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> The ability to read code. It can start as basic as knowing actual coding of HTML, but trying to find some lower-level or continuing education college programs you can take to learn the basics of some coding (like Java) is a help, even if you don't plan on switching from Tech Writing to engineering. Knowing HTML coding cuts your dependency on tools to help you convert things over to HTML formats, and a general knowledge of code structures (and how not to break things) has always been a great help to me. Can I quickly program Java code? No. But I can look at it and troubleshoot where there may be problems, and my developers can be certain I know enough where I'm allowed to poke around the actual code for the product to correct things like grammar that is part of the code, and just see what the code is actually doing, without breaking anything else.
I'd go one step further and say once you can understand code, you need
to know what to do with it. Should you be able to create sample
applications? If you're documenting APIs and SDKs, then ideally that
answer is "yes".
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