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The differences between senior 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 a senior technical writer and a content writer. Additionally, a senior technical writer has an average salary of $70,820, which is higher than the $58,918 average annual salary of a content writer.
The top three skills for a senior technical writer include technical documentation, subject matter experts and API. The most important skills for a content writer are digital marketing, wordpress, and web content.
| Senior Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Yearly salary | $70,820 | $58,918 |
| Hourly rate | $34.05 | $28.33 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 80,897 | 19,621 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A senior technical writer's role is to oversee the progress within a team or department, ensuring quality and timeliness. It is their responsibility to delegate tasks, set deadlines, carry out corrective measures on any issues, and implement the company's regulations and policies. There are also instances when they participate in producing written content, even editing and reviewing materials of the staff. As someone with more experience, a senior technical writer must encourage and lead fellow writers, shaping them into valuable assets.
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.
Senior technical writers and content writers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Average salary | $70,820 | $58,918 |
| Salary range | Between $54,000 And $92,000 | Between $40,000 And $84,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | PayPal | Cisco |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior technical writer and a content writer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | English | English |
| Most common college | University of Houston | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior technical writers' and content writers' demographics:
| Senior Technical Writer | Content Writer | |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2% | Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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% |