Technical Writing in India — Interview with Sandeep Balakrishna
October 30th, 2006 | Posted in Podcasts 10 Comments »
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Duration: 32 min.
In this podcast, I talk with Sandeep Balakrishna, a seasoned technical writer based in Bangalore, India. He has been a technical writer for 10 years, and has observed the explosive growth of technical writing in India. According to Google Trends, seven of the top ten cities where the term “technical writing” is searched is India. What does that mean? Is outsourcing growing or shrinking? What is the Indian perspective on technical writing?
Topics in this podcast include:
- Growth rate of technical writing in India
- Techniques Indian technical writers use to interact with outsourcing companies
- Resources Indian technical writers use to learn about technical writing
- Technical writing curriculums in India
- STC India and Technical Writers of India (TWIN)
- The future of technical writing in India
- Salaries of technical writers and the respect of the technical writing profession
- Cultural factors in the workplace
- Common tools used by Indian technical writers
- Descriptions of Bangalore
Resources mentioned:
- Google Trends: http://google.com/trends?q=technical+writing
- TWIN (Technical Writers of India): http://twin-india.org/portal/index.php
- STC India http://stc-india.org/
You can contact Sandeep at deepu.sandeep@gmail.com.
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The podcasts I record for I'd Rather Be Writing cover the latest trends in technical communication. I interview tech writing luminaries around the world as well as record STC presentations and other audio content. You can subscribe to podcast specific feeds using the subscription information below.
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[...] is one threat, although I haven’t been following it much lately. I once interviewed an Indian technical writer who said the tech writing industry is exploding in major ways in India. In my experience, I think [...]
[...] By the way, I did interview an Indian technical writer for a podcast last year. You can listen to it here. [...]
Great stuff Tom. The number of tech writers in India is surprising, but the population is huge. I thought it was interesting when Mr. Balakrishna said that Bangalore used to be a pensioner’s paradise and now the IT boom has made it the fastest growing city in India.
Mr. Balakrishna is humble, yet proud of his industry in India. He has given us a great quote:
“The internet is the godfather of technical writing in India.”
Ryan, thanks for the feedback on the podcast. He is a humble guy. Thanks for pulling out that quote. I had forgotten that one.
We have a great forum dedicated to discussions about India. Discuss, review and comment on latest news & stories from india.
Please visit our forums for more information. http://www.indiavoice.info/forum
Great, very interesting interview. Please post more in the future.
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Hi,
I am a software professional, but i have a break of about 5-6 years in my career. Can you please guide me, if it will be good for me to make Technical Writing as my career.
Wow! It’s 3 years since this interview and I’m seeing it again.
Thanks so much for putting it up here.