Re: Working Wages (getting long)

[John Posada <posada -at- FAXSAV -dot- COM>]

Andrew:

I disagree.

Too many clients and agencies still believe that technical writers are
high-paid secretaries. Until employers and clients understand that tech
writers cannot be gotten inexpensively, then those that ask for and deserve
acceptable rates will continue to be chiseled down by those employers that
believe they can get someone cheaper.

Tech writers don't have a lock on "goofballs"...every field has them.

> The rates people get for their work is, quite bluntly, no one's business
> but their own.  "Campaigns" to keep rates high will only give those that
> do not deserve higher rates the courage to ask for more.  While those that
> do deserve more get shafted.
>
I don't follow that logic.  Someone can be good after only a short time, so
they don't have the industry exposure to know what rates are being gotten,
but deserve the rate anyway. Therefore, if they don't know that they should
be getting $40 or $50 per hour, then they may believe that they should only
be getting $20 or $30 (or $10, god-forbid).

I believe it is our responsibility to educate those working in and working
with tech communicators that higher rates are deserved.

I've occasionally received heat from people on this list when I would state
my rates, which in most cases have been pretty decent. I don't do it for the
purpose of bragging. I would get the same rate regardless of who knew. I do
so because I want others in the same position to not be satisfied with
getting less than they should.

> You want to know what technical writers get paid less then other technical
> professionals.  It's real simple:
>
> Demand:  The demand for writers is less then that of other professions.
>
I know of LOTS of other professions that have less demand.

> Supply:  The supply of writers is exceedingly high in some areas.
>
You aren't talking to the agencies on the east coast.

> Incompetence: Every time an incompetent goof-ball blows a job, he/she
> depresses the rates and salaries for the rest of us.  If anything, we
> should
> "campaign" to keep the incompetent goof-balls out of the profession and
>
That's not practical. What is the standard that "we" would apply to
determine who is incompetent? Let the employers do that. In fact, if
employers know that they can find writers at low rates, they will be prone
to accept low competence. However, if they are paying higher rates, they
will be less understanding and will dispose of the inferior writer that much
faster.

> worry about our rates individually.  I can't tell you how many times I
> have
> landed a contract where I was picking up the pieces after a goof-ball.  He
> left to go work another job and burned my client. Everytime he/she burns a
> client, my rates take a hit because the companies are paranoid about
> getting
> another goof-ball.
>
Most of us have...again, we don't have a lock on inferior workers. EVERY
field has the good, the bad, and the ugly (sorry, Clint!)


> John Posada, Technical Writer (and proud of the title)
> The world's premier Internet fax service company: The FaxSav Global
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> them.
>
>   "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem,
> see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable
> words.", Goethe
>   "Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader
> will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will
> certainly misunderstand them.", John Ruskin
>