RE: Senior Technical Writer Status

Subject: RE: Senior Technical Writer Status
From: "Swallow, William" <WSwallow -at- courion -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 13:51:41 -0400

[[[* Mastery of the tools of the trade: Frame, Photoshop, Acrobat, WebWorks,
RoboHelp, etc.]]]

Mastery of tools is nice, but the proven ability to pick up a tool ad run
with it is worth much more, IMHO. Tools may be a tech writer's best friend,
but adaptability is forever!

[[[* Specialized skills in any area of expertise: Oracle, Web development,
Java, optical networking, etc. These may be optional, but in my opinion they
place you solidly in the senior category.]]]

More like they place you solidly in a pigeonhole.

[[[* Proven project management skills: The ability to scope out, plan,
execute,
and complete a project without supervision (which is not to say you are not
reporting status and progress or problem-solving with your manager).
* The ability to mentor junior writers on the tools of the trade and the
technology you are documenting.
* The ability to jump in, discern what you need to learn (product-wise) to
do your job, learn it, and get the project rolling.
* Enough experience to attain the above, be it two years or five. I don't,
however, see how less than two years of experience can be sufficient to
develop the project management skills or to provide the opportunity to
mentor junior writers.]]]

I agree with the several above. :)

[[[* An Master's should do it, providing it is backed by plenty of
experience.
I don't think an MS straight out of school should get Senior status. They
might get it faster, of course.]]]

[COUGH]BU[COUGH]LL[COUGH]SH[COUGH]IT[COUGH]!!!

I've met many writers with Masters degrees who, even after a few years of
experience, still couldn't do the job. So as for them getting there faster,
it ain't a factor. Stupid is as stupid does, regardless what the piece of
paper says.

[[[As for "what it means," think $$$. In my experience in the SF Bay Area,
Senior TWs easily command 25% more in salary than regular TWs. Salaries for
TWs in a specialized area shoot through the roof simply because they are so
rare.
Of course, there is also the personal satisfaction that you are advancing in
your career, learning new tools, etc. But the bottom line is that we do it
because we have to, and if we have to, we might as well maximize our
compensation.]]]

I have to agree there. If it wasn't for the need of a pay check, I'm sure
many of us would find other means to occupy our time. Of course, I'd still
be a geek who loves to explain things and teach people, but I'd be doing it
differently... if no different than from the back of my yacht in the
Caribbean. ;)

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