Choose one small, verifiable task

Google's technical-writing course starts with the audience's existing knowledge and what they need to do. Its procedure guidance helps turn that into instructions. Choose a tool you can run yourself so you can verify the prerequisites, commands and results.

For a starter project, document Python's JSON-formatting command. You do not need to build a new application to demonstrate documentation skills. You do need to distinguish what the command actually does from behavior you would like it to have.

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A concrete starter task: format a JSON file

This command was tested with Python 3.13.5 in a terminal where python3 is available. Create a new folder for the exercise. In it, create sample.json containing exactly: {"amount": 12, "currency": "USD"}

From that folder, run: python3 -m json.tool sample.json formatted.json

Open formatted.json. It should contain the same amount and currency, arranged with indentation. The command writes to that output file, so an empty terminal after a successful run is not itself a failure. Keep the input and output filenames different.

Now write three short documents: a quickstart for completing that task, an explanation of JSON syntax versus application-specific rules, and a reference for the command's input and output arguments. The formatting command does not check whether your business requires an amount field or permits a particular currency.

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Test an error and document the recovery

Create a separate invalid.json containing: {"amount": 12,}

Run: python3 -m json.tool invalid.json invalid-output.json

In the tested version, the command exits with a trailing-comma error before creating a new output file. Remove the comma in invalid.json and rerun the command, then open invalid-output.json and check the result. If an output file already exists from an earlier run, invalid input can leave that old file unchanged; its presence does not prove that the new run succeeded.

Compare ‘Fix any errors before continuing’ with an instruction identifying the offending comma, the input to edit and the expected result after retrying. The second version gives the reader information needed to proceed. Do not instruct them to delete a record simply to suppress an error.

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Let a reader use the document without your help

Ask a volunteer with the intended background to follow your quickstart. Do not narrate missing steps. Record where they stop, what they expected and what you changed.

If they cannot find sample.json, add the folder location. If they expect terminal output, explain the output file. If their command name differs, state which environment your instructions support rather than pretending you tested every system.

Two observed attempts can expose a defect in your instructions. They do not support a claim that you improved all users' success rates by a measured percentage. Show the actual before-and-after excerpt instead.

Package the evidence an interviewer needs

Provide the task, sample files, tested environment, three documents and one revision record. For a software API role, a later sample could document an actual request and response; for hardware documentation, choose a safe procedure you can directly verify.

Ask what the internship mainly produces: tutorials, reference documentation, hardware instructions or internal knowledge articles. Prepare the matching kind of sample. Never include real credentials or customer data, and do not describe this independent documentation exercise as work performed for Python or Google.

Choose one original practice task

Choose a task that matches a skill you want to demonstrate. Each original invented case has downloadable inputs, a separate answer key and a failure check. Build your own result, ask someone to reproduce it, then retain a dated revision. Describe it as independent work.