Get better at technical writing with Google, Wednesday 27 Nov 1pm and 4pm in G41
We’re pleased to bring you beta versions of Google's Technical Writing classes delivered by Sharif Salah, a senior technical writer at Google. Thousands of Googlers have taken these classes. Now, we'd like engineers and engineering students outside of Google to benefit from these classes. These courses are still in Beta. Your feedback will help us improve these courses which will take place this Wednesday 27 November in G41 at 1pm and 4pm: sign up via the online booking form. If possible, students should bring a charged laptop to the class (or classes) below:
Technical Writing One: 1pm - 3.30pm
Technical Writing One covers the critical basics of technical writing and introduces students to the importance and practice of peer review. This course is aimed at engineers and engineering students who understand at least a little about programming. This course was released in 2015 and has been taught internally to thousands of Google software engineers.
Technical Writing Two: 4pm to 6.30pm
Technical Writing Two covers intermediate topics in technical writing and communication, such as creating sample code, tutorials, and diagrams. This course is aimed at engineers and engineering students who understand at least a little about programming. This course was released in 2017 and has been taught internally to thousands of Google software engineers.
Why bother?
Why bother improving your written communication skills?
- How successful you are in your future career will depend on your ability to communicate, not just in code or mathematics, but in written English (email, bug reports, code review, technical documentation, remote online discussion etc). See for example: The Importance of Writing for Software Developers and What novice programmers are doing (from our MSc course in Advanced Computer Science). Getting better at writing will be beneficial to your career.
- If you are writing a final year project, Master's or PhD thesis, the written report is a significant proportion of your final mark. This means that your ability to write clearly and concisely will make a significant contribution to your overall degree classification. Experience has shown us that students of computer science often need to develop better written communication skills, to avoid "falling at the final hurdle" (writing up) of an otherwise strong project
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