Did you know that technical writers are on the endangered species list? This is according to Andrew Davis, who spoke at the last East Bay STC meeting. During his presentation, Andrew stated “most high-tech technical communicators have become commodities, purveyors of expensive and increasingly unvalued services.” Andrew, who runs Synergistech Communications a recruiting firm that matches technical communicators with staff and contract opportunities, believes this is due to globalization, a shrinking economy, customers who don’t want to read, and increasingly lean, “do-more-with-less” type of company thinking.
Andrew thinks technical writers must not be lulled into thinking this is a temporary problem. He believes for a technical communicator to remain marketable he or she must not only demonstrate how their services improve efficiency or help the customer but also generate a profit. In the past, writers helped clients with efficiency and this justified their services. Now, Andrew says a technical communicators’ best option is to apply their skills to other industries and focus on helping customers generate profits. Some of the industries Andrew recommends working for are health care, government and finance.
My Opinion
What’s my opinion on this? I believe there is a bit of truth to what Andrew says mixed with a dose of doom and gloom. I agree our profession is depressed right now for various reasons. During the 1980’s there was a lot of growth in the software industry, so technical writers were in demand. In the 1990’s, the dot.com boom emerged and every one wanted to hire a technical writer for their product. During that time in the Silicon Valley area, technical writer hourly rates climbed and their were not enough writers to fill jobs.
After the dot.com bust, there were less jobs because there were less businesses who needed them. On top of that our economy began changing and companies began looking at ways to cut costs. One way they thought was a good cost cutting measure was outsourcing their technical writing needs to India. So now fewer companies are hiring local talent because of the poor economy and because they have decided to outsource work. This means writer’s salaries and rates have fallen.
It is simple economics; according to the laws of supply and demand, when supplies (our services) become more plentiful, prices then drop. As supplies become scarcer, prices tend to rise. If demand drops (fewer companies need our services), our rates and salaries drop. I believe we are unfortunately in the latter position, less jobs and many unemployed writers.
The question is this: Will it stay this way or gradually return to a more normal balanced? According to Andrew, he believes U.S. technical writers are no longer in demand and may be less and less needed in the future. I believe there are fewer jobs and rates have dropped, but that good writers will always be needed.
To stay successful as a freelance technical writer in this profession I believe, you must:
- Show you are a consultant and a writer. That is, provide the customer with expert advice on the best cost-effect solution.
- Keep up with new technologies, such as content management.
- Delve into new markets (See my article Freelance Technical Writing: Tips to Break into New Hot Markets.)
What do you believe is the future for technical writers? Do you think Andrew Davis is right? Let me know, I would like to hear your opinion on this.
Photo by Jeremy Burgin
February 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I’m so glad you chose to tackle this topic. Indeed, technical writers (while not a species) are in danger — especially if they continue to believe that people actually want to read what they write. I’ll end the mystery. No one wants to read an instructional manual, nor do they want to navigate a hierarchical online help system. All they want is the answer to their question right when they think of it. And, they want options other than text.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the technological revolution we are experiencing has changed user expectations. Now, people want to watch video simulations, how-to instructions, etc. They don’t want to read well-crafted prose. Nor do they care about semi-colon usage, rhetoric, grammar, etc. Only writers — and writing teachers — care about these things.
On the other hand, technical writers are technical communicators. Communication is NOT limited to writing and that’s good news for the industry. Communicators who keep pace with the communication landscape and master skills that are both in-demand and command high pay will not have much trouble finding work in the future. But, those who rely on outdated Microsoft Word skills and lessons learned from English class…well, they shouldn’t be surprised when they are eventually replaced.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:41 am
There will always be a need to explain technical “stuff” to non-technical people. If technical writers are capable of delivering these explanations with the possible best methods/media, then they will flourish. However, if they get stuck in an “manuals mentality” and better solutions come along, then they won’t.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Well, I would argue that customers won’t mind reading well-crafted prose if it is short and relevant to what they are trying to accomplish. I tell writers in my org all the time that our customer’s job is not to learn how to use our software; it’s to get his or her job done. Our software is only a means to that end. As such, it’s important that we tell customers what they need to know as briefly as possible and make sure they can find it as easily as possible.
Writers who can adapt to this new landscape where content comes in many forms, and who can equip themselves with tools to create content in those many forms will be in demand. Writers who continue to do what we have always done will not. It’s that simple.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your comments.
Scott, Julie and Ellis, I agree with your comments that to survive technical communicators need to update their skills to produce content using “the best methods/media”. Who knows how technical communicators will be producing and delivering content 10 years from now?
June 1st, 2009 at 9:02 am
OK, I’m late to the party – I agree with Scott up to a point. Well-crafted communication (prose or other narrative form) is necessary but not sufficient to effectively help people get things done. Many times, all a person needs is a prompt or a clue to confirm what they already think they need to know; in these cases craft may not be important. But in other cases, people need a clear, unambiguous solution that takes them all the way through a process; if you provide a document that purports to provide the solution yet contains incomplete and ambiguous information, the cost in customer loyalty and reputation can be profound. Web 2.0 should never be an excuse to provide more channels of access to sloppier information, which it has become in many cases…
June 10th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I’d like to see objective evidence posted that tech writers are not so much in demand anymore.
As everyday technology becomes more complex–think of the evolution of the telephone in the past twenty years into an information appliance–invariably the need for documentation of these technologies will increase. Moreover, this documentation’s source language will tend to be in English which gives U.S. workers an initial advantage over their Indian and Chinese counterparts.