Two Writers with a Twinship of Purpose in Technical Writing

This article kicks off a series of posts produced by the aptLearn interns, highlighting their experiences and the projects they worked on this Fall 2022.    By Itohowo Ekerete & Oseremen Molen

How We Got Here

Our journey as writers has taken us through different formative phases from scribbling mindless poems to content writing. The latest chapter in our story brought us to aptLearn’s door after they made a call for Q4 internship applications.

This announcement was timely because, at that point in our writing career, we wanted to walk a different path; pursue a career in tech, and we needed an entry-level opportunity to fully apply our skills and get hands-on experience.

We also decided to walk our upskilling journey with aptLearn because we were attracted to her uniqueness, mission, and vision; revolutionizing Africa’s tech space by giving youths the opportunity and resources to learn in-demand tech skills at affordable rates.

So, while we experienced a mix of anxiety and apprehension throughout the different internship recruitment screening stages, the euphoria of the possibility of success spurred us to always put in our best.

Eventually, out of a thousand applications that were received, we got selected to participate in the 2022 Q4 internship program for the technical writing track. This chronicles the genesis of our journey at aptLearn.

The Learning Curve

As individuals and as a team, our growth in the last four weeks has been impressive. Through writing articles for our audience, countless team meetings and task reviews, we have honed our communication skills, understood the nuances of corporate culture, and pushed ourselves at every turn. Here’s a brief walk of our story in the last 4 weeks:

Week 1: Getting Familiar with the aptLearn Product and Acquiring Technical Writing Skills

A significant part of the first week was spent getting familiar with the basics; the company’s services, our roles as technical writing interns as well as our internship objectives. We were also introduced to technical writing, who we are as technical writers and basic technical writing principles.

A key part of any successful writing is understanding its nitty-gritty; you can only explain how something works if you understand it. This is why we were put through how to navigate the backend of the company’s website; how to add content, and edit pages.

After this onboarding period, it was time to apply all that we had learned. Our first task was given; we were to create knowledge base articles on “How to Take a Course on aptLearn and get Certified“.

Being our first task, the process of bringing this task to life was challenging and time-consuming. We had to redo the task twice. Our leads made sure we produced the best work and encouraged us at every turn. We also got familiar with relevant tools like mockup image guides, screen recording, and Grammarly. All of these helped us shape the clarity and outlook of our documentation.

Click here to read the mobile version written by Itohowo Ekerete and here for the desktop version written by Claire Molen.

Week 2 – Learning SEO Basics, and Technical Documentation 

The week started with going through a ton of materials on SEO because our team lead wanted us to get equipped with the right knowledge from the right sources. Thereafter, armed with the theory of SEO, we moved to the real-time application of the concepts we studied in a virtual session.

Watching the SEO tool change from a scalding red colour to a healthy green was exciting. The next task was to achieve this same feat with our blog posts and we couldn’t wait to get started!

That same week, we also worked on a knowledge base article titled “How to Buy a Paid Course on aptLearn“. Itohowo worked meticulously on the voiceover screen recording while Claire held the written guide on lock. You can read the article here.

Week 3 – Editing Knowledge Base Articles, Writing and SEO Optimisation of Blog Posts

Aside from updating knowledge base articles, the major thing we did during this period was work on our blog post. This was going to be our first-ever article to be published on the aptLearn site and social media. It meant that we had to get it right. So, we invested hours researching, writing, rewriting and optimising the post to standard. 

Towards the end of the tedious week, our blog posts were ready with a luscious green to their name. ‘How to get Hired as a Programmer in 2022’ is already live and the others will be published shortly.

Week 4 – Writing More Knowledge Base Articles and Working on New Blog Posts

With our 4th week rolling in, we knew we could not slack in our efforts in providing our learners with helpful guides. The beauty about this is that we are doing what we love while providing more consistent knowledge base articles and blog articles just for them!

We have become very familiar with navigating how to get our tasks done. This week we worked on a number of articles, including the internship documentation, with little or no supervision. In such a small time, we have come a long way.

I now know what a WordPress website looks like and how to navigate it, create and optimize posts. The best part of my first month at aptLearn is having to redefine my understanding of the culture of excellence. – Itohowo.

 

The exposure we’ve had has been second to none. I’m always driven by the constant expectation to deliver exceptional results. Our easy access to the CEO, team lead, and tools has helped me in delivering excellent results. – Molen.

We are always excited about the weekly teaching sessions. We get to discuss topics and get feedback from each other and our team lead. Besides these sessions helping us improve our skills as writers, we also love them because they help us bond together as a team.

Lastly, the weekly team meeting with all interns and the team leads is another activity we look forward to. In these meetings, we get to see how the other internship teams are doing, get reviews on the week’s activities and challenge ourselves to do better.

What’s Next for us?

While this chapter is not over yet, our expectations for the future keep us ecstatic. We look forward to what November holds and, of course, eventually hope to get to the finish line.

See you next month!

Oseremen Molen & Itohowo Ekerete are Technical Writing interns with aptLearn.io, an online learning solution for tech enthusiasts. You can stay connected to their story on Twitter @itohowo_ekerete @ri_molen