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You don't mention where you are, geographically.
That makes a big difference.
As far as how you "compare to a career tech
writer," and what skills are expected from one,
I wouldn't worry too much about that. If the
people who approached you are aware that
you are not someone with career experience
as a writer, they're probably more interested in
your technical experience. Depending
on your location and specific industry, you
might be able to get a better rate going in as
a QA engineering contractor than as a writer,
and I would check those rates for your area
as well.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Ford" <subout -at- msn -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:18 AM
Subject: salary info
>
> Hi there techwr group,I've been approached by an organization to help
> with a technical document as a contractor and haven't a clue what to
> ask for in terms of salary. I read the article on
>http://www.winwriters.com/surveys/salary07/index.html, where it says
> the average contractor wage was $42/hr. Sounds nice, but I don't know
> how I compare to a career tech writer. The audience for the document
> would be IT engineers, and the subject is something I have extensive
> experience in. For serveral years, I was a QA engineer for the
> particular area they want documented. While doing that job, I wrote
> technical documents internally for the organization but I've never
> been a tech writer before. What sort of skills/experience/background,
> etc are expected out of a $42/hr technical writer? Thanks!!
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