As a LinkedIn technical writer, you’ll work for an online professional business network leader. Since LinkedIn is a business platform, you’ll be responsible for creating content that helps employers and job-seekers use LinkedIn more effectively.
But what does it take to land a job as a LinkedIn technical writer and what are your responsibilities?
What Does a LinkedIn Technical Writer Do?
A LinkedIn technical writer writes technical documents for internal (company) or external (consumers) usage. Technical documents can include:
- How-to manuals
- White papers
- Technical reports
- Press releases
- Technical reviews
- Programmer guides
Since the job position requires rewriting complex technical material into simple copies, the working scope is vast. A LinkedIn technical writer can write documents that help users with the job-search features. But at LinkedIn, a technical writer also needs a deep understanding of a SaaS business and its audience.
Besides general writing skills, the required capabilities are vastly different. Because of that, tech writers often specialize in a specific industry, and the case of LinkedIn, in various product sectors.
Unlike a general writer who helps create marketing content, a technical writer needs two main skill sets. The first set is proficient writing, and the second is an in-depth understanding of how LinkedIn works.
Traditionally, most technical writers come from a journalist or English background, but lately, especially in SaaS, more and more engineers take on tech writing responsibilities. This is causing technical writers to broaden their skills and spill to creating visual, audio, and marketing content.
LinkedIn Technical Writer Qualifications & Responsibilities
LinkedIn is the most popular professional networking website in the world. The company employs people from different sectors, including technical writing. Since LinkedIn’s primary audiences are companies and professionals looking to connect, LinkedIn needs to develop features that benefit the target audiences and ensure that the end-users understand the benefits of said features.
To ensure optimal functionality for their users, a candidate must satisfy requirements.
Qualifications
If applying for a tech writer job position at LinkedIn, here are some of the possible requirements you need:
- Bachelor’s degree in communication, journalism, or English.
- Knowledge and experience in the relevant technical field.
- 3-4 minimum years of technical writing experience.
- Great understanding of customer personas.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Experience working with different product teams.
- Credible certification.
Remember that these are general requirements, and they can vary depending on the department and your responsibilities.
Responsibilities
AS4s a technical writer at LinkedIn, you’ll write technical material both for internal and external usage. Additionally, you’ll work with the product team and ensure that both new LinkedIn community members and frequent users understand the current advantages of using LinkedIn. In other words, you’ll work closely with the developers to improve the user experience.
Besides writing, technical writers need stellar communication skills. For example, if LinkedIn deploys an update to how the job search feature works, the tech writer needs to understand the ins and outs of the latest update. That can include why the product team is making the newest change.
Naturally, after the latest update goes public, the marketing team will want to spread the word, and you need to help them understand the update first.
Although average technical writers don’t need software development skills, they must understand the primary logic. Meaning, you should have a solid understanding of either software development, computer science, engineering, or all three.
The understanding ties to excellent research skills as well. Since your job is presenting complex information in a simple manner, you need to research correct information. Remember that besides writing simple copies, they also need to be accurate.
As such, some of the essential responsibilities you might have as a technical writer at LinkedIn are:
- Research, write or update new and existing content.
- Understand each project by working closely with different departments.
- Gather information from field experts on the task at hand.
- Create different media content using a consistent tone that explains the technical capabilities of a specific product or feature.
- Help optimize internal data management and storage.
Promotion Possibilities
As a LinkedIn technical writer, you’ll have a chance to step up in your career to a senior technical writer position.
A senior writer has more responsibilities, but you can also expect better compensation.
You’ll still create technical documentation, but you’ll also standardize the technical writing process for other writers on your team and work directly with developers, team managers, and the marketing team.
Although as a LinkedIn senior technical writer you don’t need expertise with software development, it’s beneficial to have a basic understanding. By understanding aspects such as product development life-cycle, it will be much easier to create technical documentation and organize your work.
Finally, after the technical writing team wraps up the content, you’ll work closely with the editor on quality checking.
Remember, you’re creating content that makes it easier for users to use LinkedIn services. As such, the content needs to be accurate, precise, and informative.
LinkedIn Technical Writer Salary
As of 2021, the average technical writer’s salary is $74,650 per year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to Comparably, the average annual salary for a technical writer at LinkedIn is $121,000. That’s above the national technical writer salary average and close to the average LinkedIn salary.
Compared to similar job positions inside LinkedIn, technical writers earn more than junior product managers but less than product managers.
According to Comparably, the average general salary across all departments is $134,527 or $64 per hour in 2021.
Finally, the technical writing salary between genders and nationalities is the same.
LinkedIn Employee Benefits
Working at LinkedIn comes with several benefits. On Glassdoor, users rank LinkedIn benefits 4.8 out of 5.
Some of the core LinkedIn benefits are:
- Health Insurance – employees get comprehensive coverage both for themselves and their families.
- Paid Time Off – Employees have annual paid time off.
- Life Insurance – Employees get a comprehensive life insurance package.
- Wellbeing Support – LinkedIn has the Employee Assistance Program that offers employees free counseling sessions.
- Wellness – LinkedIn’s wellness program provides access to gyms and fitness classes.
- Paid Parental Leave – Employees with children can take paid leave.
- New Child Assistance – LinkedIn helps with the costs of a growing family.
- Childcare Subsidy – PerkUp! allowance helps with daycare and school care costs.
- Survivor Support – Support in case of unfortunate events.
LinkedIn has stellar working benefits with additional financial coverage outside the regular salary. Besides great benefits, LinkedIn salary is another attractive factor for tech writers looking to join.
Final Note
Two main reasons for working as a technical writer at LinkedIn are the above-average salary and benefits.
Keep in mind that as an established company, LinkedIn has high standards. Although by no means it’s impossible to land a job position, you need to have a decent amount of experience under your belt. If you feel your skills are not good enough, you can always take an online technical writing course to brush up on your skills.
Companies such as LinkedIn are open to investing in new employee education, but you still need specific qualifications to get the job.
FAQ
Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the technical writer job position.
What does a technical writer do?
A technical writer creates technical documents that are easy to understand for the target audience. The target audience can be the company’s end-users or teams that aren’t directly related to the specific topic. It’s a technical writer’s job to translate complex technical subjects into clear and straightforward copies. Copies include how-to manuals, publications, research papers, reviews, marketing material, product papers, etc.
Is a technical writer a good career?
Technical writers seek a career in modern SaaS companies. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists “computer systems design and related services” as the number one technical writing industry. Since many companies struggle with translating their product’s vision to their target audience, they need capable writers who know how to write and have a technical understanding of a product or service.
What makes a good technical writer?
A good technical writer is a writer who has exquisite writing skills and a great understanding of the industry they are working in. Since technical writers can work in different sectors, filtering out exact knowledge is impossible. Technical writers work in various industries such as SaaS healthcare, heavy machinery, etc. With that in mind, an excellent technical writer knows how to write, but more importantly, has a deep understanding of the given niche.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is an American business for professional networking and career-building. Starting in 2003, LinkedIn has 20,000 employees as of 2022. With the growth of remote work and freelancing, LinkedIn became the leading online business network worldwide. As a company, LinkedIn makes it possible for tech professionals such as software developers to find work anywhere in the world.
If you are new to technical writing and are looking to break-in, we recommend taking our Technical Writing Certification Course, where you will learn the fundamentals of being a technical writer, how to dominate technical writer interviews, and how to stand out as a technical writing candidate.
