It is no secret that technical writing jobs pay well. Many freelance writers slowly slip into the technical writing sphere and get stuck. The jobs are plenty and the pay is good, and as a writer this stability is appealing. Other freelance jobs that seem to pay well are those connected with a specific company. For example, I used to write for a credit card website, so naturally my writing was centered on credit card tips and advice. There used to be a time when I would try and play around with my sentence structures and get fancy with metaphors, but the longer I wrote a certain way the less and less I felt the need to be creative.
Technical Writing–Seven Challenges
Freelance technical writing is a great opportunity, but from time to time most technical writers face challenges.
Last week I wrote an introductory post about technical writing. When I wrote it I didn’t actually intend for it to sound like a recruiting piece for technical writers, or a plug for the STC.
While everything I wrote was true to my own experiences, I did leave out some of the major challenges that all technical writers face.
This week I’m going to fix that oversight in this post by listing seven challenges that you may face as a freelance technical writer.
Seven Challenges to Technical Writing
Technical writing is a great field, but there are some challenges that technical writers must sometimes overcome:
- Rework and repetition. Technical writers have a lot of rework and repetitive work–not necessarily because the writer has done anything wrong, but rather because the technical products that they are writing about tend to change often. It’s common for a new technical writer to be assigned the task of updating existing materials, rather than producing new information.
- No byline. It’s rare for a technical writer to get a byline on a manual, help system, or other document that he or she has produced. This is one reason why good references are so important. Although you should bring samples to interviews whenever you can, your prospective client will almost certainly be checking with your previous documentation manager.
- Respect. Technical writers usually work as part of a technical team. While I had wonderful experiences with nearly every team I was on, occasionally a technical writer encounters a team of engineers or programmers who just don’t want to cooperate, either because they are too busy or because they don’t see the value in what the writer is doing. A good technical writer must also have good people skills.
- Long hours. Staff technical writers tend to work long hours. They often have deadlines that mirror the tight deadlines faced by the development team. Sometimes freelance technical writers aren’t allowed to work those long hours because management doesn’t want to pay overtime. Other times, however, the freelancer works as many hours as the staff writers do. Clarify overtime expectations before accepting any jobs.
- Change. If you’re a technical writer, you’re probably working in a technology field. This means that things will be changing often. The tools you use, the product you write about, and even the manner in which you produce information will be different over the course of your career. It’s important for you to invest the time and effort that it takes to learn new things.
- Must work core hours on site. At nearly every company where I worked as a technical writer, we were required to work on site at least part of the time. This varies from company to company, but I think that there are still some companies who require their writers to work on site–particularly if the product is large, non-portable, or if the writer will be dealing with sensitive information.
- Meetings. Technical writers go to both formal, and informal meetings. Even freelance technical writers usually find it necessary to schedule meetings with other members of the development team. If the company has more than one technical writer, there are often writing group meetings to discuss common problems and standards.
Anyone who is seriously considering transitioning into the technical writing field should think long and hard about these challenges before making a final decision. All of these obstacles can be overcome, but it requires effort.
Learn Even More About Technical Writing
You don’t have to take my word on what technical writing is like. Fortunately, there are many good online resources available from other technical writers.
If you’re truly interested in freelance technical writing, it’s actually a good idea to get a variety of perspectives. Everyone’s experience will be a little bit different based on where they work and the type of assignments that they’ve worked on.
Spend some time looking at the resources below.
Here are some great descriptions of technical writing from other technical writers on the web:
- “Could you please tell me what the job of a technical writer is like?” from Tom Johnson
- The Technical Writing FAQ from John Hewitt
- A day in the life…of a Senior Technical Writer from Lynda Sereno
- Day in the Life of a Technical Writer + Buffet video link from Heidi Hansen
Also, here are some terrific writing blogs with a technical writing focus:
Feedback Time
What other questions do you have about technical writing? Are you a technical writer? Why not share your experiences?
Technical Writing–What’s It Like?
Technical writing–have you ever wondered if it could be right for you?
We’ve talked about technical writing here on Freelance Writing Jobs before. In this post, I include technical writing as one of twelve high paying writing jobs.
Even in this economy, technical writing is one area where one can still earn good money. John Hewitt, writing at PoeWar, lists the annual income of technical writers as ranging from $42,000 to $63,000. For a senior technical writer, the income range is $56,000 to $81,000.
Fortunately, technical writing is one area where I can share my personal experiences. I worked in this area for nearly a dozen years.
What Do Technical Writers Do?
Many people think that a technical writer’s main focus is on creating user manuals in the software industry. While this is still a part of what many technical writers do, technical writers actually work in many different industries.
Any time a non-technical audience needs to understand technical or detailed information, a technical writer can provide a clear explanation.
