Every year, thousands of people seriously consider transitioning into Technical writing.
Contrary to popular belief, it is actually easier to get into API documentation as a career. The only key point is that the writer must be willing to get their hands dirty dealing with technical material. By this, we mean that a potential candidate must have the bent to try out things in Postman for example.
It may sound intimidating if you have never done anything other than UI-based Technical writing. But, working with API and especially RESTful API is quite easy.
Once you take a quick dive into all things REST API, you’ll realize that it’s all about writing the following:
- Resource description
- Endpoints and methods
- Parameters
- Request
- Response
If you’ve overcome the first mental block of documenting API, you’ll notice that the most difficult part is when you have to work with SMEs (sounds familiar?). Gathering information and getting content reviewed from them is always the most challenging part!