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Technical writing consultant vs senior technical writer

The differences between technical writing consultants and senior technical 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 technical writing consultant and a senior technical writer. Additionally, a technical writing consultant has an average salary of $82,383, which is higher than the $70,820 average annual salary of a senior technical writer.

The top three skills for a technical writing consultant include framemaker, R and user manuals. The most important skills for a senior technical writer are technical documentation, subject matter experts, and API.

Technical writing consultant vs senior technical writer overview

Technical Writing ConsultantSenior Technical Writer
Yearly salary$82,383$70,820
Hourly rate$39.61$34.05
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs90,10080,897
Job satisfaction-4
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age4646
Years of experience22

Technical writing consultant vs senior technical writer salary

Technical writing consultants and senior technical writers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Technical Writing ConsultantSenior Technical Writer
Average salary$82,383$70,820
Salary rangeBetween $59,000 And $114,000Between $54,000 And $92,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-PayPal
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between technical writing consultant and senior technical writer education

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

Technical Writing ConsultantSenior Technical Writer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorEnglishEnglish
Most common collegeUniversity of HoustonUniversity of Houston

Technical writing consultant vs senior technical writer demographics

Here are the differences between technical writing consultants' and senior technical writers' demographics:

Technical Writing ConsultantSenior Technical Writer
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 47.9% Female, 52.1%Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 71.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%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%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between technical writing consultant and senior technical writer duties and responsibilities

Technical writing consultant example responsibilities.

  • Identify and initiate wholesale computer upgrade to accommodate new CMS while allocating and managing staff resources devote to developing the software.
  • Perform QA testing of the GUI, returning valuable feedback to the design team via the TestTrack defect tracking system.
  • Create accompanying diagrams using Visio.
  • Develop and design business processes utilizing Visio and other tools.
  • Define data interchange requirements, and develop API references and data management requirements in support of telecommunication company acquisition and mergers.
  • Develop sophisticated PowerPoint presentations for cross-departmental meetings.
  • Show more

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

Technical writing consultant vs senior technical writer skills

Common technical writing consultant skills
  • FrameMaker, 8%
  • R, 7%
  • User Manuals, 7%
  • Technical Documentation, 6%
  • Web Site, 5%
  • XML, 5%
Common senior technical writer skills
  • Technical Documentation, 7%
  • Subject Matter Experts, 6%
  • API, 4%
  • Java, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • XML, 4%

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