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As I advised in private e-mail to another TW (should have publically
responded to this List), it's good advice to check these surveys against
"neutral" surveys: such as those put out by the US Labor Dept. Such
surveys wouldn't be viewed as "biased" by managers. Incidentally,
head-hunting firms who also put out salary surveys (like Source EDP)
also like to "inflate" their figures so that tech writers and
programmers feel underpaid, and hence, use their services.
Again, check out the US Labor Dept. and other "neutral" sources to get
a better and more objective salary comparison. It's also good fuel to
counter management if they happen to produce the HR salary survey. (We
all know how non-biased those surveys are!)
Do you have a URL where I can see US Labor Department salary comparisons
for technical writers? And BTW, our salaries are significantly lower than
the STC salary survey indicates for our region, so I guess it can (and
frequently does) go both ways.
