No Country For Old Tech Writers

Being in the “over experienced” category, I’d rather hire someone who has that level experience, rather than the one fresh out of college. However, there is something to be said of hiring the “vessel waiting to be filled”–a student who has no preconceived or ingrained notions about how “it’s supposed to be done” yet. As long as the person has a firm grasp of grammar, sentence structure, the failures of Word and RoboHelp, and so on, I would hire them. I’ve worked with many, many different coworkers with the title of Technical Writer. Unfortunately most of them were neither technical (install software???) nor writers (what do you mean “compound modifier?”). The field still does not have the respect necessary to hire qualified people.

Hi Karla,

I shared as I’m in the twilight zone myself but also see that others are in the same position. Here in Europe that markets have really dried up and gradates (though inexperienced) are less of a burden to the bottom line.

The idea of ‘vessels waiting to be filled’ also rings true as new recruits can be a breath of fresh air, at least those I interviewed last week were.

I feel many in the industry as a bit disillusioned right now and looking for other options. Something I hope to cover soon.

If you’ve any ideas, please share.

Ivan

I, too, have worked with many technical writers and editors of varying ages and varying degrees of skill, experience, and competence. I would probably base my hiring decisions on writing samples or portfolio. I want someone able to produce useful, coherent content regardless of the tools or media available to produce or disseminate it. I’ve o witnesssed many tools that become popular, then faded from favor, replaced with something newer. Good writing and analysis skills are always necessary.

I’ve been passed over as over-qualified, and passed over because I didn’t have 5 years experience with FrameMaker, when it first became available on PCs (it had been on UNIX servers). There are lots of IT recruiters searching for tech writers without any concept of what we do, so they search for tools skills. When I did run into FrameMaker, I had a couple of hours of tutoring from another writer, and then a week to convert a 100+page manual from Word to FM.

I got my current position by submitting writing samples. My boss was traveling on business, and we couldn’t schedule a convenient interview, so he hired me without one. In another previous position, the highest complement I got from my boss (an engineering manager I respected) was, “I like the way you write.” It always comes down to the manager’s judgment, and to their sense of which person “fits” their needs. However, sometimes I have felt that the HR “pre-screeners” who filter the resumes submitted to the hiring manager probably screen out the most qualified, most appropriate candidates.

And to return to the question of “What can the STC do about it?” I have to say I don’t know.

From what I know, the STC is aware of having a significantly diminished value in recent years. In spite of being aware of this, they have done next to nothing to help their members, and for this reason I believe they are suffering through a drop in membership. I recently dropped my membership with STC, and haven’t looked back.

Personal networking is what pays in securing a job now, and a listing of memberships on the resume doesn’t help at all. Aside from what job networking meetings these association memberships may offer, you are forced to pay expensive meal fees aside from already expensive membership fees, too.

As I work on contracts these days, it’s my portfolio that gets me in the door.

I used to have samples on the site but then found them uploaded to docstoc and slideshare so took them back down.

Most of the HR folks I know (and recruiters) are working on rates and commissions, so tend to favor newer writers. The assumption I guess is that more experienced writers will demand higher fees that eat into their margin.

Re: STC….If the fee justifies the networking opportunities, then fine. But as there are so many events on these days, I’d be reluctant to pony up.

Hi John,

When I lived in SFO networking was what I did re: finding more work. There were/are so many events on all the time. London was very good too. And China is all about meeting people & then doing business.

It’s a big thin on the ground over here but there are some events on, mostly free. I try to use this site and chip in over on LinkedIn to build relationships and look for opportunities.

This little blog has opened more doors that almost any other type of self promotion. I’m not crazy about going to events so this sees to work well.

The STC raised rates smack dab in the middle of a recession, then yanked everything I liked out of their basic membership package. The way I read that was, “First we take care of us. We may think about you later.” I did not renew my membership. The STC is still arguing about how to define itself, not about how to find jobs for its dwindling membership. That can’t be good.

I think you have seriously understated how STC responded.

First of all we provided over $40,000 under the Recovery Program to cover full membership in STC for 190 people. And there was another $3500 provided to subsidize membership for 54 more people. All this came from the Marion Norby scholarship account after we got permission from the estate executor to repurpose some of the funds.

And we had the Job Seekers Bootcamp that was free to members, but we offered it to non-members for $65 …much cheaper than having to join STC in order to use our resources.

The bootcamp had four parts to help those searching for a job:

Access to the STC Career Center where job postings specific to technical communicators are listed and shown to participants in advance of the public.

Access to a dozen-plus articles written by and for technical communicators about how to distinguish yourself, how to identify hidden job markets, what questions to expect during the interview, and how to increase your perceived value to your next employer.

Access to audio podcasts by well-known tech comm speakers. John Hedtke and Jack Molisani on topics such as: mistakes technical communicators make during job searches, résumé tips, creating buzz about yourself during your search, and how to ace the interview.

Access to the STC Salary Survey to help establish value during negotiations.

Members of STC participated for free and we have 69 non-members take us up on the $65 rate. This included unlimited access until 31 December 2009.

Mike Hughes
STC President

Hi Michael,

I’m going on what others have told me as I’m not a member of the STC.

I hear what you’re saying but the comments below echo some of the disappointment and frustration TWs have experienced with the STC.

I’ll email you tomorrow and we can follow up offline.

Hmm, well, I must be odd then, because as a documentation manager, I’m the youngest in my team – by a few years to a few more than that. I have had some writers younger than me, but generally 75% or more of my team is older.

Why would I hire a graduate over an experienced writer?
* If I only had a graduate appropriate salary approved for the role, and it was for a product where I already had other more experienced writers working on it (I wouldn’t likely bring a graduate on to work in a product alone).
* Someone gave me a chance once as a graduate, so I do feel the need to give other graduates chances to get into our industry.

Why would I hire a more experienced writer and not a graduate?
* Truthfully, I don’t see many applications from graduates – perhaps a handful if a job has been advertised externally. In my city, I don’t think there are too many graduates seeking to become tech writers.
* I need someone to jump in a tackle a project with limited guidance to get the job done.

Hi Kirsty,

That’s interesting. I wonder what is the average age for team leads. Most I work with are in their 30s, I guess.

Never asked

The last point is what I can relate to most. I assume that most TWs who walk thru the door can writer etc.

But can they cope under pressure, can they dig out the info I need, can they do it with as little hand-holding as possible?

Can they hit the ground running?

Hi Craig,

Many private emails echo those feelings.

The timing was pretty awful and the response not much better. I emailed them at the time and heard nothing back. Pretty disappointing but maybe they were overloaded at xmas. Dunno

I think it is false to assume that anyone claiming to be a technical writer can write. I just came off an assignment where the company was recruiting younger writers and letting the more experienced writers go. I saw many documents prepared by these younger writers, as well as their e-mail and other communications. These writers couldn’t spell well. They couldn’t punctuate well. They often failed to make verbs agree with nouns. They often could not express a coherent thought, much less help someone else to do so. They used their word processing program as a typewriter, and they had no clue about the power and efficiency offered by templates. The (young) manager of the department once had me remove a list of figures—one automatically generated by the program—because it was “going to be a maintenance nightmare!”

All good points!

I’ve seen technical writers use Babelfish to translate and write documents, so the value of documents is not that high for many firms.

I think for technical writers it means that you need to expand into other non-writing areas of Tech Comms to protect and develop your career. The value of documentation especially in high growth areas is often not that high.

…and when they need to cut costs, the documents are given to the programmers anyway.