Re: Qualifications for "senior" tech writer?

[Andy Sutton <asutton -at- GTE -dot- NET>]

Which begs the question:  What is the going rate for an "author" or "senior
author?"  I'm working in the Southeast United States, Tampa, Florida to be
exact, in my first (and only) tech writing job.  My responsibilities include
project management, determining standards, and creating on-line help and paper
documentation.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Damien Braniff wrote:

> I don't think age (or necessarily experience) has much to do with it - it's
> all about being able to do the job.  When I started (years ago!!) as a
> trainee it was "on the job" training with 5/6 rewrites before my fist doc
> went to the customer -  you learned to swim quickly or sank!  After 6
> months I was promoted to author and was checking my "trainer's" work.
> After a year I was up to Senior Author and was responsible for training
> somebody!!  Since then I've worked at several places with different titles.
> Some people place a lot of importance in what they're called (and in some
> cases, due to politics, it IS important); personally as long as they pay me
> the going rate I don't care a great deal what they call me!!
>
> Damien Braniff
> Technical Author
> PAC International
>
> PS Here we're officially Tech Writers but I'm used to writing Author!
>
> Posts: mailto:techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu
> Commands: mailto:listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g. SIGNOFF TECHWR-L)
> Archives: http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html,
> Subjects: JOB:, QUESTION:, SUMMARY:, ANNOUNCE:, or none of these.

Posts: mailto:techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu
Commands: mailto:listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g. SIGNOFF TECHWR-L)
Archives: http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html,
	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/
Subjects: JOB:, QUESTION:, SUMMARY:, ANNOUNCE:, or none of these.