Content is the next big thing after information technology. Technical communication is not a very old concept in IT sector. Nowadays, a lot of emphasis is given to quality manuals for product support. For enhanced usage and comprehensive understanding of a product or a process, a well-written manual is very important. Global IT & Software corporations have identified the need for effective technical documentation.

Till the early 90s, technical writing was an unexplored profession in India. The IT Companies then started to recognize the need. India has managed to produce a good number of technical writers over the past few years.

But China is catching up fast in the global technical communication market. With the presence of global IT companies like HP, Siemens, etc in China, it has opened up the market for technical writing. The market in China is highly untapped. The growth in the software industry in China has been consistent over the last decade. Most of the companies in China are wholly foreign owned enterprises (WFOEs), very few are joint Ventures (JV), state-owned, and partly-funded. There are several documentation requirements in MNCs like HP, Freescale, Siemens, ABB, etc. More than 100 technical writing jobs have been posted in Zhaopin.com, one of the popular job sites in China.

The job posted are based in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen as these are major IT destinations in China. The tools and technologies used in China are almost the same in India. Knowledge of tools like Framemaker and Robohelp are mostly required.

A good command of the English language is mandatory in technical communication as the documents support the global audience. There are different standards & tests in China to certify a candidate’s proficiency level in English Language - Test for English Majors (Tem-4 and Tem- 8),CET - College English Test (Band 4 and 6),CATTI - China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters ,NAETI - National Accreditation Examinations for Translators and Interpreters.

Unlike India, the local language, Chinese is also very important in technical communication as manuals written in local language cater to a large Chinese audience. Knowledge of Japanese and Korean languages is added advantages for job seekers. Technical communication is a specialized field and proper training is much required to understand the audience dynamics. It also helps in enhancing the usability of a product. But lack of proper technical writing training institutes in China is a concern. Chinese Universities are yet to come up with a professional course in technical writing.

Apart from tech-comm services, translation market in China has a huge market estimated between US$1.3bn and US$2.5bn. Around 3,000 registered translation companies are present in China.

Technical communication societies like Society for Technical Communication (STC) can increase the awareness and also help in producing more technical writers to meet the needs of global companies present in China. X