How to Build a DITA XML Technical Writing Portfolio

Do you wonder how you can demonstrate technical writing skills using DITA XML? Do you wonder how to make your resume (CV) shine compared to other technical writers’ CVs and YOU get invited to the job interview?

As a technical writer, you want to demonstrate your DITA XML technical writing skills to impress the recruiting manager and get invited to the job interview.

If you are a student, who just wants to start in this field, I am sure you get frustrated every time you see in the job ads “3 to 5 years of experience wanted” or “provide technical writing examples from your previous work”.

How can you possibly do that if you never get the job in the first place?! How can you start your journey and land the dreamed technical writer job in the software documentation development world, if they never give you a chance?

Well, my answer to that is simple – you need to design and develop your own technical writing portfolio. You must proactively approach it and focus on the skills you want to demonstrate to your desired employer.

In a world dominated by software development skills demand, you must know what to do to provide software documentation for the users!

My name is Jordan Stanchev. I’ve made my career in the field of technical communications with a strong focus on technical writing and information architecture, and writing using DITA XML over the last 20 years.

I practice what I teach as a part of a Fortune 500 company as a User Assistance Development Architect. I’m also one of the founders of the JPDocu School of Technical Writing where we help students like you learn the skills need to become successful technical writers.

In this course, I will show you the steps you should follow to:

1. Prepare your DITA XML writing portfolio and
2. Share it publicly to demonstrate your DITA XML technical writing abilities.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• strategically approach your technical writing project for any software app;
• organize your documentation structure in a DITA map;
• write the sequence of steps for the end-users using a DITA Task topic type;
• write the conceptual, background information for the end-user using a DITA Concept topic type;
• share your documentation sources in a GitHub repository;
• visualize your ready-to-be-published documentation for the end-user via GitHub.

This course is for you if you are a technical writer who wants to build a portfolio and use it to advance your career as a DITA technical writer in a corporation or as a freelancer.

To be able to successfully complete this course you must have at least a basic understanding of:

• technical writing
• structured writing
• what is DITA XML

If that is you, I welcome you to this course!