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July 14, 2022 10:58 am GMT

My Technical Writing Journal -- Series 2

WOO-HOO!

Have you ever surprised yourself by doing things youve never imagined you could do? When you finally do, you are stunned by your abilities, and you wonder where you got the power.

Does this sound familiar to you? Here's the gist of today's series: I hadn't intended to make My Technical Writing Journal a series.

After the first series was published, I got a few emails from people telling me how much they enjoyed reading about my journey.

I've always loved documenting my learning experience because it's exciting for me. But I've never thought about blogging about it publicly.

Transitioning from a background in English to tech as a technical writer (I talked about this in this post) involves a great deal of learning, researching, and writing.

In case you were wondering, this is not a technical article. The series is a documentary about my journey to becoming a technical writer in the DevOps space.

Therefore, this series would primarily focus on my experiences learning DevOps and technical writing.

As I mentioned in the previous series, defining my path is one of the first things I did. Don't get me wrong, I've had to experiment with other paths to decide where to focus my interest.

I do hope that by sharing my journey publicly others can benefit.

Disclaimer: I am no expert in this field. All opinions are mine and this documentation is based on my personal experience.

First Step --- The Roadmap

Learning about DevOps requires you to master a variety of technologies and skills.

To stay organized, my first step was to define my path with a roadmap. The essence of a roadmap is to reduce my chances of getting overwhelmed or stuck In tutorial hell.

Among the resources I found helpful is Saiyam's DevOps roadmap on Youtube. He discussed the different roles, and specializations, of different cloud domains such as DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, Kubernetes, and Developer advocacy.

After watching his video, I still wasn't clear on the role of a technical writer. To clarify my assumptions, I contacted him via Twitter and he helped clear my doubts.

One of the things I like about the tech community is the willingness of people to help. You could always reach out to a community, seniors, or even peers on the same learning path as you if you need assistance or help understanding technical concepts. Of course, this should be after doing your research. Be respectful of their time and courteous when doing this.

Second Step - Time to Learn About Linux

Like Windows and macOS, Linux is an operating system. The difference between Linux and these two is the different distro it has. After researching which distribution to install, I finally settled with Ubuntu because it is reputed to be the most widely used and well-liked one.

To learn about Linux, I began with this FreeCodeCamp's video on YouTube. The video helps explain the basics of the Linux Operating System using a virtual machine. There are other videos on this topic which Ive shared links below.

This is not to scare you, I did encounter some challenges installing Ubuntu on my Windows laptop.

Part of the reason couldve been that my laptop has 4GM RAM. Heres a tweet airing my frustration on Twitter.

Ubuntu

I didnt have a fun time but in the end, I succeeded in installing Ubuntu correctly and learned to use the terminal although I use Powershell the most.

Third step Learning about Docker

Since my interest is in learning and understanding DevOps tools as a technical writer.

After Linux, I began learning Docker. I installed Docker Desktop and I mostly use Powershell to carry out commands in the command line.

Docker is a containerization tool used in packaging applications into containers. As businesses, enterprises, and developers shift to building modern applications.

Docker is most used for building, running, and sharing these modern applications.

Before I began learning about Docker, I got familiar with some cloud-native concepts that aid my understanding of Docker. These concepts include:

  • Containerization
  • Containers
  • Monolithic architecture
  • Microservices architecture
  • Virtualization
  • Difference between virtual machines and Docker

After I'd gotten a grasp of these concepts, I began learning about Docker in general.

To help you learn about these concepts, I published an article that explains these concepts to newbies and also an article on basic Docker commands for beginners. (I left you a link below)

In this series of My Technical Writing Journal, Ill like to include some other activities I do that have contributed to my learning speed.

Joining Twitter Spaces for Discussions on Cloud-Native, DevOp,s and Technical Writing

One of the nice parts of being on Twitter is the opportunity to join spaces relevant to my career and personal growth.

Aside from the visibility, it's a great place to learn and connect with people in your field.

Ive joined a couple of spaces that have aided my growth.

An instance is when I joined a space where one of the speakers talked about how she started her learning in the cloud-native space to become a certified Kubernetes Developer.

And another is where speakers talked about building a professional career in technical writing.

Twitter spaces offer you the opportunity to ask questions to clarify your doubts, contribute to discussions, and be known.

Sharing Knowledge with Others as a Technical Writer.

One of the coolest ways to build my technical writing skills and portfolio as a newbie is by publishing articles on topics I've learned.

By doing so, I'm able to research more on a topic, demonstrate my understanding of the topic, explain terms or concepts in the best possible way I understand, share my knowledge with others and improve my writing skills.

Having this idea has helped me create and publish technical articles on topics Ive learned.

I published some Docker concepts Ive learned in one of my blog posts here and also about basic Docker commands that youll frequently use as a beginner.

Made it to the top 7 must-read post on Dev.to

Finally, Ive got some exciting news to share with you. Do you know the feeling of waking up to an achievement you never expected? Its such an amazing feeling that encourages you to keep doing what youre good at.

It also shows that your efforts are being noticed and appreciated. I was noticed by the Dev community after one of my technical articles - Introducing Docker Concepts, Containers and More made it to the top 7 most-read articles of the week, a series by the Dev community.

dev community

This new achievement boosted my confidence to keep writing.

The most exciting part is the swag gift. I was gifted a voucher to shop in the dev shop and I shopped for the coolest sweatshirt ever. (My swag is still in transit, Ill share the pictures of it with you once I receive it )

As Alfred North said,

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others.

I acknowledge the help the Dev community has played in supporting my little efforts.

In Conclusion,

The tech industry is so wide. Simply find your path and stick around with it.

You'll be shocked at how much you've grown when you reflect on your progress over the next 12 months.

If you'd like to connect with me, the easiest way is via Twitter.

Till I come your way again, bye for now.

Wait, before you leave I'd like to read about your journey in tech, how the journey has been so far, and some words of encouragement to beginners.

Resources

TechWorld with Nana - Docker Tutorial for Beginners

Introduction to Linux


Original Link: https://dev.to/roselinebassey/my-technical-writing-journal-series-2-119b

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