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Technical Writers in the Industry? 93

Posted by Cliff from the testing-the-market-waters dept.
kungfooswade asks: "I am getting ready to graduate soon with my CS degree but I want to hedge my bets on finding a job and will be starting a masters degree, as soon as I am done. I am considering a masters in professional writing, so I can be qualified for technical writing positions, or just going back for a masters in CS. I am curious about the following: (1) what are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers; (2) is there someone out there who has first-hand experience in technical writing who can tell me about the work and their experiences; (3) what software is used mainly in the process; and of course (4) what seems to be the average pay? I would like to diversify my education, so that I won't be searching very long if layoffs come around. All comments and suggestions are appreciated."
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Technical Writers in the Industry? More

Technical Writers in the Industry?

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  • API Techcnial Writer (Score:4, Informative)

    by szucker ( 265883 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:52PM (#6810061)
    Since you know how to program with your big phat CS degree, what you want to do is become what is known as an "API Technical Writer." You will make a lot more money than us people who write "point here, click there" type manuals. And I think you will be able to find a job even now because there are not a lot of writers you are bona fide programmers.

    • OP: My opinion (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Glonoinha ( 587375 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:25PM (#6810269) Journal
      (1) What are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers;

      Newbie programmers look down on technical writers with distain, the same distain they have for anybody that writes HTML and calls it programming.

      Experienced programmers LOVE technical writers because we hate writing the documentation and are happy to have you do it for them. We will generally bring you cheesecake.

      (2) is there someone out there who has first-hand experience in technical writing who can tell me about the work and their experiences;

      It requires that you be able to work as a go-between the hardcore techs and the mouth breathing users - so you must be able to relate to and work in terms that either understands, at various parts of your work. Note that there isn't a lot of crossover between the two.

      (3) what software is used mainly in the process;

      Microsoft Word. And some application that converts Word docs into help files.

      (4) what seems to be the average pay?

      No clue, sorry.

      • Re:OP: My opinion (Score:2, Interesting)

        by IM6100 ( 692796 )
        Most of the highly technical writing that I have seen in the workplace was written using FrameMaker. Microsoft Word is really poor at 'formally outlined' writing tasks. With any complicated Word document, the formatting explodes mysteriously the first time someone pokes at it.
        • Well, Word does make it hard to impose structure on a document, and formatting does tend to "explode" (perhaps "leak" or "infect" is more accurate) in mysterious ways. But FrameMaker have its share of structure/formatting confusion issues. Perhaps a little easier to control than in Word, but you always have to be aware of them. A poorly-trained writer can really fuck up a Frame document.

          FrameMaker dominates a certain kind of writing because it has a lot of features you need to do that writing: conditional

          • Well, in my experience, Word has some nice formatting tools if you use them exactly the way that they are designed.

            Except that nobody *ever* uses them the way they are supposed to be used. Because, unless you are a technical writer and you openly assault anybody else who messes with the document without obeying the style sheet, people don't really get style sheets.

            I used to take class notes using Word with a set of style sheets and keyboard macros. I could often keep up with just about eveything outside
            • You're right on all points. However, it might be easier to enforce use of stylesheets if the high-level Word functions were a little more style aware. For example, if you click the bulleted paragraph button, you don't get a paragraph with a bulleted style (even though normal.dot is full of them). You get a normal paragraph with non-style indenting and bulleting.

              Fortunately, Word is pretty configurable. If I were told to set up Word for use as a structured tech pubs authoring tool I'd (a) strongly recommen

              • Yeah. However, I bet if you'd make the buttons work style sheets by default, it would further confuse and annoy the users, so if anybody tried it, it would flunk the usability testing.

                The biggest problem is that you try to explain this to people and you get a blank stare. They don't care. I feel like the guy who bought a Sun instead of a PC even though he just does email and surfs the web because PCs annoy him.
                • You're right about the usability testing. I'm a big believer in UT, but you can't make pacifying your testers the only objective.

                  Come to think of it, you've just gone and answered a question that's bothered me for a very long time: How is it that Microsoft puts so much effort into usability testing, and still manages to produce products that are so damned difficult to use? The answer is the way they use the UT results: when the users complain that it's hard to figure out what to do this task or that, it n

      • I agree. I don't like working without a technical writer, but I'd sure hate to BE a technical writer. They are special people with special skills, and they are really useful people to have around.
      • Newbie programmers look down on technical writers with distain, the same distain they have for anybody that writes HTML and calls it programming.

