Re: PHD in Tech writing

[Johndan Johnson-Eilola <johndan -at- clarkson -dot- edu>]

I'm not going to enter into this debate (which frequently degenerates 
into the "us" versus "them"), but I did want to provide a counter-point 
to Curtis' post regarding job prospects for PhDs in Tech Comm in 
academia. The job market for PhDs in tech comm is very good, with most 
grads having multiple good offers for tenure-track positions. (There's 
been a growing concern about the number of relatively unqualified 
entrants into the field who are hired because programs are desperate to 
make hires. So the demand is a double-edged sword.)

And although salaries are not exceptionally high, they're moving upward 
quickly. In somewhat formal surveys I've run over the last three years, 
I anticipate this year average starting salaries for new PhDs in tech 
comm who take tenure-track positions will be in the low- to mid-$50k 
range. This isn't great pay, but it's substantially above the average 
for colleagues in English Departments where many of tech comm programs 
are housed. The workload isn't exactly light, but there's freedom to 
define research interests (and time to do research) not found at many 
industrial sites.

So while the pool of jobs available for academic tech comm is much 
smaller than for industrial tech comm, the number of applicants looking 
for jobs in that pool is *extremely* small. I say this having been on 
hiring committees and having gone on the market myself during the last 
three years. (I can already hear someone saying, "Well, programs must 
be desperate if *he* got a job.")

- Johndan


On Wednesday, September 10, 2003, at 02:03 AM, TECHWR-L digest wrote: