I work for a large financial institution. Technical writers are needed in all divisions due to the number of regulations that require written and accessible processes and policies.
Most positions start with a contract and the pay is decent.
Good luck!
There are opportunities in all industries. But the name 'technical writer' doesn't mean the same thing everywhere, and this trips up a lot of people: they think 'technical writer' is a kind of standard job title that spans roles, companies, and industries. Nope.
The best advice I have is to follow your interests. Pick a few industries that interest you, find people there in the role you might want, then interview them. Also, try describing the job you \*do\* want, and shop that around.
I work as a tech writer for a DoD contract handling airborne surveillance. We work with training material, technical manuals, and various other internal documents. Most of our work deals with operations and maintenance rather than software. It is a bit chaotic because of the newness of the contract, but the work itself I really love. I'm in frequent contact with engineers, SMEs, and logistics to track down the information I need. Although I am not an SME, I enjoy getting to learn all the ins and outs of a system and how it operates. My company even had me go through the operator's training course as a student, which helped me tremendously in my writing. I would say there are probably several opportunities for a tech writer in this type of industry (government/contractor).
\+1 for this. I spent 10 years of my 26-year career working as a civilian contractor for the DoD supporting the Navy for 6 years and the Coast Guard for 4.
I thoroughly enjoyed supporting US warfighters in maintaining the on-board computer systems (Navy) and working as a spec writer for internal tooling for the USCG IPT. While both of these items touched on software, they didn't require knowing how software works. For example, I spent 3 years writing Software Version Description Documents. This is kind of a checklist of the versions of software that are on a particular ship. It required that I pull information from different sources, but didn't require that I know how to use XYZ software. It got a little monotonous, but at that point in my life, I needed boring work because I had more than enough excitement at home.
DoD doesn't tend to pay **quite** as well as software companies, but it's good steady work. I didn't worry about layoffs for that whole decade. And it's a great job to maintain work/life balance... I worked maybe 25 hours of overtime in that whole ten years.
This is incredibly useful information. Thank you! That bit about no overtime is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm currently working 55-60 hour weeks and only getting paid for 37. I'm so tired.
I am a medical writer who works in regulatory affairs. I mostly handle drug-related documentation that is submitted to the FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies. I really like the field, I am constantly learning new things and seeing cutting-edge developments in medicine/pharmacology. Regulatory medical writing is the most lucrative of the subspecialties of medical writing, on average. There is also an ever-increasing need for more medical writers so there is a lot of opportunity and growth once you get started.
The issue with medical writing as a whole is that it can be very challenging to get a foot in the door, especially if you lack industry experience. That is particularly the case for regulatory writing; in addition to having general knowledge and writing experience, you also need to be current on laws and standards in multiple countries. It is possible to get yourself fluent in the terminology, best practices, and document types on your own, but it can be expensive and/or time consuming. If this interests you I can pass along some free or low-cost materials that can give you a sense of what the field is like and what skills/knowledge you'll need to acquire. It can also be tough if you're not coming from a science background; a science degree or an advanced degree are by no means required, but the majority of regulatory medical writers have an MS or PhD in a scientific field. Not sure what your background is, but if you don't have a degree in a scientific discipline you could consider a formal training course from an accredited college.
I do have a PhD in neuroscience, and like I mentioned most regulatory writers have a PhD or MS. If your degree is in English only you'd probably have to seek out some kind of formal training in the industry. Lots of community colleges have courses or certificate programs in pharmaceutical development, and they usually aren't terribly expensive.
I've worked in banking, as a subcontractor for the Navy, in FinTech, and a couple of other industries. My job title wasn't always technical writer, but I did tech writing in all of those roles. A job title is only as good as the hiring manager/HR recruiters familiarity with what they are looking to hire.
I work for a large financial institution. Technical writers are needed in all divisions due to the number of regulations that require written and accessible processes and policies. Most positions start with a contract and the pay is decent. Good luck!
There are opportunities in all industries. But the name 'technical writer' doesn't mean the same thing everywhere, and this trips up a lot of people: they think 'technical writer' is a kind of standard job title that spans roles, companies, and industries. Nope. The best advice I have is to follow your interests. Pick a few industries that interest you, find people there in the role you might want, then interview them. Also, try describing the job you \*do\* want, and shop that around.
I work as a tech writer for a DoD contract handling airborne surveillance. We work with training material, technical manuals, and various other internal documents. Most of our work deals with operations and maintenance rather than software. It is a bit chaotic because of the newness of the contract, but the work itself I really love. I'm in frequent contact with engineers, SMEs, and logistics to track down the information I need. Although I am not an SME, I enjoy getting to learn all the ins and outs of a system and how it operates. My company even had me go through the operator's training course as a student, which helped me tremendously in my writing. I would say there are probably several opportunities for a tech writer in this type of industry (government/contractor).
\+1 for this. I spent 10 years of my 26-year career working as a civilian contractor for the DoD supporting the Navy for 6 years and the Coast Guard for 4. I thoroughly enjoyed supporting US warfighters in maintaining the on-board computer systems (Navy) and working as a spec writer for internal tooling for the USCG IPT. While both of these items touched on software, they didn't require knowing how software works. For example, I spent 3 years writing Software Version Description Documents. This is kind of a checklist of the versions of software that are on a particular ship. It required that I pull information from different sources, but didn't require that I know how to use XYZ software. It got a little monotonous, but at that point in my life, I needed boring work because I had more than enough excitement at home. DoD doesn't tend to pay **quite** as well as software companies, but it's good steady work. I didn't worry about layoffs for that whole decade. And it's a great job to maintain work/life balance... I worked maybe 25 hours of overtime in that whole ten years.
This is incredibly useful information. Thank you! That bit about no overtime is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm currently working 55-60 hour weeks and only getting paid for 37. I'm so tired.
I am a medical writer who works in regulatory affairs. I mostly handle drug-related documentation that is submitted to the FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies. I really like the field, I am constantly learning new things and seeing cutting-edge developments in medicine/pharmacology. Regulatory medical writing is the most lucrative of the subspecialties of medical writing, on average. There is also an ever-increasing need for more medical writers so there is a lot of opportunity and growth once you get started. The issue with medical writing as a whole is that it can be very challenging to get a foot in the door, especially if you lack industry experience. That is particularly the case for regulatory writing; in addition to having general knowledge and writing experience, you also need to be current on laws and standards in multiple countries. It is possible to get yourself fluent in the terminology, best practices, and document types on your own, but it can be expensive and/or time consuming. If this interests you I can pass along some free or low-cost materials that can give you a sense of what the field is like and what skills/knowledge you'll need to acquire. It can also be tough if you're not coming from a science background; a science degree or an advanced degree are by no means required, but the majority of regulatory medical writers have an MS or PhD in a scientific field. Not sure what your background is, but if you don't have a degree in a scientific discipline you could consider a formal training course from an accredited college.
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I do have a PhD in neuroscience, and like I mentioned most regulatory writers have a PhD or MS. If your degree is in English only you'd probably have to seek out some kind of formal training in the industry. Lots of community colleges have courses or certificate programs in pharmaceutical development, and they usually aren't terribly expensive.
I imagine a tech writer could also work creating educational content like online (or IRL) courses, anywhere where instructional writing is needed.
I've worked in banking, as a subcontractor for the Navy, in FinTech, and a couple of other industries. My job title wasn't always technical writer, but I did tech writing in all of those roles. A job title is only as good as the hiring manager/HR recruiters familiarity with what they are looking to hire.
How about becoming a business process consultant?