        Experienced programmers LOVE technical writers because we hate writing the documentation and are happy to have you do it for them. We will generally bring you cheesecake.

        I work in a company where - unfortunately - neither newbe nor experienced programmers appreciate the tech writers. Although I consider myself a fairly inexperienced programmer (5 years commercia

      • It requires that you be able to work as a go-between the hardcore techs and the mouth breathing users

        Hmmm. That's exactly what I do best. Maybe my upcoming layoff may not go as badly as I anticipate. Time to do some research on alternate career paths...

      • Nobody really uses Word do they? It isn't a professional application for layout or printing or documentation or XML or SGML or for God's sake anything!

        Framemaker.
        Or something that will handle the tasks above without lots of facilitation from a professional printer. I hate stripping out MS garbage, dare I call it a visible cruft-like substance?
      • I'm absolutely shocked by the number of developers posting on this story, all of whom seem to have a pretty clear idea what tech writers are for. Boggles the mind. I guess the people who think tech writers are glorified key-entry operators just ignored the discussion!
    • Your best bet in landing a job is in "Requirement Writing" sector. These guys make a lot of money and they seem to be in demand. Every programmer documents his/her code and unless we are talking about big companies like M$ or IBM you can't afford to have a field of API Techcnial Writer. We are a Java house and we document our API using, guess what? JavaDoc.

      My company is hiring a requirement analyst/writer wright now, two of them in fact.
    • Most CS people have a very difficult time working in most businesses because their limited busines fundamentals. With an MBA (it was designed for engineers originally, which you technically are) you will have the best of both worlds, and with the finance classes you may actually know what to do with the millions you make.

      Or you could just hit on the new freshman and drink beers. Either way you win!
  • Here is some un-asked for advice.

    Get a masters in CS and take professional writing courses.

    That sounds like a nice basis for a serious career technical writing, I really think it will serve you better than a masters in professional writing. You will be in a great position to apply for serious positions at egghead companies that are willing to pay well.

  • Not enough of them (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:59PM (#6810105)
    Although I've only been in industry for about 5 years, from what I've seen there are far too few qualified technical writers. I've never seen one myself. They've always either not really known what they were talking about or there was nobody at all to write the stuff and a programmer was forced to do it.
    I don't know if companies try to make due without them, or if they are just really hard to find. All I can really say is that every company I've worked for has needed one, and none of them had them.
    • We have several VERY GOOD ones where I work. You probably don't see too many because once you find one you never let them go. That being said, I know it is typical in the industry to not pay them dick, but that is mainly for the folks documenting how to use Word, etc. Most of the high dollar tech writers I have known did contract gigs. They work for three months at a shot for damn good money and can always get a job. I know of a good contract firm [proedit.com] in the Atlanta area that deals almost exclusively with them

      • I know it is typical in the industry to not pay them dick...

        Not in my experience. I've always made good money as a tech writer. Maybe a little less than a programmer with similar education and/or experience, but not that much. I have seen companies that think that tech writers are glorified proofreaders ("don't try to understand it, just check my spelling and put it in the manual"), and pay them accordingly. I'd avoid working at such a company -- as much a matter of self-respect as of greed.

    • You're wrong! (I wish.) (Score:3, Interesting)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )
      I'm a tech writer myself, and I ought to flame you for slandering my profession. But I can't, because you're completely right. There are a lot of stupid, arrogant, ignorant, presumptuous bozos in my profession. A lot of them can't even write!

      Damned if I know what it is. My best guess is that the industry just doesn't understand what good documentation is. Usually, the only measure of quality is completeness. If you've got an entry in the printed index or a keyword in the helpfile that covers every single

  • ... our opinion is this [slashdot.org].

  • As a programer (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bluGill ( 862 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:06PM (#6810144)

    As a programer I've learned that you cannot write and program at the same time. Some programers are good writers, but when they are writing about their program they do a terribal job. Others (like me) are bad writters all the time. Still others can't program, or don't program, but write about code very well. Therefore I like having writers who can look over my shoulder and write something useful about my code.

