Re: Senior Tech Writer classification

[beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Actually, my engineering colleagues who know what I do are urging me to
pursue a title change with an Engineering classification - but I haven't
been able to find an actual list of Radford classifications so I can see
what alternatives I might have. I've only been able to search
classifications for open jobs at the new company and on web career
development sites, and none of those really fit what I do.

As for where I want to go, I've always been an individual contributor at
heart, though I have often had to hire and manage other writers on an ad hoc
basis. But because of the scaling that is necessary to integrate our
applications into the new company, it appears I may be creating a new doc
unit in the company - so doc management is another possible career path.

I'm OK with either one, but now is the time to figure out my HR options are
so I can cover myself for either an engineering or management job track. I
know from previous postings that some of you have expertise in both areas
(Gene, you in particular). If you have any advice for me, or can share
experiences on how you adapted to expanding either role, I would appreciate
it.

Bee

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 7:47 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:

> Is being at the top of your profession really a problem
> if there's income headroom?
>
> Where do you want to go from where you are?
>
> Instead of playing games with job titles like "information
> developer," technical writer pay grades should be on a
> par with developer grades, which puts a senior writer in
> the same "boat" as a senior developer or engineer.
>
> If you're writing for a tech company, the Radfords are
> about as accurate as it gets.  Radford tech survey data
> is at least targeted to technology companies (and from
> technology companies with the interest and resources
> to spend money on joining the survey at that), so your
> compensation is not being compared to that of someone
> with the same title who is writing "rinse, lather, repeat"
> (not saying this is necessarily less valuable, but the
> reality is that it's less highly paid).  Woe unto you if your
> company is using the DOL data that the current STC
> surveys are based on.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "beelia" <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>
>
> > At that point, I realized that most of my future colleagues at that
> company
> > are probably in the same boat, and perhaps I shouldn't be rocking it.
> After
> > I got assurances from HR that there is room to move financially on the
> STW
> > track, and that they're totally OK with printing "Online Help Developer"
> on
> > my business cards, I decided to drop the matter.
> >
> > So now I'm curious - have many of you been stuck in this classification?
> If
> > so, do you care?
> >
> > In short, do job titles matter? Has public perception of secretaries or
> > stewardesses changed because they are now known as administrative
> assistants
> > or flight attendants?
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
> publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
> authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
> http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/
>
> True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
> Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
> documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as beelia -at- pacbell -dot- net -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/beelia%40pacbell.net
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and 
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical 
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.