Re: thoughts on the current job market

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

I think this varies with our view of what constitutes "tech writing as 
we know it," and "suitable job listings." At the height of the dotcom, 
tech writing didn't look anything like the profession as I knew it, but 
the trend since the dotbomb (high-dollar listings for writers with 
technical and/or project management expertise and lowball "make it 
pretty" listings for those without) looks pretty much like what I 
remember from "the olden days when I had to walk five miles in the snow 
to get to work."

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Lauriston" <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> On an off-list discussion, some people have been pronouncing the death
> of tech writing as we know it. Jobs are being off-shored, companies
> are laying off staff writers and contracting the work out at $20 an
> hour, and so on.
>
> I don't see that. I've been seeing more suitable job listings and
> getting more interviews in my current job search than the last time I
> was looking (end of 2003 & beginning of 2004). Most of the openings
> are for full-time staff positions. In cases where we discussed salary,
> they didn't expect to have any problem paying me in the range
> estimated by salary.com.
>
> I don't see off-shoring as much of a threat. Development and QA seem
> to be exportable, but the docs I've seen from Bangalore were unusable.

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