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Contract writer vs senior technical writer

The differences between contract writers and senior technical writers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a contract writer and a senior technical writer. Additionally, a contract writer has an average salary of $91,260, which is higher than the $70,820 average annual salary of a senior technical writer.

The top three skills for a contract writer include web content, SEO and press releases. The most important skills for a senior technical writer are technical documentation, subject matter experts, and API.

Contract writer vs senior technical writer overview

Contract WriterSenior Technical Writer
Yearly salary$91,260$70,820
Hourly rate$43.88$34.05
Growth rate4%6%
Number of jobs23,67180,897
Job satisfaction-4
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age4246
Years of experience22

Contract writer vs senior technical writer salary

Contract writers and senior technical writers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Contract WriterSenior Technical Writer
Average salary$91,260$70,820
Salary rangeBetween $61,000 And $136,000Between $54,000 And $92,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-PayPal
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between contract writer and senior technical writer education

There are a few differences between a contract writer and a senior technical writer in terms of educational background:

Contract WriterSenior Technical Writer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorEnglishEnglish
Most common collegeUniversity of HoustonUniversity of Houston

Contract writer vs senior technical writer demographics

Here are the differences between contract writers' and senior technical writers' demographics:

Contract WriterSenior Technical Writer
Average age4246
Gender ratioMale, 38.5% Female, 61.5%Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage16%11%

Differences between contract writer and senior technical writer duties and responsibilities

Contract writer example responsibilities.

  • Manage the proposal lifecycle, including RFP analysis, regular communications, proposal development and production consistent with branding strategies.
  • Manage the proposal lifecycle, including RFP analysis, regular communications, proposal development and production consistent with branding strategies.
  • Interview subject matter experts and process source data to write biographies and profiles.
  • Post social media and hospital promotional/patient testimonial YouTube videos.

Senior technical writer example responsibilities.

  • Manage and participate in logistics programs, and commercial and DOD technical manual complements.
  • Manage team activities for internal and client documentation development that supports the SDLC methodology.
  • Lead team to deliver the first simultaneous release of the product stack across UNIX platforms.
  • Manage multiple SharePoint sites for active documentation projects and resulting archives to meet customer version control and compliance requirements.
  • Identify and initiate wholesale computer upgrade to accommodate new CMS while allocating and managing staff resources devote to developing the software.
  • Design and develop standalone and context-sensitive help with RoboHelp HTML, enhancing application usability.
  • Show more

Contract writer vs senior technical writer skills

Common contract writer skills
  • Web Content, 15%
  • SEO, 12%
  • Press Releases, 12%
  • Blog Posts, 12%
  • Website Copy, 4%
  • Copywriting, 4%
Common senior technical writer skills
  • Technical Documentation, 7%
  • Subject Matter Experts, 6%
  • API, 4%
  • Java, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • XML, 4%

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