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RE: tech communication career

Subject: RE: tech communication career
From: "Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:29:50 -0400

Hi Roy,

I also went to school for history. My BA is in Scientific and Technical Communications and my Masters is in the History of Science and Technology. If your history program was anything like mine you learned a lot about writing and research...those two are very important as a tech writer.


1) What is a typical day like?
Do not really have a typical day...other than I usually start work at 9am and take a lunch break at 1pm and go home at 6pm.

2) What are hours like? Do you find it takes time
away from your family beyond 50 hours a week or so?

No. This is my third tech writer gig and except for right before a deadline where the developers have not given me enough documentation time, I have not had to work much overtime.

3) What are some of the major pluses and minuses of
the career?

The biggest plus for me is the writing and research, which I love.
The biggest minus is that my work load is unsteady...but with the help of ideas from this list, I am working on that.


4) What are typical entry level salaries and later
salaries? Are you happy with your compensation?

Not sure what the typical entry level salary is..you can check salary.com. However, my income has gone up over 20k from my first tech writer position in 2003 to the one I have now. I feel I am very well paid for what I do. However, that is also relative as I worked as a CNA at a nursing home/hospice while putting myself through school post-divorce. I worked five time as hard there and I get paid five times as much now.


5) What is most exciting to you about the job?

Learning new stuff

6) How vital is a degree in technical communication?
Is competition for jobs intense? I ask this since
while I have some technical knowledge, I am sure it is
not enough to start a career in technical
communication right off the bat. I would need a
certificate at the very least, plus an internship.

I think like anything else a degree helps you get a foot in the door at an interview when you are starting out. I also think that my degree gave me a real sense of confidence starting out and some very important basics.

7) How is the career undergoing changes, and in what
ways will that impact the job market for technical
writing?

I am not sure how to answer that as technical writing is a wide ranging field. What impacts a tech writer in one field, may not impact one in another field.

Overall, I would say it is a great career and to go for it!

Melissa

From: Roy Waggoner <rwfromkansas -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: tech communication career
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:38:37 -0700 (PDT)

Hello,

I am considering technical communication as a career.

I originally went to school to become a history
teacher, and I am not sure if teaching is for me.
While I love journalism and am looking into that
possibility as well, newspaper pay, especially for
reporters, is horribly low.

Technical writing, at least from my brief overview,
seems like a very interesting career, something that
would fit my personality well. And, it appears to pay
well.

But, I find it is better to talk with people actually
in the career than to just read the BLS data or the
few websites I can find on technical communication.

So, here are some questions:



Thanks for any insight!

Sincerely,

Roy Waggoner



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References:
tech communication career: From: Roy Waggoner

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