The Psychology of Job Hunting in Technical Writing

Allow me to say a few words about the psychology of job hunting since I see some artificial obstacles that some technical writers set up for themselves and I’d like to remove them if I can. FIRST OBSTACLE The first obstacle is to think “I’m not a very good technical writer” or “I’m not a…

Read More

How to Get That Very First Technical Writing Job…

That very first technical writing job is the hardest for most writers and non-writers who are new to the field. Once that threshold is crossed, there’s usually no going back. The rest is usually a series of promotions or lateral and vertical moves from one company or assignment to another. For the freelancing “lone writers,”…

Read More

Technical Writer Salaries by Hi-Tech Company

© Ugur Akinci Here is an interesting source that lists the salary range for various categories of technical writers by company: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/technical-writer-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm Since sometimes such web pages are removed from the server, let’s summarize the annual salary ranges for technical writers by hi-tech company: Cisco $76,000 – $107,000 CA Technologies $62,000 – $99,000 Microsoft $76,000…

Read More

U.S. Federal Government as a Source of Employment for Technical Writers

The U.S. federal government is a major source of employment for technical writers, as the government employs more than 7,000 writers who produce manuals and instructions for federal agencies and departments. Technical writing is a field that requires an understanding of the subject matter being written about, as well as the ability to communicate clearly…

Read More