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There are all kinds of  Technical Writing

At least one type will suit you more then others. I was well suited for High Tech Technical Writing but there are nice niches for: 

• Medical Technical Writers

• Legal Technical Writers

• Text Book Writers

• Science Writers

Inside a Technical Writer's office there are also sub-categories which make for wonderful consulting positions such as: 

• indexing specialists

• online help specialists

• project coordinators

• transcribers

Each of these categories and sub-categories has newsgroups, newsletters and websites.

What Kind of Work Place Makes it Easy

If you are new to this field and looking for full-time work, I suggest finding a company with at least 5 other Technical Writers sitting around you so you can ask lots of questions. If you are lucky, you'll have a group where your Boss encourages proofing one other's work. Getting feedback from other writers is the fastest way to learn and probably hard to achieve if you are working alone.

If you are going to work from home, I highly recommend joining the Society for Technical Communication (STC) to have the opportunity to ask questions. You don't have to be a paying member of the STC to join their newsgroups. Without being an active participant you will still be able to learn about all kinds of classes which are offered, deals and job openings. 

White Papers

Go to a trade show and pick up at least 3 and hopefully 5 white papers. White papers present a concise overview of a specific product. If you live in a rural community and can't get to a trade show, find white papers on the Internet and see how closely they adhere to the suggestions laid out on this website: http://www.words.israel.net/iow-tr-whitefaqs.html . Try to figure out how clearly they present concepts and whether or not you like the face of their organization. Start a binder of white pages, you'll be happy to have it when you have to write one yourself. 

If you can get to a trade show, even a small one, it is worth it to see how a wide variety of companies present themselves. The showroom floors are usually free unless you want to go to conferences within the show.

Use Online Help

Use online help in all the programs you own. Decide what you like and dislike about it. For fun, look through the index tab in the online help and see if you can find any words that shouldn't appear such as misspelled words or even internal documents. I'm amazed at how often these things slip through the cracks. Remember this when you are a successful Techincal Writer, it is important to leave time in your projects for clean-up.

Social Skills are Important

Below are the social skills that are important on my job. If you enjoy these kinds of challenges, you'll probably like Technical Writing. 

Rate yourself from one to five with 1 meaning no skills and five meaning comfortable defining myself as this kind of person. 

The higher your score, the more likely it is that you will enjoy being a Technical Writer:

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