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> Andrew writes:
> > A company's willingness to pay a certain salary generally hinges on their
> > need, their perception of value, and previous experience. A company that
> > values technical writers and perceives them as a critical part of the
> > company is naturally going to pay more than a place that considers tech
> > writers glorified secretaries.
And Shannon Moore responds:
> My question is how do we find ways to educate hiring managers about our
> real value to the company?
>
> In addition, if hiring managers do not perceive our value as technical
> writers, how can we ever convince them of our value when we go beyond the
> traditional responsibilities of technical writing?
> This manager refers to the group of programmers that work for the company
> and make 20K more than my contract salary as "techies" because they have
> programming-related degrees (they are writing basic Perl scripts to run an
> application); however, he doesn't place value on my "techie" work because my
> degree is in Tech Comm.
The problem Shannon describes is incredibly common, and moreso in a down economy
where the people who survive as hiring managers are not necessarily those who
are the best judges of how the marketplace works. The real test of worth comes
when the marketplace is healthy, and there is a goodly demand for people with
technical qualifications. When tech writers have options to move around, or to
take or not take jobs, the same managers have to pay more attention to what
they're willing to pay for technical talent.
I'm not convinced you can educate neanderthals like Shannon's manager, save for
repeated exposure to a healthy marketplace. Tech writers have long fought, with
limited success, for respect among the other technical occupations. It's a
continuing struggle.
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