Senior Technical Writers are more or less translators for those who are not really familiar with the technical aspect of a product. In other words, they help to bridge the gap between the technical and non-technical users of a digital product. Thinking critically is one of the things they do best and for an average salary varying between $60,000 and $106,000 annually, I'd say they must be good at their jobs.
They delegate tasks to other writers and editors as it is a part of the job and that is because a senior technical writer is a higher-level employee. To get to this level, however, a Senior Technical Writer must have showcased essential writing skills to a certain extent as the job, at its core, involves writing.
Procedures is the most common skill on the resumes of Senior Technical Writers and most of them have majors in English with Business and Writing following closely. A Bachelor's Degree is the degree of choice, which should not come as a surprise, actually, given the nature of the job.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior technical writer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.79 an hour? That's $86,913 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 4,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many senior technical writers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed imagination, technical skills and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior technical writer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.2% of senior technical writers included procedures, while 6.1% of resumes included technical documentation, and 4.8% of resumes included subject matter experts. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior technical writer job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior technical writers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
If you're interested in becoming a senior technical writer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 47.6% of senior technical writers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 29.0% of senior technical writers have master's degrees. Even though most senior technical writers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior technical writer. When we researched the most common majors for a senior technical writer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior technical writer resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior technical writer. In fact, many senior technical writer jobs require experience in a role such as technical writer. Meanwhile, many senior technical writers also have previous career experience in roles such as technical writer and editor or document specialist.
