As a software documentation writer, I have been struggling since I decided to focus on that forgotten part of software development: documentation. Brazil is a country that is having a software development bloom for a couple of years now. We had an increase in software companies, digital solutions, and other I.T. related ones. However, the software documentation grows ever so slow.

The awareness for concise and clear documentation, be it for the final user or even to make the software maintenance understandable to new collaborators, is almost null. This reflects directly at the number of positions available for technical writers, software business analysts, and many more that deal with software documentation.

Following some Brazilian software developers closely, I began to see a pattern of companies hiring programmers and overwhelming them with all the processes related to software delivery. This isn’t a generalization, we do have some companies that are down to earth and understand the different roles making a good software product. However, it isn’t uncommon to have a front-end being responsible for writing legacy documentation of the software product or even instructional documentation aimed towards the users.

There’s no need to say that it doesn’t work well. A front-end developer has to study and develop front-end applications, worry about the design and user experience, about integration with the back-end, and so on. If we force those professionals to assume two different roles they will not exceed in either. Brazilian companies are still seeing software documentation as something unimportant, thus not giving enough importance to this role.

The international market has been improving daily, seeing how projects with strong documentation can lead to fewer mistakes and build a better experience for the users. We all learned about good practices to develop, and documenting your software is one of them. Worldwide and among international companies, we have been seeing how software documentation has been improving their workflow and, is taken seriously. They are recognizing the need and the benefits of hiring a professional to deal with it.

I hope that Brazilian companies understand how important it is to have good documentation, not only for their users but also to aid new members and help with software maintenance. Until there I follow advocating for respect to each professional and recognition for their value as a collaborator. A programmer isn’t supposed to do everything in your company.

Copy?
Over.