Alternate Career Paths - prospring.net
Transcript of Alternate Career Paths - prospring.net
Alternate Career Paths forTechnical Communicators
By Jack MolisaniPresident, ProSpring Technical Staffing
Executive Director, The LavaCon Conference
About the SpeakerAbout the Speaker
Associate Fellow, STC President, ProSpring Technical StaffingExecutive Director, The LavaCon Conference
Warnings and DisclaimersWarnings and Disclaimers
Group ParticipationI am not a Professional Statistician Speaking in HypertextChinese ArtistsControversy!
Career Path #1Career Path #1
Other ProfessionTechnical WriterSr. Technical Writer Documentation Manager (maybe)
Career Path #2Career Path #2
Other ProfessionTechnical WriterSr. Technical Writer / Doc. ManagerContractor Technical WriterTechnical Writing Business Owner
Career Path #3Career Path #3
Other ProfessionTechnical WriterOther Profession (This time in a related field.)
Related FieldsRelated Fields
New field is related to technical writingUses the same core competencies You take a specific task of technical writing and specialize in itIdentified not as a “tech writer”but as a “_________”
Core CompetenciesCore Competencies
Written Communication SkillsInterview Skills Project Planning and Project ManagementCritical Thinking Skills Conflict Resolution User AdvocacyQuality Control
MarketingProduct ManagementProject Management Proposal ManagementQuality AssuranceRelease Management TrainingUsability User Interface Design Website Development Other
Accessibility Business/Software AnalysisChange ManagementCoding/Programming Compliance Content ManagementCorporate Communication Documentation Management Graphic Design/IllustrationID/Courseware DevelopmentLocalization / Internationalization
Related FieldsRelated Fields
Corporate ValueCorporate Value
My premise: Related fields are more valued by management…and thus receive better compensation.Why? Because they are perceived to add value, reduce costs or generate revenue.
Corporate ValueCorporate Value
Or: Because they are perceived to add more value, reduce more costs or generate more revenue then technical writers do.Exceptions: Illustrators and QA/Testers
The SurveyThe Survey
I created a web-based survey that asked about transitioning from technical writing into related fieldsPresented a predefined list, but also prompted for other answersAlso asked about compensationIncluded TWs who haven’t transitioned to get a compensation baseline
The SurveyThe Survey
351 self-selecting responsesCompensation answers were given in both hourly rates and annual salaries, so we annualized the hourly rate by multiplying the by 2,080 hours.Note that this affects the true average annual compensation since not all contractors bill 2,080 hours a year…
The SurveyThe Survey
…and some fields are more consulting oriented than others.But since we did the same annualizationacross all answers, the survey should present relative differences between technical writing and other fields. (Remember that this is an informal survey with a limited self-selecting audience.)
Other DisclaimersOther Disclaimers
I reassigned some “other” responses that were very close (or actually on) the predefined list to make tabulation easier.We limited respondents to choose only one field for the same reason.I did not include fields with fewer than three votes or answers that didn’t make sense (such as one person who gave a salary but whose field was “Unemployed.”)When given a range of compensation, we used the average. (Foreign currencies were converted.)
Yes, 79%
No, 21%
Have You Transitioned from TW?Have You Transitioned from TW?
Into What Alternate Career FieldInto What Alternate Career Field
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Acces
sibility
Busines
s/Soft
ware Ana
lysis
Change
Man
agem
ent
ing/P
rogram
ming (XML, J
ava, J
avaS
cript,
Perl, C++, e
tc.)
Complianc
e
Content
Manag
emen
t
Corporat
e Com
munica
tion
Documen
tation M
anag
emen
t
Graphic
Design
/Illus
tratio
n
Instru
ction
al Des
ign/C
oursew
are Dev
elopm
ent
Loca
lizati
on / In
terna
tiona
lizati
on Mark
eting
Produc
t Mana
gement
Projec
t Man
agemen
t (non-d
ocumen
tation)
Propos
al Man
agemen
t
Quality
Assura
nce
Release
Man
agem
ent TrainingUsa
bility
User In
terfac
e Des
ign
Website
Dev
elopm
ent
Patent Claims WritingProcess EngineeringProgram ManagementProposal ManagementPublishingReal EstateRegulatory AffairsSystems EngineeringTW recruitmentUser Experience ManagementXML validation
Association ManagementCreative WritingCustomer Support (Help Desk)Database Creation and DesignEditingHuman Resources/RecruitingInformation ArchitectInnovation managementKnowledge ManagementLawyerParts Sales/Service Manager
Other:Other:
Business Owner9%
Contractor/Consultant 31%
Staff Employee59%
Staff Employee and Consultant
1%
Type of EmploymentType of Employment
How Long in New Career FieldHow Long in New Career Field
0 to 3 years31%
3 to 6 years18%6 to 9 years
16%
More than 9 years35%
Average Compensation by FieldAverage Compensation by Field
$-
$20,000.00
$40,000.00
$60,000.00
$80,000.00
$100,000.00
$120,000.00
$140,000.00
$160,000.00
Acces
sibility
Busines
s/Soft
ware A
nalys
is
Chang
e Man
agem
ent
Program
ming (X
ML, Ja
va, J
avaScri
pt, P
erl, C
++, etc
.)Com
plian
ce
Conten
t Man
agem
ent
Corpora
te Com
munica
tion
Docum
entat
ion M
anag
emen
t
Graphic
Des
ign/Ill
ustra
tion
Instru
ction
al Desig
n/Cou
rseware
Dev
elopmen
t
Loca
lizatio
n / In
ternati
onaliza
tion
Marketi
ng
Produc
t Man
agemen
t
Projec
t Man
agem
ent (n
on-doc
umen
tation)
Propos
al Man
agem
ent
Quality
Ass
uranc
e
Releas
e Man
agem
ent
Technic
al W
riting
Training
Usabil
ity
User In
terface
Des
ign
Website
Dev
elopment
AvgAvg Salary by Employment TypeSalary by Employment Type
$-
$20,000.00
$40,000.00
$60,000.00
$80,000.00
$100,000.00
$120,000.00
$140,000.00
$160,000.00
Business Owner Contractor/Consultant Staff Employee Staff Employee and Consultant
ObservationsObservations
The survey disproved my premise that professionals in related fields are more highly compensated than technical writers. The relative compensations followed a bell curve:– 11 fields were higher– 2 were the same– 9 were lower
The people who reported the highest compensations were business owners.
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