Is writing customer-facing documentation technical writing?

I saw a question on Reddit recently:

Is writing customer-facing documentation technical writing?

I wanted to share more thoughts on this question. What better place to do so than my blog?

TL;DR: Yes.

But why? Let's talk about that.

What is technical writing?

"Technical writing" is a broad term. Technical writing can mean writing:

1. Manuals on how to use a physical product
2. SDK instructions for software developers
3. Instructions that show how to use a software product
4. Internal reference material for engineers in an organization
5. Educational tutorials
6. Among many other things

The type of technical writing you will do will depend on the organization for whom you work.

I work for a software company that develops computer vision technology. Most of my work involves documenting how to use our products. Some of the products I document are customer-facing, such as Roboflow Annotate, a tool that lets you annotate images for use in training computer vision models. Other products are documented for use by developers, such as our hosted API.

I prefer to think about "technical writing" less not as a specific task but as your approach to writing.

If your job involves (or would involve) writing documentation that explains products, software, hardware, or internal tools, you are a technical writer. If most of your writing is internal documents that aren't for customers or learners (i.e. PRDs, which document product requirements), you are practicing the skill of technical writing in a way. But, you probably have another core job function.