In January this year I started working as a Technical Reviewer for Apress who are a publishing company based in New York. Technical reviewing was something I’d thought about after a colleague had mentioned to me how interesting he was finding it, and he encouraged me to apply. So what exactly does a Technical Reviewer do?

The role of a Technical Reviewer

A Technical Reviewer works with the publishing company and the author of a book, to ensure that the subject matter is technically accurate and up to date. You need to have expert knowledge in the same field as the author to ensure that what is being written accurately portrays the subject, and that there are no obvious errors in content, or miscommunications. In some books a technical reviewer will also be expected to test code samples and snippets which are included in the book to ensure they are technically correct and compile and work as expected.

Why I enjoy being a Technical Reviewer?

I love being a technical reviewer for the following reasons;

• It’s making me read more books and in doing so I’m staying up to date with the industry
• It’s making me research topics to ensure the advice I am giving my authors is the best it can be
• I’m increasing my home library – I get given a physical copy of each book I help to review!
• Its really rewarding to see the physical book go to print and hold a copy in your hands after spending hours looking at electronic manuscripts adding notes and comments and helping the author make the book the best it can possibly be!

If you are an expert in your technical area I would strongly advise anyone into exploring the possibility of becoming a Technical Reviewer as I’ve personally found it a rewarding experience.