Who Is a Technical Writer: Skills, Salary, and Job Description
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Who a technical writer is almost everyone seems to understand. But what is implied?
To put it shortly, a technical writer is supposed to be a skilled wordsmith that converts complex technical information into easily readable documentation. Besides making accurate and informative instructional content — like tutorials, guides, manuals, customer help sections of websites, etc. — they also play an integral part in the documentation development cycle.
Despite the title “technical writer” (one may also be called a “technical communicator”), they often hold positions as software or QA engineers, data and business analysts, project managers, product designers, and product managers. It may also work to the opposite end, with all those people performing the role of technical writers for the company. As part of enhancing the end-user experience of products, technical writers sometimes work with product liability specialists, customer service managers, and user experience experts.
Technical writing is all about learning, teaching, and telling. If you are a born explainer of things, technology-inclined, and have a flair for writing, you may think about becoming a technical writer so that you can earn a living doing something you enjoy.
Many fields require technical writers, but the majority are centered around the IT, technical, medical, and scientific fields, and management. Itʼs only natural that the exact duties and responsibilities of technical writers may (and in most cases will) differ depending on their employment situation. But there are always skills and qualifications of a technical writer that are relevant to all industries.
It is the role of technical writers to develop effective technical documentation and content on specific subjects, so the need for subject-specific knowledge is crucial. If you have a degree related to your industry, you are more likely to possess the necessary technical knowledge. Your background matters. Based on job descriptions, employers prefer to hire technical writers who have a bachelor’s degree and at least two years of experience in technical writing for engineering, IT, management, or a related industry. Regardless of the employeeʼs degree in a non-technical field, such as Journalism, English, Public Relations, Marketing, or Communications, they may need training in technical and scientific subjects.
No one speaks here on knowing syntax or grammar rules, itʼs a must and goes without saying. Technical writers need excellent writing skills to effectively deliver solutions clearly and concisely, meeting the needs of the users. Obviously, technical writers themselves must be communication experts since their role is to make a smooth and easy transfer of information between technical experts and non-technical users who are most of the target audience.
For example, you should avoid complicated sentence structures, undecipherable tech jargon, and ambiguity. Just imagine what happens if a writer has created twenty pages of fat with only an inch of flesh in it, and the next day engineering staff has a server down at 2 a.m. and tries to read them all. Theyʼd want to see a tech writerʼs head on a pole in the following staff meeting.
It is vital to develop a simple and easy-to-understand manner of writing. The ability to give complete information shortly so that a user avoids any mistake is crucial. To achieve this, some technical writing courses can be helpful. Besides, it is always good to add to your CV a certificate reflecting your competency.
Technical writers allow organizations to communicate complex technical information in an approachable manner. Thatʼs why they must have a good understanding of how to integrate content with infographics, graphs, illustrations, sounds, and even video.
Many job vacancies cite the necessity of a candidate to have strong proficiency with MS Office products, including Word and PowerPoint. Others add to this list Adobe suite, Visio, and other graphics tools as a plus. The number of skills required depends on the size of the company, the number of tech writers in the staff, and the volume of document workflow. The larger the team is, the more effective tech solutions it requires.
Some vacancies among desirable skills, which a technical writer should possess, list an experience of using content management systems or online documentation tools, like ClickHelp, for example. Such tools allow a tech writer to collaborate with other writers, developers, users, editors, designers, etc. They help to create uniformity and consistency of technical documentation within and outside the organization. Order a trial period to see how it works, itʼs completely free.
To learn more of the skills required, have a look at the post 10 Most Important Skills of a Technical Communicator.
Skills, technical knowledge, background, and experience matter. But naturally, a technical writerʼs salary varies depending on the country, region, industry, and organization. Different sites give different figures. But still, some statistics may be helpful as we get a notion of what to expect.
Letʼs see what the situation is in the U.S. and the European job market in September 2021.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),
the highest annual average salary for a technical writer is in computer science, followed by management and technical consulting.
The BLS expects a 7.4% employment growth for technical writers up to 2029.
According to different employment websites, the U.S. nationwide average salary level of a technical writer is:
$68,556/yr. The lowest average level starts from $45,348/yr., the highest finishes at $103,641/yr. GlassDoor estimates anonymous annual salary reports, cost of living estimates, and total compensation numbers.
The median salary for a technical writer is $61,163 before taxes, starting from $43k and up to $88k (based on 3,302 salary profiles).
Indeed and ZipRecruiter.com are giving nearly much the same figures — $57,626/yr. ($2,000 yearly cash bonus added) and $64,154/yr. respectively.
According to ZipRecruiter.com, top-10 cities with the most technical writer job openings are:
The national average salary levels for technical writers are:
GlassDoor:
PayScale:
Many companies strive to seek a strong professional, reflecting their expectations in detailed descriptions of technical writer job requirements and responsibilities to let candidates know whatʼs expected of them from the moment theyʼre hired. So if you want to become a technical writer, there is always a good place to learn about the duties, responsibilities, and required skills and ensure your resume reflects that.
Nearly all tech writer job descriptions include a list of responsibilities, qualifications and skills required starting from a minimum set and up to those desired. Technical writer job responsibilities may vary depending on the company and industry. But in all cases in the first positions there will be included Writing, Editing and, sometimes, Translation. Among the other required skills most commonly listed in a technical writerʼs job description are Journalism, Graphic Design and Drafting.
Technical writer qualification requirements most commonly include a Bachelorʼs degree and at least several years of experience in the industry. Thatʼs where certification comes in. Some employers also list bonus skills or preferred qualifications — like familiarity with documentation publishing software tool or experience with XML tools, or HTML/CSS — these are not obligatory, but are a plus.
Letʼs make it clearer with some examples of real technical writers job descriptions from real employers, though taken at random. These descriptions are cited only to give a notion of what to expect on the job market, and will not reveal any private information of the companies.
Description:
A Technical Writer works with development and product managers, engineers, technical trainers, and other technical writers to craft and refine technical documentation. You must have a hands-on approach to the technology and to the products being documented. You will help enhance and expand the current documentation to provide a variety of learning tools for our customers.
Responsibilities/What You’ll Do:
Qualifications/Your Background:
Desired Skills&Experience:
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Job Qualifications Requirements – Education and Experience:
To round it all up — the job of a technical writer is far more necessary and flexible than one might think. The basic idea of it is to convert complex things into simple, to help everybody understand how a product works.
A huge number of industries have a strong demand for such professionals and, in close perspective, it wonʼt change. For qualified technical writers with professional experience and a university degree, salaries are generally in line with engineersʼ income. The basic skills which tech writers are paid for are writing and editing. But the wider your skill set is, the higher salary you can get.
If you feel like this field is what may suit you, start developing your skills, keep growing as a pro, and good luck in becoming a good tech writer.
Good luck with your technical writing!
ClickHelp Team
Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices
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