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The differences between engineering technical writers and content writers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an engineering technical writer and a content writer. Additionally, an engineering technical writer has an average salary of $64,966, which is higher than the $58,918 average annual salary of a content writer.
The top three skills for an engineering technical writer include API, technical documentation and java. The most important skills for a content writer are digital marketing, wordpress, and web content.
| Engineering Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Yearly salary | $64,966 | $58,918 |
| Hourly rate | $31.23 | $28.33 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 128,393 | 19,621 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An engineering technical writer specializes in producing engineering reports and documentation. They primarily communicate and coordinate with engineering teams to gather and analyze different forms of data, using the findings as a basis for writing materials. They may also liaise with clients, identifying the documents that they need, and submitting them to them while adhering to the company's policies and regulations. Furthermore, there are instances when an engineering technical writer must develop presentations and graphs, presenting reports to clients or company officials.
The job of content writers is to create the best possible written or visual content ranging from blog posts to press releases. They produce the content for various types of websites, including social networks, news aggregators, and e-commerce sites. The job of content writers is not limited to writing, but also ensuring that the content connects or is relevant to the website pages. They are expected to set the tone of the website and revise the content upon customers' or clients' requests. They are also responsible for assisting in the creation of style guides.
Engineering technical writers and content writers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Engineering Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Average salary | $64,966 | $58,918 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $89,000 | Between $40,000 And $84,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Cisco |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Finance |
There are a few differences between an engineering technical writer and a content writer in terms of educational background:
| Engineering Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Business | English |
| Most common college | University of Houston | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between engineering technical writers' and content writers' demographics:
| Engineering Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 64.0% Female, 36.0% | Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 8.6% White, 71.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 6.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 16% |