Fatima Olasunkanmi-Ojo“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much” – Helen Keller
This post was originally published on Hackmamba.
Technical writing communities are essential for your professional growth and development. They provide a platform for knowledge exchange, where you can discuss challenges and share insights with other members. These communities help you stay up-to-date on trends, best practices, and industry updates. In addition to being support systems, they expose you to diverse industry perspectives, help you develop new skills, and offer spaces for networking and building professional relationships.
I have been a beneficiary of technical writing communities as a member, a technical writer, and a community manager. In this article, I will show you the best technical writing communities in 2024 and how they can propel you to becoming a more skilled, connected, and informed technical writer.
Write the Docs
Write the Docs is a renowned global community that unites professionals from diverse backgrounds. The community values effective communication, comprehensive documentation, and user satisfaction, considering anyone who shares these concerns as a valued member.
Key features
Platforms:
The community is hosted on Slack, providing a centralized platform for members to connect, collaborate, and discuss documentation, communication, and user experiences with software.
Membership size and diversity:
Write the Docs is a large and growing community with over 21,000 members actively engaging in documentation discussions and interactions. The diverse group includes programmers, tech writers, developer advocates, customer support, marketers, and anyone who wants people to have great experiences using software.
Activities and resources
Activities:
Write the Docs hosts yearly physical and virtual global conferences, allowing members to share information, discuss ideas, and collaborate on advancing the art and science of documentation. Additionally, monthly meetups in various cities enable members to join local communities or explore alternatives based on their time zone.
The community has a dedicated channel on Slack for a book club called learn-tech-writing, where members exchange ideas about the book they read.
Community members are spotlighted and interviewed, creating resources for new documentarians to gain insight into the work of technical writing. Each interview narrates the story of a community member, sharing their career experiences and offering practical advice for new documentarians.
Resources: Write the Docs has an ever-increasing set of talk videos, articles, links, and learning resources on their blog, podcast, and newsletter. They provide novice and expert writers with a best practice handbook for building, structuring, and writing software documentation on their documentation guide page.
The community has a live list of books on technical writing and related topics, like content strategy and information architecture. They have a growing set of resources for those who want to hire or be hired as a documentarian with a job board to find a documentarian job.
Success stories and achievements
It’s great to be around people who care about the same stuff you do. As soon as somebody gets exposed to something like Write the Docs, their whole world expands, and they’ll learn about opportunities they may have never been aware of- Aaron Thayer
I was getting advice from a lot of people. I would say the career-advice channel is really helpful if you’re trying to get help in software engineering or technical writing. But it’s also helpful to pick someone and establish camaraderie with them. - Christian Bahnweg
Why it's a top community
Write the Docs, a top community with 21,000+ global members, offers conferences, meetups, and valuable resources, fostering growth in technical writing as seen in success stories like Aaron's and Christian's.
Hackmamba Creators
Hackmamba Creators community is a technical writing community created by Hackmamba to bring together technology enthusiasts with varying backgrounds to the field of technical writing. Members of this community learn technical writing concepts, participate in writing sprints and hackathons, and network with peers in order to consistently produce high-quality technical content.
Key features
Platforms:
Hackmamba Creators maintain an active presence on Discord, where members interact in real time and access resources to advance their technical writing skills. The community utilizes a dedicated website to share blog posts and events. Additionally, Hackmamba has an organization account on DEV community with 67 members and 300 posts, exclusively for publishing members' challenges and sprints' content.
Membership size and diversity:
With over 1000 active members, Hackmamba Creators embraces individuals of all backgrounds, from beginners to experienced professionals. The community's diversity enhances the richness of discussions, ensuring a comprehensive learning environment with a broad spectrum of experiences and insights.
Activities and resources
Activities:
Hackmamba Creators organizes bi-weekly challenges on the Discord server for participants to learn, build, and write about software tools. Collaborating with companies like Neon, they hosted a month-long sprint challenge where members created content to address real-world challenges, fostering collaboration, innovation, and rewarding contributions to active members.
