Technical Writing and Instructional Design

Recently, I have been asked, "I have been more involved in Instructional Design in the last year, though in both contracts it was in relation to software and teaching people about how the software is used in the organization. An employer thought I was too involved in Instructional Design to be considered for a Technical Writing position. Is having too much Instructional Design in my resume going to affect how employers will think about my Technical Writing skills? "

Technical Writing and Instructional Designing are never considered one and the same. If you go for a job interview, the hiring manager asks you for relevant experience in Instructional Designing or Technical Writing.

• If you are applying for the post of a Technical Writer, only your experience in technical writing is considered.
• If you are applying for the post of an Instructional Designers, your experience on paper is considered and salary is fixed accordingly.

I have never felt Technical Writing and Instructional Designing are different  professions. I have been involved in both throughout my career. And I have often wondered the following:

• Why is Instructional Designing and Technical Writing treated separately?
• Do these job functions require completely different skill sets?
• Is it really difficult for a Technical Writer to get into Instructional Designing or vice versa?

This table shows the differences between the two:

	Instructional Designer	Technical Writer
The Work/Job	Design and develop  training solutions (classes, documents, manuals) for a variety of problems/ initiatives. Can include software/hardware	Develop documentation or manuals for software/hardware/products
Industry	Varied	Software/hardware
Products	E-learning training and reference materials, Instructor Led training, Blended Learning programs,  Presentations, Guides, Workbooks and Manuals	Manuals: Help, installation, API Guides: Troubleshooting, Installation, Quick reference Other: FAQs, Whitepapers, brochures, marketing, presentations, etc
Tools	Word, Visio, Excel, FrameMaker, Captivate, Articulate, Camptasia, Photoshop, Illustrator, Power Point, Adobe Acrobat, LMS, Snagit, DreamWeaver, Blogs, SharePoint	RoboHelp, Word, Visio, Excel, FrameMaker, Photoshop, Illustrator, Power Point, Adobe Acrobat, LMS, Snagit, DreamWeaver, Blogs, SharePoint
Skills	Knowledge of Instructional design concepts, Language, Storyboarding, creative, Visualization and research skills, Exceptional ability to relate to people. Skills to take complex information and translate it into language appropriate for the situation	Language, technical  and research skills, technical writing tools Skill in understanding and translating highly technical material into the level of language appropriate for the situation

The table shows the basic skills, and to some extent, the tasks comparable for both these professions. So, why these two professions are considered different?

Some points to support the difference would be:

Technical Writing

• Is a support function
• Requires familiarity with technology
• Requires working with technology
• Has got to do with information architecture and design
• Industry – software, telecom, anything that deals with applications, tools

Instructional Designing

• Is a main stream job that requires superb people and change management skills 
• Requires more of creative and visual skills
• Has got to do with course architecture and design
• Industry – varied

These differences are not convincing enough to makes these two professions poles apart. In my opinion, what differentiates these two professions is:

• The kind of solution you come up with
• How you  implement it

I believe these two professions are not considered same can be attributed to the following beliefs:

Technical Writing

• You don't need to be creative
• You don't need to be creative innovative
• You don't need to know how people learn new things

Instructional Designing

• You don't need to understand technology
• You don't need to learn any graphic design or authoring tools

In today's business, I do not believe any writing professional can avoid using or knowing about technology. You need to be creative in any profession. Creative skills set you apart from others, no matter what you do. If you ask me if  Technical Writing is better than Instructional Designing or vice versa.

I have worked on e-learning courses and user manuals and combined to two for "Just In Time" Learning (or Help).  Both Instructional Design and Technical Writing are are not that different a solution and the skills required is almost the same. And I believe instructional design is a much bigger umbrella under which technical writing also falls. 

If you think there are differences, please comment.