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Senior technical writer vs news editor

The differences between senior technical writers and news editors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a senior technical writer, becoming a news editor takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior technical writer has an average salary of $70,820, which is higher than the $53,822 average annual salary of a news editor.

The top three skills for a senior technical writer include technical documentation, subject matter experts and API. The most important skills for a news editor are news stories, news coverage, and instagram.

Senior technical writer vs news editor overview

Senior Technical WriterNews Editor
Yearly salary$70,820$53,822
Hourly rate$34.05$25.88
Growth rate6%-5%
Number of jobs80,89712,484
Job satisfaction4-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Average age4644
Years of experience24

What does a senior technical writer do?

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.

What does a news editor do?

A News Editor reviews and changes the content of a publication provided by writers and other contributors. They generally work for newspapers, magazines, and websites.

Senior technical writer vs news editor salary

Senior technical writers and news editors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Technical WriterNews Editor
Average salary$70,820$53,822
Salary rangeBetween $54,000 And $92,000Between $35,000 And $81,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANew York, NY
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew York
Best paying companyPayPalApple
Best paying industryTechnologyProfessional

Differences between senior technical writer and news editor education

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

Senior Technical WriterNews Editor
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Most common majorEnglishJournalism
Most common collegeUniversity of HoustonNorthwestern University

Senior technical writer vs news editor demographics

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

Senior Technical WriterNews Editor
Average age4644
Gender ratioMale, 51.8% Female, 48.2%Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5%
Race ratioBlack 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, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 7.3% White, 76.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage11%12%

Differences between senior technical writer and news editor duties and responsibilities

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

News editor example responsibilities.

  • Manage the day-to-day production of the Olympics section as needed.
  • Manage online web CMS, updating metadata, optimizing SEO, editing HTML/CSS, and directing UX/UI updates.
  • Manage content on various CMS systems, including HTML coding and training numerous staff members on various CMS systems.
  • Maintain editorial calendar, manage freelance budget and coordinate with photo editor and designers to help ensure optimal presentation of stories.
  • Cover NFL playoffs and NCAA tournament games.
  • Cover UConn s 2014 NCAA tournament championship run on site.
  • Show more

Senior technical writer vs news editor skills

Common senior technical writer skills
  • Technical Documentation, 7%
  • Subject Matter Experts, 6%
  • API, 4%
  • Java, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • XML, 4%
Common news editor skills
  • News Stories, 10%
  • News Coverage, 8%
  • Instagram, 8%
  • Twitter, 7%
  • SEO, 7%
  • Facebook, 7%

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