Every month, the community holds a workshop on Discord, discussing different writing topics. Past events covered crafting compelling narratives and mastering research skills. Authors share articles in a dedicated channel, creating a central learning hub. Hackmamba Creator spotlights contributors weekly, boosting visibility and creating networking opportunities for featured members. In addition, Hackmamba broadcasts its weekly "Everything Outside Code" livestream on YouTube every Wednesday to share insights from creators, entrepreneurs, and developer advocates.
Resources:
Once a week, Hackmamba Creators share guides, resources, and links in Discord, accompanied by thought-provoking questions. Members engage in discussions, creating an engaging learning experience. The collablearning hub channel focuses on weekly learning with designated resources, fostering active participation, feedback sharing, and concept discussions. Additionally, the community posts up to three job opportunities weekly in the opportunities channel, enhancing the overall learning and professional growth atmosphere.
Success stories and achievements
Being part of the Hackmamba technical writing community significantly impacted my growth and knowledge in the technical writing field. The community offers an excellent platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and collaboration with fellow technical writers, enriching my understanding of various technical writing concepts and best practices. - Okafor Peace Ngozi
I wanted to give up because I thought I didn’t have a flair for writing, but joining the Hackmamba community took that thought away. I am now very confident in myself. Now, I could have little to no knowledge about a subject matter but still produce a good article - Esther Idabor
Why it's a top community
Hackmamba Creators has over 1000 members and offers learning, interaction, and a blog to showcase members' work. Inclusion is its strength: it welcomes people from various backgrounds to have comprehensive discussions. Members learn together by collaborating on challenges and workshops. With weekly resource sharing and a special collablearning hub, the community fosters a dynamic and growing learning environment.
WriteTech Hub
WriteTech Hub is an IT services and consulting organization with a hub for creating clear and engaging technical writing. The organization aims to empower businesses and individuals by crafting clear, concise, and captivating technical content that resonates with various audiences. The organization runs a community for technical writers to connect with like minds, discuss challenges, share experiences, and seek advice from peers and mentors.
Key features
Platforms:
WriteTech Hub serves as a gathering place for technical writing enthusiasts and experts, cultivating interaction and providing opportunities for mentorship, career development, and job prospects through Slack.
Membership size and diversity:
WriteTech Hub is a vibrant community for technical writing enthusiasts and experts, promoting interaction and offering mentorship and career development opportunities via Slack. While specific membership numbers are unknown, the community prioritizes inclusivity and diverse discussions.
Activities and resources
Activities:
WriteTech Hub offers training programs for technical writers to enhance their skills and knowledge. The training covers audience analysis, creating effective visuals, and using documentation tools efficiently. One of the training programs is the WriteTech Bootcamp, designed to help aspiring technical writers gain practical skills and experience in technical writing through hands-on projects and training. It is conducted twice annually.
Resources:
WriteTech Hub has a helpful blog to explore and learn about different technologies, technical writing, and open-source. It is easy to stay informed about upcoming and past events on their events page to join community activities and workshops quickly.
Success stories and achievements:
WriteTech Hub made the learning process fun and simple. I'm super grateful to have been part of the first cohort and highly recommend it to anyone interested. - Precious Okafor
The WriteTech Bootcamp was fantastic! The instructors were knowledgeable, the content was practical, and the overall experience was enriching. Highly recommended! - Okafor Johnson
Why it's a top community
WriteTech Hub is one of the top Slack communities for technical writers and experts alike. In addition to interaction, it offers mentorship opportunities, career development, and job prospects. The community's blog covers various technologies and technical writing. A notable accomplishment of WriteTech Hub is the development of skills through its Bootcamp program.
TechWriters
TechWriters is a community for folks semi-seriously writing or creating tech-related content. If you're a frequent blogger, working on a book, or publishing a newsletter, then the community is a perfect place for you to be.
Key features
Platforms:
The community exists on Discord; you’ll have to fill out a form and share a bit of your background before getting an invite. The community communicates and interacts on the Discord channel.
Membership size and diversity:
The TechWriters community is made up of 346 members as of now, and it's a wonderfully diverse group. People from various backgrounds and experiences come together, creating a vibrant and inclusive community where everyone's perspective is valued.
