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> Both outsourcing and off-shoring are the result of
> globalization. It has
> nothing to do with the potential demise of technical writing,
> but it will
> affect your future pay scale.
Is that a positive effect or a negative effect? Occasionally, there is a
flurry of requests for "plain-English" technical writers from companies that
specify "no H-1 Visa support." My guess is that these jobs are possibly in
response to companies with documentation that was out-sourced or off-shored
to the extent that it is now unintelligible. This would seem like a good
opportunity for a contract technical writer to build a client-base and
subsequently charge a higher rate."
Hi Lauren,
I can be both. For some writers, the trend offers an opportunity to increase
their revenue. Others may see revenue decreases as companies off-shore or
outsource the work to less expensive areas of the country (globe), or
cheaper competitors. It's difficult to prove that hiring your services will
save money even if you cost more if the fiscal control is located outside
your sphere of influence, as it is with most global corporations. In those
cases, the fiscal controllers really don't care about quality as much as
quantity...they count beans and if they can get 500 pages for a nickel a
page, then they'll do that over 375 high quality and accurate pages for a
dollar a page. Fortunately, not all companies are global entities and not
all companies allow the bean counters that much control.
Al Geist
Technical Writing, Help, Marketing Collateral, Web Design and Award Winning
Videos
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See also:
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office and beautiful note cards for all occasions.)
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