Re: Salary info from Coopers and Lybrand survey

[Linda Laurie <LinLaurie -at- MSN -dot- COM>]

This is interesting, but I'm curious about experience levels. No entry level
tech writer will get to $46,000 out here in Seattle (especially not by me),
unless they contract. Even so, you need some experience to get that first
contract. I know some senior writers who can't get to $46,000 with lots of
experience. This list seems a little skewed.

Lin
linlaurie -at- msn -dot- com
www.winpro-press.com

----------
From:   Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues on
behalf of Richard Danca
Sent:   Friday, August 01, 1997 6:57 PM
To:     TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject:        Salary info from Coopers and Lybrand survey

First: apologies if this is a duplicate posting. I haven't seen my
first attempted posting  appear on TECHWR-L.

I recently got a quick look at the "10th Annual Survey of Compensation
in the Software Industry" by Coopers and Lybrand.

Here's what the survey says about technical writers' pay in the United
States.

Average:                      $42,000

Mid-Atlantic:          $44,000
Midwest:                     $44,000
Northeast;                   $48,000
Southeast:               $38,000
West Coast:            $46,000

The range went from a high of $53,000 (companies in the Northeast with
revenues above $25 million) to a low of $36,000 (companies in the
Midwest with revenues from $15 million to $24.9 million).

NOTES:

The survey covered *only* salary plus bonuses (i.e., not benefits, stock
options, etc.).

Coopers and Lybrand placed the responding companies into about a
half-dozen revenue ranges. There were pay variations among all of
those.

In some categories (area and revenue) there were few responses; this
clearly would skew the results _ already a little squirrely because
they're self-reported.

Coopers and Lybrand's definition of a tech writer: "Writes, updates
and revises existing documents and new material based on guidelines.
Uses writing, production, technical planning and interpersonal skills
to meet all scheduled deadlines. May report to the Head of Customer
Service."

I do NOT have access to this book any more. I saw it at a company (not
mine) that received it as a member of the Massachusetts Software
Council. Other similar state and regional software organizations also
paid for the study. It's likely their member companies have copies
available. I do not know any other way to get the book or its
information (though a web search might yield some results??).

Hope this is useful....

===============================================================
Richard A. Danca                    User Interface Engineering
richard -dot- danca -at- uie -dot- com                800 Turnpike St., Suite 101
rdanca -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com                 North Andover, MA 01845
508-975-4343, 508-975-5353 (fax)                USA
http://www.uie.com
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