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Subject:Re: Quoting Salary schedule from STC From:Walt Tucker <walt_tucker -at- MENTORG -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 15 Jun 1998 15:10:47 -0700
I, too, find the STC salary numbers on the low side, especially when
compared to my salary and the salaries of other tech writers working at
high tech companies in our geographical area. If your company is not
already doing it, they should be surveying similiar companies in your
industry that are operating in your local area and establishing salary
ranges that keep your company competetive in attracting high-caliber
talent. That's just basic human resources 101.
However, I've noticed that various industries tend to have higher technical
writing salaries, depending on the complexity of the subject matter. Given
your signature line, I perhaps wonder if you work in the banking industry?
In talking with a number of people that work in banking, the industry has
a reputation for notoriously skewed pay scales. My wife worked in finance
and accounting for a number of years, where the pay scales are similar.
In my particular company, we develop software used by chip designers and PCB
design engineers and the company demands a high degree of engineering
knowledge from it's writers. In general, technical writers in the medical
and high tech industries tend to be on the higher end of the pay scale.
Given that a majority of the readers of the techwr-l list fall into the second
category, it doesn't surprise me that a lot of people are indicating that
the STC salary survey numbers are low. The technical writing ads that I've
seen posted for technical writing positions in other industries, such as
automotive, banking, retail, or even state government, tend to be for
lower salaries than for similar positions the private high tech sector.
For example, one recent job posting for a mid-level technical writer
position (with 2-3 years experience) for a retail chain listed a salary of
$25K, which would be about $10K-$15K below the going rate in high tech.
-- Walt
On Wednesday June 10, 1998 Tracy Kiehm (tkiehm -at- bankerssystems -dot- com) wrote:
> The company I work for is in the process of evaluating our current
> salary schedule based on market pricing (we're located in Minnesota). I
> gave my supervisor a copy of the 1996 and 1997 STC Salary Schedules
> (both of which give median salary figures that exceed our entire range).
> The response I received was that those types of survey results could not
> be considered valid because the only people that respond are those who
> wish "to brag about how much they make."
>
> Is this typical? I know the majority of the responses I've seen about
> the STC survey complain about the figures being too low. Does anyone
> have idea how I (and my coworkers) should respond to this?
>
> P.S. Everyone in our department has at least four years of experience,
> we work in the software industry, and we are competent at creating both
> printed documentation and online help.
>
Tracy Kiehm
tkiehm -at- bankerssystems -dot- com
