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Subject:Re: TECHWR-L Digest - 10 Jan 1995 to 11 Jan 1995 From:Richard Lippincott <rlippinc -at- BEV -dot- ETN -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 13 Jan 1995 08:55:48 EST
Dana Mackonis asked:
>What areas of tech writing do think are more lucrative than the
>computer industry?
Aerospace.
I started tech writing ten years ago in the aerospace field, after getting
my master's. A friend of mine in the school's registrar's office told me
that (based on surveys) I had the highest salary of all respondants. Five
years later, I was job hunting in the Atlanta area, and I noticed an alarming
tendency for managers faces to go pale when I told them what I was making
at Lockheed.
I finally got another aerospace job, at a raise. We would look at the STC
surveys when they came out, and the office consensus was that we were doing
very well for ourselves.
I've been fortunate. I'm no longer in aerospace, but during the past year
noticed that same "white face" from managers while I was job hunting. The
company where I now work is in a highly specialized field, and fortunately
the pay has been good. But I have a feeling that I'm at the upper edge of the
curve.
(But no, I've never seen $75/hour either.)
Rick Lippincott
Eaton Semiconductor
Beverly, MA
rlippinc -at- bev -dot- etn -dot- com
