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Subject:RE: Techwriting after the boom; WAS: (no subject) From:stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 05 Jun 2003 16:18:26 +0000
> The gist of my argument is this: The microprocessor created a temporary
> bubble in demand for technical writers because it put so many immature
> technologies in front of a public who had no previous experience or social
> support to guide their learning of them. Lots of ordinary consumers and
> office workers suddenly had strange new toys that needed documenting. This
> phase of the microprocessor revolution is largely over and we are returning
> to normal levels of demand for technical writers.
I'm not so sure. As someone who started out documenting at Compaq (when it was
still occupying a floor in an Allied Bank branch office building where office
decor consisted of card tables and folding chairs) I've seen the changes, the
ups and downs of the industry. Yeah, it has matured and seems to be in a slow
steady state, but there are other technologies and services that offer
opportunities--biotech, health care management, and more. It will never be the
go-go years of the 1980s-1990s (at least in my lifetime), but it aint' dead yet!
> 1. There is a glut of experienced technical writers left over from the boom
> who have not yet worked their way out of the system.
True. And a glut of inexperienced "Motel Boys" who can always underbid you.
Some of my contracts have come from companies who hire Motel Boy and his sibs
and then need a writer to fix what was broken. In the go-go years anyone could
get a job at a dot-com and many tech companies. There were more jobs than
bodies. Now there are more bodies than jobs. And many of the bodies are tech
writing zombies. I've interviewed them for positions. I've cleaned up after
them. And most of them I wouldn't trust behind a cash register at BK.
> 2. The demand for technical writers without specific technology
> knowledge/skills has largely evaporated. For those positions that remain in
> this category, salaries would seem to be collapsing.
True again. And those of us with that knowledge must, must, must, must keep
upgrading our skills, learning new technologies, and offer more value to
employers. You really can't just be a "tech writer" or "tech editor". You have
to know about UI, the technologies you're working with, sales, marketing, etc.
As to salaries, they're about half of what they were in the late 90s (SF Bay area).
Lots of changes going on in the field. Not just in how we do the job, but what
the job is. Outsourcing overseas is starting to impact technical
communications. I wish we could talk about it rationaly, without the racist
overtones that always seem part of that discussion, but I've never seen it on
any list without it turning into a flame fest.
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