STC 2008 Salary Database — See Salaries for Technical Writers in Your State

Tom Johnson — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:20:52 +0000

The 2008 Salary Database released by the STC this month provides an impressive amount of salary and industry information in easy-to-read, attractive charts and graphics. It’s kind of mind blowing how informative and professional this report is.

The depth and quantity of location-specific information available is especially useful to job seekers, employees or consultants negotiating salaries, or technical writers looking to relocate. The salary database will help you evaluate whether you’re being paid a fair salary for your location and industry. Note that the report covers only the U.S. and draws upon the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are a few highlights:

U.S. businesses employed 47,460 technical writers in 2008, 720 more than in 2007, marking an increase of 1.5 percent (p.6)

The entire labor market reported a loss of 532,000 jobs from 2007 to 2008. (p.5)

Median salary for all technical writers across all industries in 2008 was $61,620. Persons in the 90th percentile received $97,460, which was a median increase of 2 percent. (p.5)

The largest metropolitan market for technical writers remains the Greater Washington, DC area with 3,280 practicing professionals. (P.6)

The states with the most technical writers are California, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan and Maryland. (P.8)

Highest paying states include: Washington, California, New Mexico, and Massachusetts. (P.11)

Here’s a chart showing where most of the technical writers in the U.S. are employed.

Where most of the technical writers are in the United States

The bulk of the report is in the specific salaries and statistics for your area. For Utah, in 2007, here’s what the salaries looked like:

Average salary: $53,360
Salary range: $32,830 to $75,480
Number of technical writers employed: 800

In 2008, the numbers dropped a bit:

Average salary: $51,500
Salary range: #32,320 to $74,500
Number of technical writers employed: 690

From 2007 to 2008, the number of jobs dropped 13.8 percent. The average hourly wage for both 2007 and 2008 was about the same, ranging from 25 to 35 dollars.

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Interactive Google Map of Where I Work

Tom Johnson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:21:29 +0000

I recently helped added some map functionality to a blog focused on Bellingham real estate to give users a better sense of the various neighborhood locations in their area. I used the Google XML maps plugin because it seemed to work best, and ever since then I’ve been playing with Google maps.

Mapping technology has come a long way in the last several years. You can now embed a rich Google map directly into your blog or site, draw boundaries on the map, add landmarkers, and so on — all without almost any technical knowledge. Here’s a map of the area I work in downtown Salt Lake City. Click on each of the squares to read a little blurb about that area.

Where I work

I don’t use maps much in my job as a technical writer, but maps are commonly used in just about everything else. Every time you have a meeting (for example, an STC meeting), you can embed a Google map on the website. If you have a garage sale, embed a map to your house. Planning a barbecue? Embed a map to the park or area you’re having it. I biked a long trail this weekend that I’m eager to add to Google maps. I also have a friend who geomaps trails all the time.

Google maps are fun to play with. To create your own boundaries, go to http://maps.google.com, sign in, and click My Maps. Then click Create a New Map and draw the appropriate boundaries with the available tools.

To embed your custom Google map on your blog, install the Google XML maps plugin, configure the settings, and then just add a link to your custom map (on your custom map, click the link button in the upper-right to get the link to the map). The plugin automatically converts the link into an embedded map.

The ease of inline maps with WordPress is quite cool. I can imagine a ton of situations where the map can make it easy for people to understand directions and locations — much more than the antiquated way of providing an address and letting people unfold a giant paper map.

I'd Rather Be Writing » locations

STC 2008 Salary Database — See Salaries for Technical Writers in Your State

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Interactive Google Map of Where I Work

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