    There are several leveal of documentation, and most people and companies forget it. There is the "Do to X, do this, then that." Then there is the level of "This is how the program works externally", and finially there is the "This is how the program works internally"

    The last is aimed at programers and in most cases isn't used outside of the company. It is also the only one you have a chance of getting a programer to write, even then the source code is often a better more readable source of information. However there is much call to take this as the programer writes it, and transform it into API documentation that other programers can use, often with the requirement that critical company ideas are not exposed to those outside the company who will read this.

    The first, is a step by step how to. Click on A, drag to B, or some such sequence. If the user interface was any good, and people more willing to expitiment there would be no need for this, but most people are not comfortable figguring out computers. As a programer I have a real problem with this: I'm often required to sit though hours and hours of it to learn something I could have figgured out in 5 minutes. (often I know already, but don't skip ahead in the lession, we have to teach you how to double click before we can teach you the next step)

    The other is something I rarely see, but consider most important. What is the program good for, and why do it that way. When I know that information the program is obvious, and more importantly, these manuals should be easy to read so I learn all the features. For example, I have seen plenty of examples of how to do a "mail merge", but nobody has defined what that term means, or why I would want to use it, and not knowing that I ignore all the instruction on how to do it - it may or may not be useful, and I may in fact do it.

    I'm sure there is much more, but I don't know much more myself. I'm not a good writer, so I stay with things I am good at.

    • Re:As a programer (Score:4, Funny)

      by Glonoinha ( 587375 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:20PM (#6810236) Journal
      Dude there is a reason you are not doing documentation, and 'because you are a programmer' isn't it.

      That said, I blew my chance of moderating this so I could reply.

    • Re:As a programer (Score:3, Insightful)

      by xanthan ( 83225 )
      You're right about the varying levels of documentation. However, I disagree with your assertion that a good programmer cannot be a good writer. The best programmers I have ever worked with were all good writers.

      Bottom line: if you can clearly articulate what it is you're saying, you can clearly articulate what it is you want your program to do, which in turn means you'll be able to write a clear and easy to follow program. Writing well has a lot more to do with thought process than it has to do with gramma
      • Edger Djikstra said the most important quality to be found in a good programmer was a mastery of one's mother tongue. He then added that this explained the generally poor quality of American programmers. LOL.

      • I agree.

        The programmers that are also good writers appreciate clear syntax and grammar that both disciplines require.

        The better programmers also appreciate that others are going to have to read their code, and they engineer programs in a sane and efficient architecture, where the code, the structure, the modules and everything is almost self documenting.

      • I didn't mean to say that good programers can't be good writers, only that they can't be both on the same piece of code. I can (if I take far more time than a good writer) write good documentation. I can write good code (faster than many other programers). However I can't write good documentation about something I've already coded.

        I agree with the "write documentation first" posts that others have writen, but that doesn't cover all cases. If you have written code, perhaps with good coments, you stil

    • In some programming tasks I've accomplished well, 'the comments' were the first part of the code that I wrote. Peppered with TODO comments where there were holes in the code, the comments provide a framework for the code design.

      From my way of thinking, that amounts to 'documenting before you write the code,' which is actually pretty important for any non-trivial task.
    • when walking into a company, it is very often helpful to see (at the bare minimum) a comment at the top of a program that mentions what it does. I have often seen code that obviously does something... and does it in a complicated enough manner that the function of the code is obfuscated.

      if the binary/script is named change_resource, and there is no comment telling what it does, how would you find out? often the only way is to docode the code, which can be very time consuming.

    • As a writer (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @02:54AM (#6811525) Homepage Journal
      Some programers are good writers, but when they are writing about their program they do a terribal job.
      I don't think that programmers simply lose their writing skill when they try to document their own software. The problem is that "good writing" and "good technical writing" are two completely different things.

      Example: I once worked for a software company that was known for hiring really, really smart people. A lot of whom were very good writers -- I'm forced to admit that many of them were better than me, in the sense that they could turn out lucid, interesting prose. But they simply didn't understand the practical problems of explaining technical procedures to people.

      Once, I was tasked with documenting a package that was basically a patch on another product. There was a central engine in the form of a DLL, and installing the package meant first installing the original product, then extracting the replacement DLL from a ZIP file and putting it in the correct directory so the original product could be made to load it in place of the default engine. Should have been done with an installer, of course, but for various reasons this wasn't possible.