Some of the projects that I’ve personally tackled as a technical writer include:
- Creating context-sensitive software help systems
- Creating training materials
- Updating a company’s intranet
- Developing a corporate style guide
- Editing company newsletters
- Researching agile programming technique
- Testing software applications
- Revising and structuring documentation for medical equipment
- Creating flowcharts for corporate processes
As a technical writer, I worked directly with the hardware or software development team. I also attended meetings and interviewed developers when necessary.
What Skills Do You Need to Be a Technical Writer?
Most companies prefer that a technical writer have a college degree (although not always in technical writing). In this economy, I would strongly recommend that would-be technical writers have some technical writing training.
Many colleges have technical writing programs for professionals who already have another degree. There are also distance-learning programs available that allow you to study from home. (Be sure to pick a reputable school.) Also, don’t forget that the STC offers informational programs for technical writers.
In addition to formal education, some personality traits are helpful to technical writers:
- Ability to learn new things very quickly. Often, you will be writing about products that are in the process of being created. You may be among the first to use a new product.
- Good people skills. Technical writers often work as part of a development team. They must be able to interact with others to get the information that they need to do their job.
- Attention to detail. Accuracy is crucial for technical writers. Materials that the writer develops must correctly reflect the product or service that they are writing about.
A technical writer is expected to understand the tools that the company uses to create its materials. While Microsoft Word is popular, a technical writer may be required to understand more specialized tools such as Adobe RoboHelp, MadCap Flare, Adobe FrameMaker, and many others. A good understanding of HTML and other web languages is also helpful. (Over the years, I’ve had to learn well over a dozen very different, very specific tools.)
Is There a Future for Technical Writing?
As the information economy expands, there are more and more job opportunities for technical writers.
In fact, according to Web Worker Daily technical writing is number 13 on the Careercast list of the top jobs for 2010. Technical writing also made the most recent CNNMoney list of 50 top jobs.
The U.S. government also agrees that technical writing still has a bright future. In the most recent U.S. Occupational Outlook handbook it states that jobs in technical writing are expected to grow faster than average.
(It’s important to disclose that I live in Texas, a state with a huge technology community. While technical writing work can be found everywhere and some work can be done remotely, the opportunities in a state like Texas may be greater than those in other states.)
Other Tips
Technical writing has a fairly high learning curve. Not only must technical writers learn about the product they are documenting, they also must be familiar with the authoring tools that the company uses, and with the company’s own writing standards.
For this reason, when a company finds a good technical writer they usually keep them on board. Independent technical writing contractors often return to the same company to work over and over again.
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Does technical writing sound interesting to you? Do you have any other questions?
To Earn More, Offer More
So, you’re a freelance writer and you want to earn more money?
Guess what? You’re not alone. Many freelancer writers feel exactly the same way. They’d like to earn more money, but they’re not sure how to go about it getting the jobs with higher pay.
Now, I’m going to say something that might absolutely shock you. Good writing isn’t enough. It probably should be, but it’s just not. Good writing alone will not get you those high dollar jobs.
There, I said it. Let the lynch mobs line up at the door…
The fact is, if you want to earn more money, you have to offer more to your prospective clients. Not only do you have to offer more to your clients, you have make sure that they understand that they’ll be getting more from you.
What exactly is meant by offering more to the client?
What Does It Mean to Offer More?
More could mean any of the following, depending on the individual client and their specific needs:
- Willingness to work on-site some (or all) of the time
- Stellar references from former clients
- Experience or training related directly to the client’s project
- Technical skills or unique knowledge of a specific field
- Availability during certain core business hours
- Ability to perform a few other tasks related to the project
- Solid commitment of a significant portion of your time
- Readiness to meet strict deadlines
- Aptitude for following processes and guidelines
- An active and evolving self-marketing plan
- A formal resume
- College Degree or other professional certification
Do you think that this list is too much for a client to ask of a freelance writer?
The Client’s Point of View
A corporate client who is considering you for a large project will be investing thousands of dollars in the service you are going to provide. Before spending that kind of money, he or she wants to make sure that you can deliver results.
Most of all, the client doesn’t want to have to redo your work.
My Life as a Corporate Writer
Deb chose me to cover this topic because of my extensive experience in corporate writing. Before becoming a freelance writer, I worked for twelve years as a technical writer in some very large companies. I’ve also been in a position to help select team members for writing projects. I know what corporations look for in a writer.
I’ll be tapping into my real life experience working in large companies to write the posts here. In the coming weeks, I’ll cover nearly every aspect of writing for large companies.
We’ll examine various corporate writing opportunities such as: technical communications, marketing communications, and editing. We’ll also look at what large companies consider when they choose a writer for their projects. We’ll discover what size company is ideal to work for and discuss what size company rarely hires freelancers. I’ll even provide some specific steps that you can take to move towards obtaining corporate freelance jobs that offer better pay.
Readers should be cautioned however, this is one of those areas where your mileage may vary. Different writers will have different experiences based on their own unique backgrounds.
Feedback Time
What would you like to learn about freelance writing for companies? What “more” would you be willing to do for a larger paycheck? Are you already a freelance writer in a company?
