Re: biomed vs IT

[Goober Writer <gooberwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

IT is a hurting field right now. Companies do not want
to invest in employees in this arena now (any more
than they have to). I know fully-certified IT folks
who have been out of work for more than 20 months.
It's not pretty.

Anyway, demand on the writer is directly proportional
to the nature of the subject matter. A candidate for
an API writer is going to be scrutinized much
differently than a candidate for a medtech writer and
also differently than a end-user software doc writer.

The skills being sought are not only good writing
skills or tech writing tools skills, rather, it's
knowledge in what they will be working with. If you
aren't up on O-Chem or P-Chem, chances are you may be
overlooked for a medtech position. If you can't tell
the difference between a method, function, and
parameter, then chances are you'll be overlooked for
an API docs position.

It's all contingent on supply and demand. If there are
no writers applying, you could land the job. If there
are many writers applying, the best qualified one that
fits in will win. If there are many companies looking
for specific types of writers and the market doesn't
have too many available, then pay will escalate for
qualified candidates and opportunities will be opened
for lesser qualified ones.


=====
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)

"As soon as you hear the phrase "studies show",
immediately put a hand on your wallet and cover your groin."
      -- Geoff Hart

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