CV-Beispiel: Technical Writer

Choose the right format for a Technical Writer resume

Use a reverse-chronological format unless you are pivoting into technical writing from a completely unrelated field. Hiring managers at software companies, defense contractors, and healthcare firms all expect to see your most recent role first, followed by a clean skills section and education block.

Keep your resume to one page if you have fewer than ten years of experience; two pages are acceptable beyond that. Use a single-column or light two-column layout with consistent heading hierarchy. Avoid heavy graphics, icons, or tables — many applicant tracking systems used by large tech employers (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever) parse plain text and will scramble decorated layouts.

• Set margins between 0.5 and 1 inch; use 10–12 pt font in a readable face such as Calibri, Georgia, or Arial
• Name your file: FirstName-LastName-TechnicalWriter-Resume.pdf unless the job posting requests .docx
• Include a header with your name, city/state, phone, professional email, LinkedIn URL, and a link to your portfolio or writing samples

Write a professional summary that signals your specialty

Your summary sits directly under your contact information and does the work of a 30-second pitch. It should name your documentation domain (API docs, hardware manuals, regulated medical content, software UX copy), your tool stack, and one concrete outcome. Recruiters spend about seven seconds on an initial scan — make the summary earn that time.

Example: "Technical Writer with 6 years producing API reference documentation and developer guides for SaaS platforms. Proficient in Docs-as-Code workflows using Git, Markdown, and MadCap Flare. Reduced average support ticket volume by 22% at Acme Corp by restructuring the self-service knowledge base from 400 fragmented articles into 120 structured, task-based topics."

Write work-experience bullets that show impact, not just duties

Each bullet should follow an action-verb + task + measurable result structure. Technical writing is measurable: track page views, ticket deflection rates, time-to-publish, number of docs delivered per release cycle, or reduction in localization costs. If you lack hard numbers, use scope indicators — number of products documented, audience size, or team size you collaborated with.

Avoid vague phrases like 'responsible for writing documentation' or 'assisted with content.' Recruiters at companies like Google, Microsoft, and Atlassian specifically screen for writers who can quantify their contribution to product or support outcomes.

• Authored and maintained 300+ pages of REST API documentation in Swagger/OpenAPI and Confluence, cutting onboarding time for new integration partners by 35% over two release cycles
• Led a content audit of a 1,200-article Zendesk knowledge base, retired 40% of outdated content, and improved average article helpfulness rating from 61% to 84% within 90 days

Skills and certifications recruiters and ATS systems look for

List tools and platforms by name — do not write 'familiar with documentation tools.' Recruiters filter by specific tool names, and ATS systems keyword-match against the job description. Group your skills into logical clusters: authoring tools, markup languages, version control, content management systems, and domain knowledge.

Certifications carry real weight in regulated industries (medical devices, aerospace, government contracting) and in organizations that follow structured content standards. The most recognized credentials in the field are the STC Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) at Foundation, Practitioner, and Expert levels, and the DITA Specialist certification from the OASIS consortium. A Google Technical Writing certificate is entry-level but widely recognized.

• Authoring tools: MadCap Flare, Adobe FrameMaker, Oxygen XML Author, Paligo, Confluence
• Markup and standards: DITA, Markdown, reStructuredText, HTML/CSS, OpenAPI/Swagger
• Version control and CI/CD: Git, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins (for Docs-as-Code pipelines)
• Content management: Salesforce Knowledge, Zendesk Guide, SharePoint, Documentum
• Domain keywords that pass ATS filters: single-sourcing, structured authoring, content reuse, topic-based writing, style guide governance, localization, translation management

Education, licenses, and extras that strengthen your candidacy

A bachelor's degree in English, Communications, Journalism, Computer Science, or a technical discipline is the typical baseline. List your degree, institution, and graduation year. If your degree is unrelated — engineering, biology, finance — keep it on the resume; subject-matter expertise is a genuine differentiator for technical writing roles in those industries.

Below education, add a Portfolio section with a direct URL to writing samples. This is non-negotiable: most hiring managers will not advance a candidate without reviewing at least two samples. If your work is under NDA, create sanitized or redacted versions, or build public samples on GitHub Pages or a personal site. You can also list relevant coursework, a professional development section for recent tool training, or volunteer documentation work for open-source projects, which is especially useful for career changers.

Mistakes to avoid

• ×Listing tools in a generic 'proficient in Microsoft Office' style instead of naming the specific authoring and CMS platforms you used on real projects.
• ×Omitting a portfolio link — without writing samples, most hiring managers will discard the application before a phone screen regardless of your credentials.
• ×Writing bullets that describe your responsibilities rather than your outcomes, making it impossible for a recruiter to gauge the scope or quality of your work.
• ×Using a heavily designed resume template with text boxes and columns that breaks ATS parsing and causes your skills and job titles to be read as garbled strings.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a portfolio to get a Technical Writer job?

Yes — a portfolio is effectively required. Hiring managers treat the absence of writing samples the same way they would treat a graphic designer submitting a resume with no work examples. If your past work is confidential, create two or three public samples on GitHub Pages, a personal site, or a platform like Read the Docs that demonstrate your ability to write clear, structured documentation.

Should a Technical Writer resume include code samples or programming knowledge?

It depends on the role, but even basic coding literacy is worth mentioning for API documentation or Docs-as-Code positions. If you can read JSON, write Markdown, run a Git commit, or understand REST request/response cycles, say so explicitly. You do not need to present yourself as a developer, but demonstrating that you can work inside a developer workflow is a significant differentiator for roles at software companies.

How long should a Technical Writer resume be?

One page for fewer than ten years of experience; two pages for senior or principal-level writers with a broad portfolio of products and industries. Never pad to fill space — a tight, evidence-rich one-page resume consistently outperforms a sprawling two-pager for mid-level roles. If you have relevant publications, conference presentations, or open-source contributions, add a brief 'Publications and Presentations' section rather than inflating your bullet points.