      So, I sat down and wrote a careful, nit-picky explanation of how to do all this. I carefully explained how to extract the file on the command line using info-zip (winzip didn't have its current dominance at the time, and info-zip was easy to obtain) with enough generalities so the user could adapt the procedure to another archiver.

      I was not allowed to include this procedure in the release notes. The engineers felt it made the product look bad, like we didn't trust the users to figure out a more elegant explanation.

      I ended up quitting that project because I just wasn't doing anything, except repackaging the prose of the engineer who grabbed my job away from me. He was actually quite a good writer -- he just didn't understand how easily written procedures can be misunderstood. As, in fact, his mostly were.

    • Re:As a programer (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Hard_Code ( 49548 )
      The problem I have with writing high level documentation is where to start. Do I start off with describing a short history of distributed computing? Do I go over the meta frameworks involved, such as security? Do I start discussing prerequisites? I can whiteboard to the grittiest detail, the problem is where to start and how to lay it out to someone who hasn't had their head in the code. In these cases I would LOVE to have a competent technical writer and lock them in a room with me for an hour or so t
  • I am a published Technical Writer ansd there is great demand in the industry. It is Tech Writers who write the "how to " amnuals, website content, etc Pls check out my website "www.dhsdirect.com" Pls note--its still under construciton, so keep checking back!

    • Re:Technical Writers (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Are you a published writer IN ENGLISH? Is your book written in crayon? In just three sentences (or are there two? Or four?) I count two typos, three punctuation errors, two spelling errors, bizarre use of "Pls," four mis-capitalized words, and "its" used where "it's" is wanted.
    • Seems like a case of the shoe makers children going without shoes.
    • If your writing is published, I suspect it is probably by Asian electrical goods manufacturers.

      Reminds me of this from the "Troubleshooting" pages in a Hitachi hammer-drill manual:

      Problem: Drill wont [sic] run.
      Reason: Groceries in commutator.
      Solution: Remove groceries from commutator.

    • Your web site is a complete embarrasment to the tech writing industry, the graphics are ugly, your links have no content and you're promoting it on slashdot like it's "great" Published writer! Ha! I'd be embarrased of that little piece of cyber space if I were you. www.krautgrrl.com

  • From a MS/CS and a published writer... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xanthan ( 83225 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:26PM (#6810277)
    The opinion of a bunch of programmers should not concern you in the least bit. The opinion of a bunch of hiring managers should!

    If you're going to go for a MS and you're open to non-CS degrees, consider an MBA but don't go after a writing degree. If an MBA isn't your cup of tea, go for the MS in CS.

    That said, definately work on your writing skills. This will open you up to a lot of opportunities outside of writing code including sales, marketing, management, and yes, tech writing. Of course, if you want to stick to the engineering side of the world, you'll get a lot more respect from both your peers and your management if you can effectively communicate your ideas. This means being a proficient writer as well as someone who can give a presentation.

    Not comfortable with writing? You can start with some classes. I would recommend creative writing over english courses since you'll actually get a lot more practice and feedback in creative writing. If you go for the MS/CS, there is nothing stopping you from taking undergrad writing courses at the same time. Follow that up with taking on some writing projects such as some documentation for an open source package -- there are a lot of HOWTOs out there that could stand some time and attention. Not sure how you can improve them? Go back and read well-received books and try to understand what it is about them that made them so accessible. (e.g. the author took the time to explain the big picture and then followed up with a good example and explained all of the commands/parameters in detail.) Of course, don't forget that with an MS/CS, you'll need to write a masters thesis that can easily turn into a 80-100 page document. (My thesis was 128 pages!)

    Best of luck...
    • Damn, this was actually straight-on, good job xanthan! A few years ago, college "tech writer" graduates were making $80,000/yr with NO experience...might be a bit less now due to economic downturn (oops, did I say that?) but still quite lucrative. Oh, my opinion is to get an MSCS and take lots of creative writing classes.

  • English grammar is better than writing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Midnight Warrior ( 32619 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:30PM (#6810296) Homepage
    From a technical paper/book writer's point of view, our organization banged out volumes of hardcore technical papers because of two things: we had a lady who loved to drip the blood of correction on things and we had someone who loved to touch up images.
    Technical writing these days is about 30% of the time spent doing the core text writing. 30% more time devoted to revision after revision getting the wording just right in certain, highly confusing areas. The last 40% of your time will be spent on graphics. Screenshots, plots, equations, photograph touchups. You will hardly feel like you are using that masters degree for its real purpose.
    If you want to learn good writing, get yourself a writing spirit and stay under the wing of someone that will be a good, honest editor of your papers for free or near free. Don't get a masters degree to do it.
    If you want to study advanced CS topics (neural nets, compiler/language design, advanced DSP, etc) then go ahead and get your masters. But I hope you have a use for those skills in the real world because otherwise your masters degree will only earn you a job in management.

