Tailoring guide
Technical Writer resume keywords and example
Technical writer postings split between software documentation (API references with OpenAPI, developer guides, docs-as-code in Git and Markdown) and structured authoring for hardware, regulated or enterprise products (DITA XML, MadCap Flare, Oxygen XML). Name the tools and the audience you wrote for, and show results such as fewer support tickets or faster onboarding. Below are the keywords that repeat, a sample summary, skills grouped by type, and example bullets.
Updated 14 November 2026. Keyword research current as of November 2026, sourced from public ATS keyword guides, not Weydr's own usage data.
Technical Writer keywords that repeat in job postings
- Technical Documentation
- API Documentation
- Docs-as-Code
- Markdown / Git
- OpenAPI / Swagger
- DITA / Structured Authoring
- Style Guides
- Information Architecture
- Subject Matter Experts
Only include the ones that are true for you. A keyword you can't back up in an interview costs more than it gains.
Sample professional summary
Technical writer with 5 years documenting developer platforms. Writes API references from OpenAPI specs, tutorials and conceptual guides in Markdown, published through a docs-as-code pipeline with Docusaurus and GitHub Actions. Works with engineers and support to find gaps, and maintains the company's documentation style guide.
Illustrative example. Swap in your own years, domain, tools and results.
Skills to list on a technical writer resume
Hard skills
- API and SDK documentation
- Task-based and conceptual writing
- Information architecture
- Docs-as-code workflows
- Structured authoring and content reuse
- Editing to a style guide
Soft skills
- Interviewing subject matter experts
- Writing for different audiences
- Handling review feedback
- Managing several doc sets at once
- Advocating for users in product reviews
Tools
- Markdown
- Git / GitHub
- Docusaurus
- OpenAPI / Swagger
- Postman
- MadCap Flare
- Oxygen XML
- Confluence
- Snagit
A tailored bullet, before and after
Wrote documentation for the company's products.
Rewrote the API getting-started guide with working code samples in 3 languages and a Postman collection, cutting related support tickets by about 40% over the next quarter.
Example resume bullets by seniority
Illustrative examples: the companies, numbers and outcomes are made up to show the structure (action, scope, tool, result). Use your own real figures.
Entry level
- Documented 25 REST endpoints from the OpenAPI spec, adding request and response examples tested against the staging API.
- Edited 60 existing help articles to the new style guide, fixing outdated screenshots and broken links found in a content audit.
Mid level
- Moved the developer docs from a wiki to Docusaurus in GitHub, letting engineers propose changes through pull requests and doubling doc contributions from outside the docs team.
- Restructured a 300-topic admin guide by user task, using search logs to rename and regroup pages, and reduced "can't find it" feedback on the docs site.
Senior
- Set up a DITA content model in Oxygen XML with reusable topics for 4 hardware product lines, cutting the time to produce a new manual from 6 weeks to 2.
- Led a docs team of 3, adding documentation to the definition of done for 8 engineering teams so release notes and guides shipped with each feature.
Gaps candidates miss most
- The audience and product you documented (developers, admins, end users)
- Authoring tools and publishing pipeline by name
- A result: fewer tickets, faster onboarding, better search success
Common technical writer resume mistakes
- "Wrote user manuals" with no product, audience or volume.
- No link to public writing samples or a portfolio.
- Typos or inconsistent formatting, which this role can't afford.
- Leaving out work with engineers and SMEs, which postings ask for directly.
- Listing every authoring tool rather than the ones you have published with.
Before you stuff in keywords
- Does ATS really reject 75% of résumés?: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to tailor your résumé to a job description: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- What an ATS résumé checker can and can't tell you: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- Tailoring a résumé to a job description: a worked example: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to explain an employment gap on your résumé: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to write a cover letter for a specific job: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- Résumé summary examples, and how to write your own: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How long should a résumé be?: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to write a career change résumé: what the research says about ATS filtering.
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