisations with an international reach produce more and more documents, the commercial pressures to have these written in English have increased. However, compromising on the quality of the written English reduces its effectiveness as a way to communicate with international audiences. Poorly written text presents problems when the readers are not native-English speakers, and if you choose to translate the English information, it adds significant costs and risks to the translation process.

Technical authoring is a skill that can be learned and there are several courses available in this field. Like other IT disciplines, it often needs technical expertise and knowledge of specific tools but, most importantly, it demands an understanding of end-user requirements and an ability to convey the required information in a simple, coherent, user-friendly way.

Anyone who fluently speaks another language knows that writing accurately in that same language is much harder. Even someone who has an excellent grasp of English grammar will find it difficult to write like a trained native-English writer. For most people writing in a language that is not their mother tongue is time-consuming, cumbersome, and requires considerable editorial support.

If writing in English is a commercial must for your organisation, 3di can provide experienced native-English authors and technical editors on a contract basis - in the UK and across Europe.

Contact us today to discuss your particular requirements.