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Subject:Re: Compensation question From:Chuck <writer -at- BEST -dot- COM> Date:Sun, 20 Jun 1999 14:44:41 -0700
The answer to this question, as with the answer to many questions in
this field (with apologies to Jared Spool), is: It depends.
Many responses have detailed some of the factors on which salary levels
depend: location, skill set, years of experience, and so on.
One recruiter I have worked with for many years in the Bay Area offers
the theory that *good* technical writers, the ones with strong emphasis
on the "technical" part (able to do more than "just" write, such as
communicate at least semi-fluently in computer languages, provide input
into usability and UI design, provide input into the early development
process, and so on) provide value to a company equal to those who
actually write the code. That theory has yet to become reality, but it's
getting closer than it was a few years ago.
For highly skilled technical writers in this area (and the ability to
provide those skills is more important that a simple years-of-experience
figure), salaries should be at least in the 70s, and I've seen them in
the 80s and 90s, with a few tech pubs manager position squeezing into 6
figures.
I know I'm worth the higher rates because I know I have the technical
expertise (for example, I have written articles for the Online Help
Journal about HTML-based and Java-based Help technologies, the bleeding
edge of the user assistance world). And because I'm in the job market
currently, I can easily communicate (and show) my skill set at
interviews. I don't even bother with comapnies that would value my skill
set monetarily for less than 70s, or that consider such a position as
part of the marketing environs, rather than as an integral part of
engineering.
Sometimes, to make the money that a good technical writer is worth, you
have to undertake an education and sales process to show just the broad
and useful value that you can bring to the development table.
Carla McKenzie wrote:
>
> A friend of mine can't seem to find a technical writing position that pays
> over $65,000. Everyplace she looks is paying up to $50,000. She doesn't
> want to go consulting because she needs a company with strong benefits.
> Should she take less pay? What are the going rates for non-consulting,
> technical writing positions?
>
--
"[Programmers] cannot successfully be asked to design for users
because...inevitably, they will make judgments based on the
difficult of coding and not on the user's real needs."
- Alan Cooper
"About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design"
Chuck Martin
writer"at"best.com www.writeforyou.com
