What can you expect from a career in technical writing?

According to U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment of writers and editors is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2014. Opportunities should be best for technical writers and those with training in a specialized field. According to the Society for Technical Communication, the median annual salary for entry level technical writers was $42,500 in 2004. The median annual salary for midlevel nonsupervisory technical writers was $51,500, and for senior nonsupervisory technical writers, $66,000.

In the Philippines, the trend is true with the substantial growth of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. In addition, some U.S. and European companies outsourced their documentation and online help requirements to the Philippines.

Let us take a look on the skills.

Skills Required To Be a Technical Writer
There are special skills needed to become an effective technical writer that go beyond basic writing ability. These skills include the ability to write lucidly and concisely, familiarity with the writing tools of the trade, and understanding the technical subject matter or product line.

Questions you may have are:
What sort of writing ability is necessary?
What tools do I need to know?
How much product knowledge is required?

Writing ability
Many technical writers majored English, Communications, or Journalism in college. Graduates in such field may all have writing ability although it does not necessarily give them an edge in technical writing. Other technical writers come from engineering, marketing and education fields. They usually gravitate to technical writing because they enjoy the writing process. Writing ability and passion to writing is very important.

Tools
Microsoft Word is the standard word processor used by most companies, although there are exceptions. Skill in Word is useful, but since most word processors are so similar, it is not that difficult to migrate from one to another. I used MS Word for so many years but when I migrate to Writer (OpenOffice), I still enjoy it the way I enjoyed the former.

You have to constantly learn new, difficult software. It is important that you learn a new application without going insane (exaggeration..haha). Learning RoboHelp for example is important in writing online help.

Product knowledge
You have to write about a product or a process, so it is important to have knowledge in that field. Know what you are going to write.

Build your technical writing career now!