Vancouver Market Report: July, 1998

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Below is the Vancouver market report I volunteered to post a couple of
weeks ago. I apologize for not posting it sooner; my last moonlighting
project took longer than I had expected.

My comments are based on comments received by about 30 local writers,
both in e-mail and in conversation. These writers ranged from newcomers
looking to their first job to senior writers with over 15 years'
experience.

This method of gathering information is probably not statistically
sound.
However, all the comments were remarkably consistent, so I think that my
summary of them gives a reasonably accurate picture of the local writing
scene.

My special thanks to:

Dina Davidson, Lyyn Gottlieb, Rowena Hart, and Darla Kennington,Janeen
Weir,

The interpretations, of course, are entirely my fault.

At any rate, I hope that people find the summary useful or at least
interesting.


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SUMMARY
The Vancouver market has been booming for two years. It hasn't gone to
bust in the six months since I last did a market report, but it has
matured and stablized.  Some companies are starting to be affected by
the Asian economic crisis, and employers are no longer hiring quite so
easily as they once were.

BACKGROUND

Just north of Seattle, Vancouver is the major city on the Canadian west
coast. Because of this location, Vancouver has had a thriving high-tech
industry for a number of years. "Northwest High-Tech," a guide to jobs
in the Pacific Northwest, had over 55 pages devoted to Vancouver and BC
firms, and my personal database lists the addresses of over 500
potential employers. The majority of these potential employers are small
or medium-sized businesses.

As in many areas of North America, software is a large part of the
Vancouver writing market. However, the local presence of companies such
as Spectrum Signal Processing and Macdonald-Deitweiler have also
generated the need for hardware documentation.

In addition, although the capital of BC is Victoria,  many government
ministries are located in Vancouver for convenience, Thus, policy and
procedure manuals are also a large part of the local writing market,
although this work tends to be handled by several comapnies that
specialize in it.


THE MARKET
Two years ago, a new writer with determination could break into the
field with four to eight months of concentrated effort. I know, because
I was one of several who did so. Even six months ago, several new
writers managed to enter the field. Now, equally qualified people are
having a more difficult time.

According to several local writers, part of the problem for newcomers is
that employers have become more cautious.  Too many, apparently, have
been burned by incompetent writers hired for both contract and full-time
work.  Several people in charge of hiring mentioned cost overruns due to
incompetent writers, and all mentioned unsatisfactory results. Because
of these problems, employers are demanding more proof of competence.
Naturally, that proof is hard for newcomers to provide.

One possible proof might be a certificate in technical writing from
either of the two institutions that offer one locally.
Unfortunately, in the case of at least one institution, the certificate
doesn't seem much help. Most employers seem not to have even heard about
the programs, or to be impressed by them when told about them.

Employers seem to want concrete proof of competence, not the completion
of a course of study. At least one employer mentioned that a common
mistake that newcomers make is not to have a portfolio.

In fact, many employers are complaining about a shortage of qualified
candidates. None of the usual sources - newspapers, mailing lists, STC
web sites - have helped these employers find the writers they want. I
know of at least two companies who have been trying to fill positions
for several months, and one other that put off hiring altogether. These
positions are generally for intermediate writers. Large companies that
require team leaders are not the norm in Vancouver, and the few who
require senior writers usually already have them.

At the same time, established contractors whom I talked to continue to
be as busy as they want to be. In my own case, for example, I have had
as much work as I can handle for the last seven months. Yet, during that
same time, I
have been approached over twenty times, ranging from two week contracts
to full-time employment. So far as I can tell, my experience is fairly
typical of most contractors.

Although several employers mentioned a decline in Asian markets as a
reason that they were not hiring, the small and medium-sized companies
that are most typical of Vancouver business seem largely unaffected.

In general, the market continues to be extremely good for writers with
established reputations. Others have to scramble against increasing
employer caution (if not outright cynicism).

For newcomers, the solution to their employment problem seem to be
provide proof of ability. Specialized knowledge has helped in several
cases that I know of. Perhaps a more strategic, focused job search is
the answer.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
The predominant software required to work in the Vancouver area is still
Microsoft Word.  At least three out of four jobs require knowledge of
Word, and probably more. Some of these jobs require Word 97, but most
companies seem to be staying with Word 7.0 for now.

However,  there seems to be a decided increase in jobs that require
FrameMaker. Where writers have a choice of the software to use,
FrameMaker is almost inevitably their choice. This preference may be due
to FrameMaker's feature set or robustness. But it may be due more to the
fact that Adobe is moving towards a common interface in its products,
because, when writers choose FrameMaker, they tend to choose to
Illustrator and PhotoShop as well.

That brings up another point: most local tech-writers seem required to
do at least some graphical work. Every writer who responded to my
request for information listed either Corel or Adobe graphical programs
among the software they use.

Use of PageMaker also seems to have increased in the last six months,
especially among writers who do the occasional bit of Marketing
Communications.

On-line, RoboHelp and Acrobat seem to be the common tools.

Two newcomers to the software list seem to be MS Front Page and MS
Publisher. However, these choices seem to be imposed from above, rather
than the choices of writers themselves.

Conclusion

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer for July 4th suggests that Puget Sound
high-tech would continue to grow, but much more slowly than it has for
the last few years. Here in Vancouver, 150 miles to the north, the
prospects seem similar.

One of the patterns I've seen in the last two years has been a shift
away from small companies in Vancouver towards medium ones. There's even
been a few large-sized ones moving in, or expanding their operations.
However, I suspect that this trend is slowing down. One or two larger
companies are even considering moving to the United States, while the
often-announced contract between IBM and the provincial government has
still not resulted in many high-tech jobs.

Just as the lack of opportunities for new writers suggests a lack of
small firms, the lack of opportunities for senior writers suggests a
lack of large companies. The software requirements also points to
medium-sized companies, with one or two writers who have to do a little
bit of everything.

In short, if you're a generalist, intermediate, or established writer,
you can still thrive in Vancouver. But if none of these descriptions fit
you, you probably have to scramble.

--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Co-ordinator ,Vancouver Technical Communicators' Co-op List
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 421-7189 or 687-2133
bbyfield -at- axionet,com or bruce -at- dataphile-ca -dot- com
www.outlawcommunications.com

"I know these dark and winding streets
They're coiled around my heart,
Where time and inclination meet
And all our stories start."

- Oyster Band, "No reason to Cry"