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Can you elaborate on how technical writing can help you excel at a google? I write docs at my company all the time (that garner a lot of views) but I feel like most of the time it goes unappreciated except for those few individuals that actually need them to finish a random one-off task they were assigned.

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(At Facebook, not Google) when the technical writing is used to influence a technical outcome. Particularly a strategic one. a well written memo can change the way business is done and there’s not much ambiguity around where the idea came from.

That said, being an eager doc writer in an effort to claim credit or inflate the perception of your own work is a great way to lose friends and alienate people.

Why do they get offended that you are consolidating knowledge?

Not the OP, but there can be a perception (whether justified or not) that people who "just write docs" aren't coding (taken as "contributing in a meaningful way") but instead optimizing for their own career/promotion. (This is not a viewpoint I personally hold)

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