Re: Texas Tech U/ tech writer experience....
I too looked into the Texas Tech on-line Masters program but I then had to put this whole profession into prospective. Very quickly after getting my Bachelors in Professional Writing,I found out you don't need a degree to be a Technical Writer. In fact, I just saw a job posting in Monster yesterday for a Writer here in Houston with pay of between 20-40 an hour and the education level was High School or equivalent. In every place and every field I have worked, I have been the only one with an actual degree in writing. Those that did have degrees were in English or Engineering.
So, unless you plan to use that higher education for management, I don't see how it will help you get a better writing job.
I wouldn't trust listings that say, "high school or equivalent". It usually means that somebody forgot to set a database field, which then defaulted to that value. I see this all the time.
Until recently, I would have agreed with you about degrees. Traditionally, tech writers didn't need a strong academic background if they had skills that somebody needed. But times are changing. Computers are no longer a mysterious technology understood only by a few geeks -- they're as commonplace as were the typewriters they've largely replaced. And tech industries are more bureaucratic than they used to be -- more often than not, your resume has to get past an HR gatekeeper before the hiring manager even sees it. Add the currently glut of unemployed tech writers, and you have a situation where every formal credential counts.
A Masters in TW is no guarantee of a job, but it sure as heck doesn't hurt. A smart hiring manager doesn't rely too much on things like degrees, but the more formal credentials a candidate has, the easier it is to get the hire past the corporate bureaucracy. Plus, some organizations (particularly civil service) *require* that people with advanced degrees be given a higher classification.
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