Comments on: Why Technical Writing Jobs Are Among the Best Writing Options in an Economic Depression?

By: ccardimon

ccardimon — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:58:41 +0000

@ 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.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:35:35 +0000

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.

By: ccardimon

ccardimon — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:22:15 +0000

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

By: admin

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:44:44 +0000

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

By: Andrew Davis

Andrew Davis — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:25:56 +0000

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.

By: Technical Writer

Technical Writer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:10:30 +0000

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.