Technical writers/trainers are responsible for preparing instruction manuals and articles with the main goal to communicate complex, technical information more easily. They determine the needs of technical documentation users and work with technical staff to make products and instructions easier to use. They also write or revise supporting content for products and collect user feedback to update and improve content. Technical writers/trainers earn an average salary of $71,000 annually or $34 per hour.
Technical writers/trainers are professionals who understand and communicate the technical aspects of a digital product to both highly technical and non-technical users. They continuously edit and revise content to ensure users have the best possible experience with a changing digital product. They also create documentation and education materials to boost user experience on a digital platform.
Technical writers/trainers typically hold a bachelor's degree in English, communication, journalism, software engineering, or other related fields. They are expected to have some years of experience as a writer or in a similar role. Some employers prefer candidates who are experts at writing for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Technical Writer/Trainer Overview
Technical Writer/Trainer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a technical writer/trainer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.58 an hour? That's $71,932 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 4,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Technical Writer/Trainer Do
There are certain skills that many technical writer/trainers 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 detail oriented, imagination and teamwork.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a technical writer/trainer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.3% of technical writer/trainers included training materials, while 8.5% of resumes included procedures, and 6.0% of resumes included online. 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 technical writer/trainer job title. But what industry to start with? Most technical writer/trainers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Technical Writer/Trainer
If you're interested in becoming a technical writer/trainer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 60.8% of technical writer/trainers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.8% of technical writer/trainers have master's degrees. Even though most technical writer/trainers 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 technical writer/trainer. When we researched the most common majors for a technical writer/trainer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on technical writer/trainer resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a technical writer/trainer. In fact, many technical writer/trainer jobs require experience in a role such as technical writer. Meanwhile, many technical writer/trainers also have previous career experience in roles such as senior technical writer or trainer.
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Technical Writer/Trainer Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a technical writer/trainer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as technical writer, progress to a title such as business analyst and then eventually end up with the title product marketing manager.
Technical Writer/Trainer Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Technical Writer/Trainer
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
XXX Analyst, Training Technical Writer Analyst, Training Technical Writer | XXX XXX | 06/05/2021 06/05/2021 | $50,00006/05/2021 $50,000 |
Randstad AI Technical Writer and Training Lead AI Technical Writer and Training Lead | Randstad Randstad | 01/18/2021 01/18/2021 | $114,78501/18/2021 $114,785 |
PNM Resources Customer Experience Training/Knowledge Supervisor and Technical Writer Customer Experience Training/Knowledge Supervisor and Technical Writer | PNM Resources PNM Resources | 03/03/2020 03/03/2020 | $52,84403/03/2020 $52,844 |
Mettler-Toledo, LLC Regional Technical Writer and Training Specialist Regional Technical Writer and Training Specialist | Mettler-Toledo, LLC Mettler-Toledo, LLC | 08/02/2016 08/02/2016 | $73,38208/02/2016 $73,382 |
Knorr Brake Company LLC Technical Writer/Trainer Technical Writer/Trainer | Knorr Brake Company LLC Knorr Brake Company LLC | 04/23/2015 04/23/2015 | $87,69104/23/2015 $87,691 |
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Top Colleges for Technical Writer/Trainers
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
3. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Private
4. University of Houston
Houston, TX • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY • Private
7. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
8. Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI • Private
9. Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
10. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Online Courses For Technical Writer/Trainer That You May Like
Learn a proven strategy for writing software docu in GitHub wiki based on the 12 main principles of technical writing!...
Learn to establish yourself as a manager and lead your technical team to success. We are PDU Accredited...
Technical Writing: How to Become a Profitable, Reliable, and Successful Technical Writer...
Top Skills For a Technical Writer/Trainer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.3% of technical writer/trainers listed training materials on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and imagination are important as well.
- Training Materials, 14.3%
- Procedures, 8.5%
- Online, 6.0%
- Training Programs, 5.8%
- Technical Documentation, 4.9%
- Other Skills, 60.5% See All Technical Writer/Trainer Skills
How Do Technical Writer/Trainer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Technical Writer/Trainer Employers
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