TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> At the risk of incurring Andrew Plato's highly unfocused wrath,
> I'd like to
> point out that he's about 180 degrees out of sync with the reality of
the
> Silicon Valley job market - for both permanent and contract writers.
> We're been in the middle of it all along, not smugly focused on whatever
> passes for a
> job market in the Portland, Oregon area plus contracts his firm can land
> by heavy telemarketing.
No need to be mean, Elna. Us Portlanders learned to make fire at the same
time you Californians did.
Okay - the Silicon Valley job market is bad: for recruiters and lower-end
tech writers. But there is business. It's there. You just have to be in
the right places. I agree that job boards are a waste of time. 99% of the
jobs are, like you said, are ghost jobs. You have to be inside talking
with decision makers, not outside talking with recruiters.
Silicon Valley was basically asking for it. It grew too fast and out of
control. There were too many barely skilled people commanding outlandish
salaries. Too many loudmouthed egomaniacs tricking VCs into handing them
bags of cash.
A lot of people have priced themselves out of the market. I too have
resumes from 15 year veterans...some of them demand $95 an hour and NOBODY
will pay that right now. They might as well ask for $95,000,000 an hour,
they're not going to get that either.
Maybe I am just optimistic, but I think things are fine right now. But,
admittedly, my business is a bit different. Tech writing is only one of
the things we do. Our network security business is strong. We're also
securing capital funding to greatly expand our security business.
But, we have good tech writing jobs as well. However, I will say that the
tone of clients has changed. The days of long projects where we could
design templates and discuss user readability are very much gone. Our
projects are either long-term outsourcing arrangements or "quick n' dirty,
get the docs done and leave" contracts.
We're also under considerably more technical focus. We've lost jobs too
because we did not have explicit experience with certain industries.
Maybe I am just lucky, but from where I sit - things are looking pretty
good. We have some great opportunities on the horizon and this year is
going to be better than ever for us. And we did it with out heavy
telemarketing, as you suggested Elna.
I'm sorry things are bad for some people. Were things slow for me, I'd be
investing in my technical skills. I have a writer in the office working
hard to get his MSCE and Cisco certification. That will pay off in a BIG
way for him later on.
Andrew Plato
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
