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Technical Writing: Technical Writing One and Two

4.8(3,000) on Google·200K enrolled
Beginner 4 hours EnglishFREE
SkillsTechnical writingDocumentationClarityWriting for developersAPI docsEditing

Is this course right for you?

Our take
{"A genuinely useful, completely free way for engineers to learn to write documentation people can actually use. There is no certificate — it is skill, not credential.

Good for: developers and anyone who writes technical documentation.

Skip if: you want general business writing, or a formal credential.

Google's Technical Writing One and Two teach choosing precise words, writing clear sentences, organising information logically, and adapting to technical and non-technical readers, developed by the team that documents Google Cloud, Android and Chrome.

What it does not do is teach general business or creative writing, and it offers no certificate — so if you want a credential or broader writing training, look elsewhere instead. Google keeps it updated.","Adapt documentation for technical and non-technical readers"}

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About this course

Google's Technical Writing One and Two courses teach engineers and technical professionals how to write documentation, guides, and specifications that readers can actually use: choosing precise words, writing clear sentences, organizing information logically, and adapting content to technical and non-technical audiences.

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Instructor

I
Instructor
Google instructor

Developed by Google's Technical Writing team, the professional writers who maintain documentation for Google's developer platforms and APIs.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, completely. Google publishes these technical-writing courses free through its Google for Developers site, with no paywall, sign-up cost, or trial. There are actually several — Technical Writing One and Two, plus one on writing for accessibility — all openly available. Beyond your own time, there is nothing to pay to work through the whole set.

No. Google does not issue a certificate for these courses, so there is no credential to add to a resume or LinkedIn profile. That is worth knowing if a certificate is your goal. The value here is purely the skills and the material itself, which is well regarded in the industry — you would demonstrate what you learned through your actual writing, not a badge.

Primarily software engineers, computer-science students, and engineering-adjacent roles like product managers who need to write clearly — documentation, design docs, error messages. It was not built specifically for professional technical writers, though many aspiring ones find it useful too. If your job involves explaining technical things in writing, whatever your title, it is aimed squarely at you.

The fundamentals of clear technical writing: grammar and word choice, writing tight sentences and paragraphs, organising documents logically, using technical illustrations well, and crafting genuinely helpful error messages. It is practical and example-driven, focused on making your writing clearer rather than on writing theory, and it can usually be worked through in around five to six hours.

For anyone whose work involves technical writing, yes — it is free, short, and from a credible source, and clear writing is a genuinely undervalued professional skill. Just set expectations correctly: it sharpens how you write and think about documentation rather than handing you a credential. Pair it with a small portfolio of your own clear docs, and it earns its modest time cost easily.
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