© 2009 Ugur Akinci
I sincerely believe that technical writing is one of the best writing niches in an economic depression. The reason is simple. Think of all the things people quit doing in an economic depression…
First of all, people stop buying and shopping. That takes a chunk out of the incomes of copy writers in general because when people start to save their money, there is less to do for most copy writers since main purpose of commercial copy is to sell something.
SIDEBAR: A recession may actually favor the top-echelon elite copy writers with well-established track records since, in an environment that does that forgive any mistakes, the employers would not like to take any chances with rookie writers. The business owners and direct marketers would play safe and hire only the “proven entities.” Thus, veteran copy writers may actually see an increase in their incomes. But during a recession a great majority of average copy writers may see a drop either in their business volume or the rates they are charging.
Here is what the legendary copywriter Bob Bly said about the situation in one of this recent Direct Response Letter ezines:
“For most copywriters, a recession is bad news — and with good reason: Clients cut back on spending. Marketing budgets get frozen. Companies look to save money — and do more in-house. That makes now a particularly risky — and scary — time to be a newbie copywriter. Even old pros are complaining of a slowdown in work load.”
Same goes with journalism. At this writing, print journalism is in a deep decline. There are almost no daily newspapers in the United States that are turning a profit simply because people, especially the generation under thirty, are not purchasing and reading newspapers any more. Especially not when the average weekday edition sells for 50 or 75 cents these days in the USA and jumps all the way up to $5 for weekend editions! People don’t have that kind of money to spend in a recession for an item that you throw away within 24 hours.
Technical writers instruct, explain, and train in times good or bad… (Public domain illustration courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)
And when it comes to online journalism, the alternatives are so many, it’s again hard to make upfront money as an online journalist in this new environment where every blog is a potential source of free news, photos, videos, games, and commentary.
But technical writing has less (what the economists would call) “demand elasticity” in economic depressions simply because people still need to learn how to operate systems, how to take medication, what to do with their lives, health, property, and money. And it is a technical writer’s privilege to describe how a savings account works, the advantages of a new training program that one can take while the economy gets better, or how a new time-saving productivity software should be configured properly.
Main purpose of technical writing is to instruct, explain, and train. And the need for that will never diminish in times good or bad.
RESOURCES
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Newspaper revenue crisis mounts
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Decline Of US Newspapers Accelerating
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Newspaper Industry Sees Biggest Ad Revenue Decline in More Than 50 Years
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Magazines Take a Huge Hit at the Newsstand
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CBS Saw 13% Decline in TV Ad Revenue in 2008
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Decline of Television
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TV Industry Revenues Off 7% in 2008, Report Says
Even if the need for writers doesn’t diminish (which I doubt, since customers buy less so companies develop less), companies save costs by assigning writing tasks to other people in the company, even though their writing is less professional.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, demand for technical communications services (not just Tech Writing, but Training, course development, UX work, even structured content migrations) has been decimated. These professionals are consistently LIFO (last in, first out). There’s tons of talent on the streets, contracting rates are half what they were a year ago, and experienced professionals often go many months without work.
Comparing technical writing demand to journalism and ad copywriting is like comparing a minimum wage job to unemployment. Neither alternative is fun, and most in the former category live in daily fear of transitioning to the latter one.
There are many better businesses for someone with technical communications skills to pursue, but all require serious initiative, marketing savvy, and tenacity. For details, and constructive alternatives, check out http://www.synergistech.com/images/What's-Next-2-2009.ppt
The fundamental secret to long-term survival: generate a profit for your employer or client. Don’t just provide a service or help make customers happier. The latter is necessary but insufficient. The former is essential to avoiding commodity status.
I agree fully with the LIFO theory. I’ve been a tech writer for over thirty years and when there’s a RIF, they invariably keep the engineers, developers, etc. and lay off the tech writers. Unfortunately, management places little value on quality documentation (and don’t really understand the need for it), assuming that the engineers and developers can do the job – and who cares about substandard documentation, as long as they have something. With the ongoing instability in this field, if I had it to do over, tech writing is the LAST profession I’d choose. I’d have more job stability driving a truck.
JJ, I understand your frustration but I’m not sure if driving a truck is the kind of stable job that you think it is. Actually, as far as I know, it has one of the highest employee turnover rates of any occupation. http://www.lonemountaintruck.com/truckleasingarticles/2010/06/03/job-stability/
Andrew, thanks for your thoughtful comment. I’m sorry to hear that employment situation is not very good in SF area. But then, show me a city in USA right now where job situation looks bright?
I agree with you on your central point that, in order to make a good living, technical communicators of future need to get familiar with new technologies in a hurry and find ways to contribute to the bottom line of their companies or clients. There is no doubt about that.
However, when it comes to your contention that technical writing is similar to a “minimum wage” job, I have to respectfully disagree with you on that point. Since 1998 when I first started out as a tech writer, I have not met even a single technical writer who worked for minimum wage.
Having said that, I again want to thank you for your learned and critical contribution. Thanks for reading TCC. Ugur
Lots of differing opinions over at the TECHWR-L site. Look here: http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0902/techwhirl-0902-00502.html
Many are losing their technical writing jobs in this economy.
Craig
Craig, thanks for the link. I appreciate it. “Better” is a comparative term, not absolute. And as someone who is pretty familiar with several other forms of writing including copy writing, journalism and screenwriting, I still retain my belief that technical writing is one of the best writing options out there today.
Or let me put it this way and perhaps the whole point of this article would become more clear: if today you cannot find a job as a technical writer, the chances are you won’t be able to find a job as a writer, period. I sincerely believe in that; otherwise I obviously wouldn’t have written this post in the first place.
@ admin – I would tend to agree with you. The folks over at TECHWR-L are knowledgeable and fractious lot. I’ve been a member for years and I still learn from them. Right now, however, they are hurting more than usual.