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Subject:Re: Quoting Salary schedule from STC From:"Brian, Flaherty" <bflaher -at- INDCON -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 10 Jun 1998 13:01:52 -0400
You're falling into the classic "their stats" versus "my stats" trap.
I've been there before.
I'm surprised they didn't even say, "That's a survey by a tech writing
organization for tech writers." (The implication being that the survey
could be biased toward tech writers.)
As I advised in private e-mail to another TW (should have publically
responded to this List), it's good advice to check these surveys against
"neutral" surveys: such as those put out by the US Labor Dept. Such
surveys wouldn't be viewed as "biased" by managers. Incidentally,
head-hunting firms who also put out salary surveys (like Source EDP)
also like to "inflate" their figures so that tech writers and
programmers feel underpaid, and hence, use their services.
Again, check out the US Labor Dept. and other "neutral" sources to get
a better and more objective salary comparison. It's also good fuel to
counter management if they happen to produce the HR salary survey. (We
all know how non-biased those surveys are!)
Brian Flaherty
> ----------
> From: Tracy Kiehm[SMTP:TKiehm -at- BANKERSSYSTEMS -dot- COM]
> Reply To: Tracy Kiehm
> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 1998 12:46 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re: Quoting Salary schedule from STC
>
> The company I work for is in the process of evaluating our current
> salary schedule based on market pricing (we're located in Minnesota).
> I
> gave my supervisor a copy of the 1996 and 1997 STC Salary Schedules
> (both of which give median salary figures that exceed our entire
> range).
> The response I received was that those types of survey results could
> not
> be considered valid because the only people that respond are those who
> wish "to brag about how much they make."
>
> Is this typical? I know the majority of the responses I've seen about
> the STC survey complain about the figures being too low. Does anyone
> have idea how I (and my coworkers) should respond to this?
>
> P.S. Everyone in our department has at least four years of experience,
> we work in the software industry, and we are competent at creating
> both
> printed documentation and online help.
>
> Tracy Kiehm
> tkiehm -at- bankerssystems -dot- com
>
> &^~~~
> Send commands to listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g., SIGNOFF
> TECHWR-L)
>
>
