I'm living in India.. I want to learn basics of technical and content writing so that I can do part time job or freelance work from home kid of job.. Due to personal and family constraints I'm unable to go and attend classes in training institutes , and there are no good online instructed led learning courses in my city..I mean, none of the courses offered by institutes are that useful...courses are just too expensive and don't suit my needs or schedules.. Pls suggest few websites and online Resources and pdf e books and Indian author books which I can read to learn technical and content writing...I can read up when I get free time.. What are the different online tools I need to learn which are popular in industry right now? Kindly reply if you have any info about this...
Professional organizations are often a good place to start. They have message boards, FB pages, etc., where you can look for advice on tools and certification. Going to a society meeting may also help you find resources. Such meetings often have stalls for vendors marketing software, forums for job searches, and so on. Attending one may be a motivating experience requiring only a modest investment in time. Some links: Organizations Focused on Technical Communication (Worldwide) Indian Science Writers' Association Technical Writers of India (TWIN) The Society for Technical Communication (STC) The STC in the United States offers certification in technical writing. That is not suitable for you, I know, but their course syllabus uses this book and this study guide (for self-learners). With a little imagination, I am sure you can find someone to send you a copy of that book - a good place to begin. You can work on your own, and when you feel ready, just pay for the certification test perhaps. Good Luck!
Re: Tools You will need different tools for different stages of a project, but since you will be working on multiple projects at the same time, you will be using all the tools simultaneously. You need tools to: (1) Capture ideas. (2) Archive research material for later use & for citations. (3) Outline/draft a project. (4) Write. I wrote a post about some options a few years ago, here. Most are still viable, although I would now recommend Zotero instead of Mendeley for managing reference material.