Part-time technical writing?

[Geoff Hart <Geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Lori Cattrell has <<...been working as a technical writer for
about seven years. I have two children at home, and I really
want to spend more time with them.>>

Although working at home can certainly free up time (e.g.,
less commuting, fewer unproductive meetings to attend, less
time spent gossiping in the corridor), it's a myth that you'll
automatically free up tons of personal time simply by
switching to home work. In effect, if you're doing 40 or so
hours of writing at work, you'll still have to do 40 hours of
writing at home. Since you're replacing one set of distractions
(co-workers) for another (kids), you'll probably be spending
closer to 40 hours than to 20 hours working. Moreover,
speaking as someone who's worked in both environments, I
find the co-workers less exhausting. <g> YMMV, of course.

<<Have any of you ever known of companies that hire
technical writers for part-time positions? It seems to me the
choices are full-time work or contract.>>

The other main option is working as a consultant or
freelancer. The difference between this and contract work is
that the type of contract work you're describing tends to be
full-time, on-site work, whereas consultants often have more
freedom to work at home and only come to the office to talk
with SMEs and discuss the progress of the project. Peter
Kent's written an excellent treatment of this subject, but the
book's at home so I can't give you full details; the title's
something like "Making money in technical writing".

<<I'm too scared to take the leap into contract work right now
because I must have the income to pay the bills. I think I
would spend too much time worrying about finding the next
job.>>

That's always been one of my concerns too, since I'm not Mr.
Marketing. If you're worried about the stress of freelancing,
whether on contract or as a consultant, the freelance life may
not be for you. (Kent also has a good discussion of how to
determine whether you're well-suited to the freelance life in
his book.) How about a compromise solution? Ask your
manager what alternatives exist at your company. You may
be able to set up a telecommuting arrangement, in which you
spend a certain number of days per week at home, or a "work
sharing" arrangement, in which you work fewer hours per
week (for less pay, since they have to pay someone else to do
the work you're not doing), and spend the remainder of the
time however you please. If this is really important to you,
you might even consider switching employers to work for a
company that offers such flexibility; techwr-l can probably
provide you with good leads.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all those sevens,
something just calling out for us to discover it. But I
suspect that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean coincidence." George
Miller, "The Magical Number Seven" (1956)

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