one search. all jobs. Indeed
 
 
 

Forums > Job > Technical Writer
 

Career advice for a former journalist turned tech writer
Get new comments by email
You can cancel email alerts at anytime.
Comments (1)

JDallas in Tacoma, Washington

16 months ago

Hello,

I'm a technical writer with four years experience creating help guides, support pages, and Web content.

My current contract is coming to an end in a few months, and
I need advice about how to advance my career. I've been a professional writer for almost 10 years, having worked in the newspaper industry before coming into high tech. I also have a Journalism degree and a technical writing certificate. However, many of the tech writing jobs in the Seattle area are looking for candidates with extensive programming/engineering backgrounds.

I would love advice from veteran tech writers about how I should proceed.

1. Is there still a market for non-engineers in tech writing? I'm wondering if this is a local or industry trend.

2. Do I need to pursue a computer science degree to remain competitive?

3. Can I still leverage my writing and editing experience as a major selling point, or are communication skills no longer as important as dev experience?

Your help is greatly appreciated. At this point, I'm seriously considering about whether I should stay in the field or not.

- Was this comment helpful? Yes / No Reply - Report abuse

Your Reply

change location - create a profile
User Name
 in Beverly Hills, California
Your Comment
Your Email Address
Enter the numbers you see in the box
CAPTCHA Image

Be Reasonable! Be Polite! Please read our Terms of Service and Forum Rules, where it notes that you are responsible for your own comments. You may post anonymously - but we reserve the right to remove inappropriate comments at any time.

RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to this discussion as an RSS feed.