On Writing Well as a Software Engineer

Though writing is a more creative process than writing code, it does not make it easier. It requires practice, repetition, feedback, and mastering the fundamentals to develop your writing. Let’s go through some of the basics of writing together.

Start

One of the toughest things about writing is starting. When I was still a full-time writer I found a method to overcome my procrastination and actually start. When I begin to write, I close my Slack, put away my phone, close all the windows on my laptop, and set a timer for 10 minutes. During those 10 minutes, my only goal is to write, and I don’t focus on the outcome. After the timer goes off, I take a 5-minute break before starting again. I continue this process, gradually increasing the writing time in 5-minute increments up to 40 minutes. Breaking the process into smaller chunks helps to reduce the pressure of perfection.

Wanting to write something perfect will not help you. What it will do is stop you from trying.

Read

You become a better coder by reading good code. The same is true for writing. You can’t write unless you read. By reading well-written work, you’ll develop a sense of the sentence structure, overall flow, and rhythm.

When you find a writer that you love, take their work apart and try to figure out exactly why you like it. Then compare your work to theirs. How does it differ? What can you do to bridge the gap between your writing and that of the skilled author? If you iterate this process long enough, you’ll forever grow as a writer.

Make your reader finish reading

During my studies, I followed a Creative Writing minor where we explored different writing genres and shared our written work with the class. One teacher was known for noticing when students became distracted. She would stop the reader, turn to the distracted student, and ask: what is the moment you stopped listening to this story?
Interestingly enough, this never had anything to do with the short attention span of the distracted student, but rather with the quality of the writing being read aloud.
People have very short attention spans. It’s your responsibility as the writer to capture their attention and make them turn the page.

Rewrite

Writing is rewriting. Once you finish writing, you can start cutting, moving, adding, and deleting. Don’t be afraid to break your pieces. When you allow yourself to refine your work, you can make it better.

Practical tips

A couple of practical tips that can help:

• Use the 5Ws and 1H (Why, Who, What, Where, When, and How) as a guide. If those six questions don’t apply to your writing, make sure at least to answer: why, how, and what (in that order).

• Read your writing aloud to identify areas that flow well and those that don’t.

• Break up large blocks of text into paragraphs or bullet points for easier readability.

• Respect your reader’s time by keeping your writing clear, concise, and to the point.

• Shorten your sentences. Continuously ask yourself: could this be said in a shorter way without losing its message? A great tool to help with this is Hemingway Editor.

• Ask for feedback from your coworkers. Ask them how easy it is to read and understand, what parts of the document or message are the most confusing, and any suggestions they might have to make the message clearer.

Just like learning how to code, learning how to write well takes time and practice. Be patient with yourself, let yourself be a beginner, and start writing. When you know how to write and have technical skills, it’s like having a superpower, especially in a world where writing is becoming more and more important.