  • Technical Writing.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by axoi ( 150528 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:35PM (#6810321) Homepage Journal
    Having worked in the industry for over 12 years, and that working with a group of professional technical writers ( all with master degrees in writting) I can tell you that most of it is pure druggery. If you like rewritting the same paragraphs over and over and then only rewritting someone elses copy over and over should you consider going that route. Why not put your energy into something like research into new computer fields such as human-computer interaction or robotics. It would seem a waste of your talent to use those skills on something like writting documents. I admire those that can sit and write the same documents again and again..but only because of the sheer determination of staying awake. All of the writers I have worked with ( which counts over 12 people...some from JPL ) really don't like doing it that much.

    Remember that your time here is limited and you should find something that you really like to do. Then be the best that you can be at it. I prefer writting software and user interfaces...why? because after all these years I find that I like helping people to use computers easily. I didn't find this out overnight. Neither will you. I wish you luck and good fortune.
    • excellent post. experience will lead you down the correct path. This statemnt goes far beyond work and extendes deeply into life. as you get older you will locate the things you need to be happy. hopefully what you have spent lots of time in shcool on lies in that vein. it is good to sit down today... possibly with a few beers and close friends to talk about what makes you tick. this will expose your desires for life, and may lead to correct decisions in your career.

      or you may end up shit faced in so

    • Drudgery is FUN!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @03:10AM (#6811589) Homepage Journal
      I can tell you that most of it is pure druggery. If you like rewritting the same paragraphs over and over and then only rewritting someone elses copy over and over should you consider going that route.
      For some strange reason, I actually enjoy that stuff. No, I take that back -- it isn't strange. It's the satisfaction of recrafting an explanation until it can't possibly be misunderstood. Which is probably similar to the pleasure a programmer gets from crafting code that couldn't possibly work any better.

      • Yes! (Score:1)

        by fendel ( 18450 )
        I'm with you. There is something deeply satisfying about crafting a clear, concise, easy-to-read, impossible-to-misunderstand sentence.

        That's why you and I are tech writers. That is why a lot of these guys should NOT be tech writers: if they think this stuff is boring, they are fantastically ill-suited for the thing we do day in, day out. I cringe when I hear people contemplating tech writing because they think it's lucrative (ha; you're better off programming) or they think tech writing jobs are falling o

        • Re:Yes! (Score:2)

          by fm6 ( 162816 )
          Thanks for the validation. I know a lot of tech writers whose eyes glaze over when you talk about the nasty little issues. Smart people, mostly, but no patience for nasty little technical issues.

          Yeah, that's why I'm a tech writer. I don't have the creativity to be a writer in the ordinary sense of the word. But the mental effort needed to write good technical prose is what I need to keep my brain from getting calicified.

    • Drudgery? Reworking the same paragraph? That's not tech writing. That's just stoopidity. I've been a tech writer for a long time. I've seen a lot of companies come and go, and I've worked on a huge spectrum of projects. The ones that are worth doing are the ones where you're solving problems. THAT is the direction technical writing is headed in. Otherwise, you'd might as well change your title to Technical Secretary, as that's the pay scale you'll be looking at. It's all about adding value, not only about

  • Does it Matter? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by orbbro ( 467373 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:44PM (#6810373) Homepage
    I just finished getting an AS degree in CS, and I added on a certificate in professional writing, figuring, like you do, that I could leverage my background as a writer and offer diverse skills to a potential employer.

