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Technical Writers in the Industry?
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."
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.
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.