About me

Strong language and writing skills

I possess excellent command of both written and spoken English and always aim to produce grammatically immaculate content. I also have a solid command of Finnish writing and grammar, although these are not my primary area of expertise. Writing, be the content academic, technical or miscellaneous, comes naturally – blank page anxiety, for instance, is mostly a foreign concept to me.

Teamwork skills

As team member, I especially value open and respectful communication as well as active listening. Problem solving for a team becomes most effective when the personal strengths of each team member are put to appropriate use. This often requires taking into consideration the preferences and skills of the team members and by adapting the team’s composition to make the most of each member’s unique qualities.

Knowledge on and desire to produce usable documentation

What I strive for as a writer is to produce user-centred documentation – content designed, written, and updated with a specific group of user-readers in mind.

For users, documentation should be efficient to use, meaning that they are able to fulfil their information needs with the content provided in the documentation. Efficiency can be considered a component of usability, which comprises such aspects as comprehensibility, legibility, coherency, findability, and accessibility. Ensuring these aspects are implemented in the documentation is typically the technical writer’s responsibility.

Often what this boils down to is consciously putting aside one’s personal expertise and knowledge on a subject. Instead, the expert, writer, or product designer should step into the reader’s shoes and try to assume his point of view.

Technical skills

I have experience in the following:

• DITA XML
• ASD Simplified Technical English
• Ixiasoft CCMS
• Oxygen XML editor
• Autocad Fusion 360
• Microsoft 365
• Adobe Illustrator
• Abode Photoshop
• Abode Indesign
• Visual Studio Code
• HTML and CSS
• Git

Procedural thinking and organisational skills

In all areas of life, I hold in high regard a systematic and goal-oriented approach to projects. Be it a course paper, a work assignment, or a leisurely writing project, I find the most efficient course of action is to divide it into concrete phases and set a clearly defined deadline for each individual phase. As per Desmond Tutu, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

This type of procedural approach to tasks does require self-management and time-management skills, but I consider it to yield the most effective results. As evidence, I have never missed a project deadline and completed my studies perfectly on schedule even despite the hassle of the Covid pandemic.

Confidence and desire for continuous learning

When I receive a writing assignment, I take it on with a strong conviction that I can complete it, even in cases where the genre or format is unfamiliar to me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not an arrogant writer – someone who produces text and deems it flawless in its unedited form, for instance. Rather, confidence develops through experience and expertise, which in turn result from diligent practice and the ability to accept constructive criticism and embrace change. My perspective is that I can never be the omniscient writer who no longer has anything new to learn. My skillset is never completed, which is actually quite a thrilling thought.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking can refer to evaluating the effectiveness of current solutions, working methods, or designs. Critical thinking can help identify the aspects of a design that are inefficient, outdated, or otherwise unnecessary.

At the beginning of my university studies, I quickly found that the learning strategies that had worked for me previously were not enough to produce high marks anymore. If I wanted to make the most of my studies, these methods needed a complete revamp – out with the old and in with the new. Acquiring a new learning strategy was, at first, uncomfortable but eventually proved prolific as I began getting better grades.

The example above illustrates that, although the process of critical thinking involves just that – the critical assessment of something – identifying the need for change is not enough. The logical next step is to try new methods, to implement changes, and to continue evaluating their effectiveness. Change may require a step of two out of one’s comfort zone, but progress is often possible only through change and innovation.

Curiosity

In the world of technical writing, writers can come across topics, products, designs, or phenomena with which they are unfamiliar. Curiosity is a fruitful skill in situations where one must take on a strange domain.

Being able to ask questions, even in situations where one might feel stupid for doing so, is a beneficial skill. This holds true especially when one’s job description includes writing instructions on topics which may not always fall under one’s personal expertise. If there is something I need or want to know, the most effective way to get answers is by asking questions (Google queries also count).

I would proceed to claim that curiosity is a characteristic which can be also cultivated. Even if I have no previous interest in a particular subject, making the effort to delve into it can be a wonderful learning experience and even make the world a little bit wider.

Flexibility

As much I hate to admit it, projects and assignments don’t always progress as planned, no matter how carefully one has cleaved her elephant. Deadlines may change, one’s motivation may fluctuate, or a certain phase may prove more demanding than initially expected.

For me, flexibility in such situations entails identifying the aspect(s) affected by the changes and revising them so that I can complete the project regardless. For example, if my motivation for a certain task is running low, I can work on another aspect now and return to the current task tomorrow. Conversely, if I get into the flow, I can complete tasks from tomorrow’s agenda, as well.