    What I learned from writers in the industry who came to talk to our classes:
    1. "Technical Writing" is now more appropriately called "Technical Communication" and includes, beyond the stereotypical software manual: business & marketing communication ("marcomm"), information design, corporate training & curriculum development, online communications, single-sourcing (think XML!), and even, by some definitions, web design. See the Society for Technical Communication [stc.org] for more info.
    2. If you want to succeed in the world of private industry with a "soft subject" degree such as tech/professional writing, you should take a handful of writing classes to brush up on your skills, but skip the MS degree and get an MBA. Most job titles like "technical writer" are being phased out for titles like "project manager" or "business analyst." In short, your writing skills are going to be put to use secondary to your people management and other "soft" skills.
    3. Tech writing in the tech fields -- engineering & CS -- is being outsourced and shipped overseas just like the tech jobs. You might be better off learning Chinese, Hindi, or Russian if you want to do serious tech writing for IT in the next decade. That's where all the "how to use your cell phone/PDA/laptop books are being written. Red Flag Linux HOWTOs, anyone?
    4. The job market for tech writers is almost worse than that for high tech, because tech writing for IT is dependant on the success of IT companies. When you're an IT company that's on the ropes, the first thing you forego in getting the next product to market is high-quality documentation (if you were planning to use it in the first place). Half of the ~600 self-identified tech writers in the Portland, OR area are currently un- or under-employed in this market. Yes kids, that's 50%.
    5. Salary: While the bestest writers can command near 6-figure salaries or more, they're working 60-80 hours per week, just like the IT people with those salaries. Writing has a lot in common with coding, in a way -- lots of prelim. design and planning, lots of computer time, and lots of "debugging" (except it's called revision). And there are few if any shortcuts to making a good end product.
    6. Tools: because you asked. RoboHelp [ehelp.com], Adobe FrameMaker [adobe.com], and, sad as it is, MS Word, are the main tools for the job. Knowing XML, HTML, Dreamweaver, Flash, and the like can also be helpful, depending -- this field is as specialized as the computer world. The technologies you know define your job. For more ideas, check out the trainings [ace1training.com] offered at a local tech. comm. consulting firm.


    So, the bottom line is:

    You may have as much trouble getting a tech writing job as a newly-minted coder would; your job might be as specialized and ever-changing as a coder's job; you're better off with an MBA; your job might be sent overseas; and, instead of using your favorite IDE, you might get to use Word, instead. ;-)

    Oh, and I forgot: because there are fewer of them, and their role is often misunderstood, you will possibly be less appreciated than the programmers.

    Have fun!

    -->orbbro.

    • A tools rant (Score:3, Interesting)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )

      Tools: because you asked. RoboHelp [ehelp.com], Adobe FrameMaker [adobe.com], and, sad as it is, MS Word, are the main tools for the job. Knowing XML, HTML, Dreamweaver, Flash, and the like can also be helpful, depending -- this field is as specialized as the computer world. The technologies you know define your job. For more ideas, check out the trainings [ace1training.com] offered at a local tech. comm. consulting firm.

      Your advice is correct -- unfortunately. The authoring tools we use are seriously out

  • I'm currently freelancing as an editor for the official manual on a certain general code compiler that you may have used before. It's not exactly a writing job, but because the book was written by a committee a big part of the work involves rewriting sections to make sure it doesn't read like something written by a committee.

    I think this work & some other random writing I've done gives me a little bit of room to reply here.

    (1) what are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers;

    The

  • I graduated with a CS degree in May 2002, and have worked as a programmer since. I like my job, and have been looking at what to do with getting a master's degree.

    For the past year I have been solid against getting a masters in CS or BA. I like writing, and had a minor in Professional Writing in college, and have been considering getting a masters in Writing of some kind.

    I think now, however, that getting a masters in writing would be near worthless with the career track I am on. It would just be a person

  • College isn't boot camp (Score:4, Insightful)

    by duffbeer703 ( 177751 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:10PM (#6810506)
    If you can't find a job and want to go back to college to buy yourself a few years, go for it. Study something you are interested in. Don't tune your entire life to get a specific job that you may hate... do you really want to be a technical writer for the next 30 years?

    Most times, the best technical people in the long run are people with interests outside of taking some magic combination of classes that will lead to a good degree. There is nothing in this world more clueless and obnoxious than a 24 year old with a technical degree and an MBA who thinks that he shits gold bricks.

    Study history or botany or whatever and leverage your technical or engineering background to produce something of value.

    You only live life once, enjoy it.

    • do you really want to be a technical writer for the next 30 years?

      That's a good question -- do you really want to be any one thing for the next 30 years?