Activities and resources
Activities:
In the TechWriters Discord, lots of exciting things happen! Members use a writing-goals channel to set writing goals and keep each other accountable. There's also a meta-blogging channel called the blog channel where members can discuss why they blog, how they find blog topics, how they distribute their blogs, and so on. Someone working on a project or book can create a channel to track progress and get feedback. Many members have used this to write a book and launch it successfully! It's a friendly and helpful community where members support each other in various activities.
Resources:
TechWriter has a dedicated Discord channel where members freely share their published work, including blog posts and YouTube videos. Additionally, the community maintains a directory in an Excel sheet showcasing Twitter handles and tech blog details of its members. This convenient directory lets members quickly discover and connect with other interesting community members on Twitter and explore their insightful blogs. Importantly, the directory operates on an opt-in basis, allowing members to include their information but respecting the privacy of others.
Success story and achievement:
Why it's a top community
TechWriters is a standout community for those actively creating tech-related content. With 346 diverse members on Discord, it offers an inclusive space where everyone's perspective is valued. Engaging activities include goal-setting, meta-blogging discussions, and project collaboration, fostering a friendly and supportive environment. The community's resources, including a dedicated channel for sharing works and a member directory, contribute to its top status by facilitating easy connections and exploration of insightful blogs.
DocNext
DocNext brings together technical writers, documentation engineers, and enthusiasts with the shared goal of evolving into better technical writers. Beyond refining your skills in crafting impactful documentation, DocNext aims to deepen your understanding of technical documentation as a whole. Whether you're a newbie technical writer or a seasoned documentation engineer, the community is a great place to learn, collaborate, and grow.
Key features
Platforms:
The DocNext community is hosted on Slack, providing an interactive and user-friendly platform for individuals interested in tech-related content creation. As a newly established community, DocNext on Slack offers a fresh and accessible space for individuals passionate about technical and API documentation.
Membership size and diversity:
As of today, the community has a membership of 76 individuals. While it may be a relatively smaller group, the focus is creating a space and inclusive environment for budding technical writers and experienced documentation engineers.
Activities and resources
Activities:
Activities in the community include an interactive community hour on Twitter and Twitter spaces for real-time discussions. Bi-weekly Google Meet sessions to dive deep into technical documentation, allowing members to ask questions. DocNext members actively participate in these sessions to stay informed and engaged in the evolving field of technical writing.
Resources:
The community has a dedicated channel on Slack for sharing resources every week so members can learn. Additionally, a separate channel is dedicated to sharing job opportunities, providing a platform for members to explore potential career advancements.
Success story and achievement:
While DocNext may be a newer community, its success is evident in the well-received learning sessions hosted on Twitter and Google Meet. Despite being in the early stages, the community has effectively organized and facilitated sessions, providing valuable opportunities for members to enhance their understanding of various technical writing concepts. This accomplishment underscores DocNext's commitment to creating a meaningful learning experience for its members, setting a promising foundation for future successes in the dynamic field of technical documentation.
Why it's a top community
DocNext rises as a top community by offering an interactive Slack platform for tech enthusiasts. With 76 members, it emphasizes inclusivity, welcoming both novices and seasoned professionals. The community's engaging activities, including Twitter hours and Google Meet sessions, ensure active participation, fostering continuous learning. DocNext's commitment to knowledge-sharing through dedicated Slack channels cements its status as a promising hub for technical writers and documentation engineers, even in its early stages.
Conclusion
These vibrant technical writing communities—Hackmamba Creators, Write the Docs, WriteTech Hub, TechWriters, and DocNext—provide rich environments for learning and collaboration. With more than 1000 members to connect with, Hackmamba Creators provides a worldwide reach. Write the Docs offers a global reach and diverse resources. WriteTech Hub seamlessly integrates IT services with community engagement, and TechWriters, thriving on Discord, fosters diversity and engagement. Despite its newer status, DocNext excels in nurturing learning through Twitter sessions and Slack interactions.
Exploring and joining these communities presents an opportunity to elevate your technical writing journey significantly. Each community offers a global network, mentorship opportunities, career development prospects, and a friendly, supportive environment. Embrace these vibrant communities to grow, learn, and thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of technical documentation.
