Google offers technical writing courses designed for professional software engineers, computer science students, and product managers to enhance their writing skills. These courses emphasize technical writing rather than general or business writing and require only basic writing proficiency in English, along with some coding background for better understanding. Specific details include the course structure, which consists of pre-class lessons and in-class sessions facilitated by instructors. Key Information: - Target audience: Professional software engineers, computer science students, and engineering-adjacent roles - Course focus: Technical writing, not general or business writing - Pre-class lessons: Provide foundational knowledge - In-class lessons: Enhance learning through interaction with facilitators and peers - Facilitator guides and resources available on the website - Occasionally, Google offers free in-class lessons to the public - Background in coding is beneficial but not required
This resource is essential for Engineering Leaders as it addresses the common challenge of effective communication within technical teams, ensuring that engineers can articulate complex concepts clearly. An actionable takeaway is to encourage team members to participate in these technical writing courses to enhance their writing skills and improve collaboration across departments.
Learn to write clearly by taking the same technical writing courses that Google engineers take.
We've aimed these courses at people in the following roles:
- professional software engineers
- computer science students
- engineering-adjacent roles, such as product managers
You need at least a little writing proficiency in English, but you don't need to be a strong writer to take these courses.
You will find these courses easier to understand if you have at least a little background in coding, though you don't need to be an expert coder.
These courses focus on technical writing, not on general English writing or business writing.
Technical Writing One and Technical Writing Two consist of two parts:
- pre-class lessons
- in-class lessons with a facilitator and other students
The pre-class lessons provide a solid educational experience, which the in-class lessons enhance. That said, the pre-class lessons on their own are still valuable.
Ordinarily, we expect organizations (universities, software companies, and so on) to facilitate the in-class lessons. However, Google occasionally provides free in-class lessons to everyone. For details, see Announcements.
You can find facilitator guides and related resources for each of the courses on this site.