      Last year I left (involuntarily) the cable/telecom industry after 25 years. The job was fun for most of that time, in part because I was working for big enough companies that I could "change" jobs every few years. Interestingly (or perhaps sadly), none of the companies where I did that work still do any of the interesting parts -- everything has beco

  • Wow! (Score:3, Funny)

    by schnits0r ( 633893 ) <nathannd&sasktel,net> on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:27PM (#6810609) Homepage Journal
    I am getting ready to graduate soon with my CS degree

    You can get a degree in Counter Strike? What university is this?!?

  • Managers Don't Care About Tech. Writers (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Managers think that technical writers exist so that the programmers don't have to spend time writing documentation. Managers don't consider quality documentation to be very important. Not too many salespeople complain that they can't make their quotas because the manuals suck, and not many managers would buy it if they did.

    If the company is doing poorly, managers will cut technical writing to the bone. Often they're instructed to cut 10 people from 100 employees, and they tend to focus on the most easil
    • Dood, you're off-base. You're talking about bonehead managers and useles technical secretaries.
    • While what you say is definitely true in a lot of companies, not all are that way. I worked at one company that paid me a six-figure salary to work as a 100% telecommuter (the headquarters were 2.5 hours' drive from me, and I only went in 5 times in the 3 years I worked for them). The company definitely valued high-quality documentation, because the product was complicated enough that without it, nobody would be able to use it. (It was a non-GUI mainframe application.)

      David Castro
      slashdot-email[at]spamex
  • Speaking as a former QA engineer, I always considered the technical writer's job unenviable; our writers were often brought into the project relatively late, and were forced to convert ill-written, poorly maintained design documents into end-user documentation. These individuals often faced conflicting pressures from both QA, who wanted factual, useful documentation, and Marketing, who usually wanted the facts kept out of the manual.

    From what I encountered, to be a successful technical writer, you must mi

  • I am considering a masters in professional writing, so I can be qualified for technical writing positions, or just going back for a masters in CS.

    OK, false assumption here: that you need to study tech writing in school to actually do it. I've known a few people with Technical Communication degrees. Maybe 75% of them knew what they were doing. Which is probably twice the percentage of the profession as a whole, so most TC programs must be pretty good. But that other 25% tells me that the degree is no guara


  • Get a real job. Go into hands-on technology or management, and learn to understand both reasonably well. Technical writing is not something you will make a career out of. Not to mention that it's about as exciting in the long run as watching grass grow.

    There no substitute is for good know of solid, grammatic correct, concise english language write skill from college. Both tech and management jobs will give you plenty of opportunity for technical writing--something that a lot of individuals tend to disr

    • Tech writing is something that you can make a career of.

      I worked in the Systems User Documentation group at Telstra for 2 years as a contract web developer. There were 3 web developers and 18 tech writers in that group, when we were all on basically the same pay and all out sourced, most of the tech writers found work just as easily, and in some cases more easily, that the developers. (actually the whole department (660) were outsourced).

      I worked at GE as a tester for a short while, and you need tech


      • Mod parent up, please. He makes excellent points.


        I worked at GE as a tester for a short while, and you need tech writing skills for that.

        That's sort of my point. Most tech jobs (when done well) and most IT management jobs (when done well) require that skill.


        Just look at any job board, especially in the contracting area, it's a valid career path, if you really know both your tech and writing.

        While this is entirely correct, and I do not doubt your own qualifications, it's unfortunate that most d

        • I've had the good fortune to work with some great tech writers, great programmers and great IT managers, and yes, I have also seen the clueless versions of each. I've written some good tech manuals, etc, but when a professional comes along, well its just like watching a very good programmer do his/her stuff, I am in awe of how they turn complex issues into clear easy to read expression. It just amazes me. For me it is usually, very, very rough draft, very rough draft, rough draft, rewrite, rough draft, e

  • Do you really want to be a technical writer? If the answer is yes, then go for it, but doing a masters degree for a back-up career is stupid. Specialise in what you really want to do, because lots of other people will.

    Why not document some open source projects - then you can submit a portfolio to potential employers. If you can't be bothered, then rethink going into technical writing. If you think you lack the necessary skills, then do some evening courses.

    You're at the start of your career: aim hig

  • Female + CS degree = they'll just assume that the only thing useful you'll really be able to do is technical writing and glorified secretarial work er- I mean "management." Even after you've been coding for 20 years.


