There are quite a few certificate programs offered in the United States by different universities for those who are just starting out and consider technical writing as a career. In my honest opinion, you don’t need a certificate to make it in the technical communication field, but it doesn’t hurt either, especially if your resume doesn’t include a list of previous tech writing jobs.
Brooklyn College is an educational institution that you can certainly consider if you want to obtain a certificate in technical writing before applying for a related job. It may not be one of the largest schools out there, but it does offer a dedicated program made up of continuing education courses.
To be eligible for the certificate, students must take 8 classes, each $ 355 (at this time) and each lasting 8 weeks. The entire program costs $ 2840.
Here is the full syllabus for the technical writing classes at Brooklyn College:
TW100: Grammar, Usage, Mechanics for Technical Writers
TW101: Fundamentals of Technical Writing
TW102: Graphics for Technical Writers
TW103: User Guides and FrameMaker
TW104: Technical documentation with XHTML and CSS
TW105: Online Help and RoboHELP
TW106: Proposals and Technical Reports Investigated
TWI07: Indexing
TW108: Technical Edition
TW109 User Guides with Microsoft Word
TW110: Starting a career in technical writing
TW113: Business Communications
TW999: Special Technical Communication Topics
This is a very hands-on, hands-on program that teaches real-life skills that a technical writer can start applying right away. Its FrameMaker class is one of those offerings that you can take advantage of, as many technical writing teams use FrameMaker to generate single-source documents.
Another thing I like about the Brooklyn College program is the way they present their former students’ portfolios. That way, you can see what the program actually does and how various students have benefited from studying at BC. I think it’s actually a brilliant idea that all other certification programs should emulate as it builds confidence in potential applicants.
Visit the BC certification program website, which offers good tutorials as well as full course descriptions. Google for the “Brooklyn College Technical Writing Certificate Program.”