Sydney: Tech writing in 2005, then 2026, and beyond

Technical writing has changed a lot in the last couple of years. New tools, shifting job titles, restructured teams, and a whole lot of opinions about AI. So what does it actually look like to be a tech writer in 2026?

This is the second in a series of relaxed evening meetups where we dig into that question. We've got speakers from inside and outside the tech writing world sharing short talks, followed by open conversation.

For this session, we're starting with a look way back, as far as 2005. How was it working as a technical writer in 2005, compared to 2026!

Talk: Tech Writing like it is 2005

Remember when technical writers lived in perpetual fear of the blue screen of death
erasing three days of work? When “version control” meant emailing Word documents
with increasingly creative filenames like “UserGuide_FINAL_v2_REALLY_FINAL_
updated.doc”?

This talk takes us back to 2005, when technical writing was equal parts craft and
survival skills.

This nostalgic journey will cover:

• Misplaced tags and reformatting nightmares
• The delicate dance of managing conditional text that would mysteriously disappear during PDF generation
• The herculean efforts required to generate help files that displayed correctly across the browser landscape
• Backup strategies that bordered on paranoia, including the daily ritual of copying work files to storage devices
• The logistics of managing review comments scribbled in margins and on sticky notes
• A true appreciation of how far we have come as technical communication specialists

Seasoned writers will rediscover appreciation for today’s collaborative tools, while
newer professionals will gain perspective on the ingenuity and resilience that built
the foundation of modern documentation practices.

About Swapnil Ogale
Over the last 20 years, Swapnil has consulted at,
and worked with multiple organisations, setting up
documentation teams, processes, workflows and toolchains.

He initiated the Write the Docs community in Australia and organises meetup events across Australia, and has
chaired the annual conference since 2016.