  • I looked into technical writing briefly and got the impression that the field is something of a clique with social barriers to entry. I was also suprised to see that some technical writing positions required degrees in English rather than a technical field. Perhaps my experience wasn't representative of the field, but it put me off a bit.
  • (1) what are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers
    Programmers think we're lowly worms unless we demonstrate reasonable tech expertise and an ability to learn fast without pestering them too much.
    (2) is there someone out there who has first-hand experience in technical writing who can tell me about the work and their experiences;
    Typical process--find out about project. Read any existing docs. Talk to subject matter experts (developers, QA, support). Plan and write documents. Route for

  • I work as a techwriter in LA, been doing this for three years now (one in college, two in the real world). Go ahead and reply if you have any questions I don't address.

    1. Coders' attitudes have varied widely across the places I've worked. Being one of the hallowed few writers that can also code, I can tell you that a technical writer's technical know-how is consistently underestimated and undervalued. This manifests itself most frequently in coders' inability to notify you of new features or changed funct

    • Working with good tech writers is a dream (Zvi and Tamsin, I'm talking to you!) and working with bad tech writers is a nightmare.

      Remember, having the best product in the world is useless unless you have the docs to back it up. And you know your tech docs are good when your support people are referring to them on a regular basis.

  • (1) What are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers; Maybe Minnesota is just full of jerky programmers but I can say even my CS wielding Oracle guru husband hates TWers. Even though his vocab is better now than when we were dating. Frankly I don't think a good, comp0etent programmer can be a writer, those skills come from two different sides of the brain. (2) is there someone out there who has first-hand experience in technical writing who can tell me about the work and their experiences

  • And it is known by many names ... business analyst, communications {whatever}, web developer (who also does content), sometimes even technical writer :) And sometimes by no name at all ... I think I'm officially a "Systems Analyst".

    Tools? Word, Framemaker, RoboHelp primarily. Dreamweaver is popular. Tools are relatively secondary - be flexible and adapt to whatever tool you need to use.

    Programmer opinions of technical communicators? All over the map. If they are competent, decent individuals, and

  • You've heard and will hear lots of MYTHS. Like "managers don't respect them" and "they get paid crap wages" and "developers look down on them". It's all crap. A GOOD EMPLOYEE will get respect and fair pay. So, what does it take to be a good Tech writer? You need technical knowledge. You don't need to be a SME, but you do need to know your shtuff. You also need to know how to communicate concepts. But most importantly, you need to be proactive and solutions oriented. Tech writing is no longer about only
  • I offer this adivce as a technical writer who's worked in the software industry for over 20 years -- you have a lot to learn -- but a degree in CS is a great starting point.

    First, yes, sometimes being a technical writer is a lot like being Rodney Dangerfield -- we don't get no respect! Unless, of course, we work hard to earn it! While many developers look down on technical writers as subhuman -- or at least less than intellectual -- when you prove that the emphasis in your job title is on *technical* rath

  • (1) what are the general opinions of programmers on technical writers;

    That depends on a technical writer. If I ever met a qualified one, i'd buy him/her a beer. Or a cake. Or even flowers for a woman if that wouldn't violate company's sexual harrassment policy and she wasn't likely to get offended. I hate writing, and having someone do a good job for me would be a godsend.

    On the other hand, the uber-dumb hack that the management stuck me with about 2 years ago, who wasted my countless man-hours and in th
  • in my department, we have a very good technical writer who checks and helps in every technical paper to be published from students or faculty. so the job can be much more than just writing help files for programs.
  • While reading these replies, people keep referring to Word and FrameMaker as tools for technical writing...

    What ever happened to TeX and LaTeX? Everyone knows there is nothing more superior for technical and mathematical writing!

  • Writing software documentation is easier to get in to than hardware (microprocessor)documentation, but right now, the market is tight everywhere. SW documentation also pays a lot less (about 25% less). You can make a 6-figure income as a Sr. tech writer for chip companies without having to slave 60 hours a week (personal experience). When you reach a certain level, you are paid more for what you know and the various problems you can solve, and less for what you do, depending on the industry.

    There are few e
  • I just stumbled across this discussion in the archives and figured I'd answer even though it's a week old.... I'm not a professional tech writer, but I've been involved in hiring them over the last few years.

    The others posters who said that you'll make more money doing API documentation were right on the money, so to speak. A good technical tech writer will make somewhere around $80/hour in the Bay Area right now. That's for writers who have at least a few years of professional development experience i

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