Reality Check/Compensation -- Sunday Thoughts

[Susan Ryan <Serve1987 -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

My 25 years of experience in training and documentation, and self-employment
and consulting, says that there are very few areas that will pay over $50K
for a technical writer with limited writing experience, even shallower
technical experience, and no desire to consult or travel.  There are only 3
ways someone in technical writing can be fairly assured that she or he might
expect to see $50K or more per year:

        1.      Have a lot of add-ons.  Demonstrate a background in
developing her own materials, designing her own classes, running her own
projects.  Have experience with many different software packages,
documentation areas, audiences, platforms.

        2.      Travel/consult.  Consulting firms are always on the look out
for people who are willing to "go the extra mile" (hey!  I like this one!),
because, even if they hire someone who will travel at the beginning, that
person will invariably want to slow down the airport time.

        3.      Work for herself.  Whether as self-employed, or as a
contractor, it is common to command $25-$60 an hour for contract work (I once
asked, and got, $75/hr for an emergency project).  That's the up side.  The
down side is that if she's self-employed she will have to handle and pay her
own taxes (watch another 7.5% leap out the door), manage her own "firm"
finances, pay her own insurance, find her own projects, keep herself moving
forward in the industry like a shark (no company-sponsored seminars for her),
and generally be the self-appointed expert in the industry.  And there are no
guarantees past the current project.  I, personally, did this for 10 years
and I loved it.  Nothing like working till you drop and then NOT working --
at anything -- until you say so.  Now I consult and I truly believe I've got
the best of all worlds.  I've got variety like you wouldn't believe, travel,
great pay, benefits, and colleagues (which I didn't have when I was totally
self-employed).

Finally, my own experience, and clearly the experience of the respondents,
says that geography makes the paycheck.  Here are a few of extremes:

        In San Diego, unemployment is falling (still falling) to below 3%,
and as they like to say "you get paid in sunshine," so salaries are lower
than they would be in a comparable market such as San Francisco.  And houses
are VERY expensive.  So the house-buying dollar is effectively smaller than
anywhere in the United States.  To afford a good house in a good
neighborhood, you have to be at the very top of your geographic salary range,
or have two people working and making above-average salaries.

        In Minneapolis, housing is affordable to the max, AND salaries are
higher than anywhere around, so the house-buying dollar is effectively
greater than anywhere in the West Coast.  To afford a good house in a good
neighborhood, a slightly above average salary will do it.  (If you can handle
the "cold inhospitables" (the winters) and the "hot uglies" (the summers),
this is the best place to be.)

        In San Francisco, housing is mind-bogglingly expensive, salaries are
VERY high (compared to the Midwest), so the house-buying dollar is really
only a little smaller than other places.  To afford a good house in a good
neighborhood, you have to be at the very top of your geographic salary range,
but one person could do it -- or two people with above-average salaries.

        In the South, housing is cheap, salaries are low, so they really
compare to San Francisco in house-buying power.  To afford a good house in a
good neighborhood, you have to be at the top of your geographic salary range,
but one person could do it -- or two people with good salaries.

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day.


 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=