Author’s note: A previous version of this article was first published several years ago in the publication of the Atlanta Writing Resource Center.

The many changes in our technologically oriented society have led some to doubt the value of a liberal arts education and the literary skills it builds — but it has in fact led to a fresh need for them. Writers are in high demand to bridge the gap between the scientist/technician and the average person who uses their wares.

Chip Jones, President of the Atlanta chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, defines technical writing as “explaining technical information in terms that are easy to understand.”

After graduating from college with a degree in English literature, Jones went a route familiar to literary types: “I tried high school teaching but decided it was not for me.” So he returned to school for a graduate degree.

“I wanted to use my writing skills,” Jones continues, “so while I was working toward a graduate degree at Chapel Hill, I wrote to several different computer firms asking if they would take a summer intern and one accepted. I discovered I loved it. The only thing I knew about computers at the time was how to use a PC and that’s how I got the job.”

Though he later took an introductory college course in computers he says that, “almost everything I know about them I have learned on-the-job. My field is software-oriented and I write to help the customer get his or her job done with the least amount of hassle.” Besides writing talent per se, “the ability to learn new things is the major prerequisite for a technical writer,” he thinks.

Jones has been a technical writer for five years. In that time, he believes, there has been “more realization that documentation is part of the product so the role of the technical communicator is more respected now. Companies have learned that bad writing can hurt sales. Also, there’s a trend, at least in progressive software companies, to include writers in the development process.”

Naturally, as the market for technical writers has grown so have the educational facilities to teach the skill. “There are lots of technical writing courses, classes, seminars, primarily focusing on writing ability and familiarity with computers,” Jones says. “Computers are, of course, not the only area that needs technical writers. Engineering, medicine, writing for PC magazines — are just a few examples of technical writing.”

Kim Brundidge is the Manager of Corporate Communications for Coin Banking Systems, a company that writes software for the banking industry. Her start as a technical writer was something of a happy accident. “Thirteen years ago,” she says, “I was at a software company and they needed someone to write standards and procedures for their programming department.”

Brundidge defines technical writing as “taking a particular field like computers, science, engineering, or manufacturing, and translating it into simple language.” Her own technical writing has “been in the computer industry, writing reference and instructional material.”

She thinks the computer industry is particularly rich in opportunity for people who can bring literary skill to the technical world. “You can satisfy a lot of leanings, there’s print, hyper-text, animation and video, or you can create documentation that’s part of the software,” she explains.

Diana Margaret also writes primarily for software firms but her conditions of employment are different because she is a contract/free-lance writer. “Some of the agencies that place programmers also place writers,” she explains, “The agency keeps a writer’s résumé on file. They send the person out to be interviewed by the client company. I’ve also worked directly for a client company. Working direct is like freelance. That type of contract is hard to get these days because of changes in the tax laws. Most client companies prefer getting writers through an agency.”

The biggest market for technical writing is “in software,” Margaret says, and that is where most of her work has been. “Client companies usually do software and need someone to write instructions for purchasers on how to use it. Also, in some large companies, they need documentation just for their own employees.”

She has also done technical writing in the medical field. “The software documentation I have done is usually step-by-step whereas medical writing is more informative and educational,” she remarks. “But that’s a very big generalization, because writers are needed for instructional materials on how to use medical equipment and how to take different medicines.”

Margaret sees being a technical writer as “almost like being a detective. You have to like to figure things out and you need to like explaining them to others. Being good with language is a given. You must be somewhat independent but you also need to be able to fit in at different places.”

While the educational programs directed specifically for technical writing is growing, the area is, Margaret believes, still open to nearly anyone who has the right temperament, personality, and the requisite ability to write.

“I know one woman who had a Master’s in Divinity and was doing social work before she started as a technical writer,” Margaret says. “People come from all kinds of backgrounds. I myself have no degree at all and only two years of liberal arts. I got into it as a secretary working on a text processor that ran on a mainframe computer.”

]She discovered she liked it for several reasons: “I like the pay and learning new things. With every contract I get I learn new things. I’ve met a lot of bright, interesting people.”

Nancy Carson is Director of Marketing and Sales for W.E. Carson Associates, a 22-year-old data processing consulting firm which places technical writers. “We serve most major firms in Atlanta,” Carson says, “And we have quite a strong business in placing technical writers. Our firm’s niche is data processing so most of the technical writers we place deal with that. Most of the time a technical writer is called in to write user procedures for new software programs. Or they could be needed to write standards and procedures for a certain department within a company. When a client hires a contractor through our agency they want an experienced writer and we prefer writers who have documented a variety of software programs and have experience with today’s most popular publishing tools such as Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, Page Maker, and Ventura.”

She thinks client firms are becoming more demanding with regard to the backgrounds of those they contract: “These days, clients prefer communications-related degrees, such as English, Journalism, Technical Writing itself, or Education.”

Besides software, Carson says, “The busiest areas for technical writers are high-tech applications, networking, satellite communications, case tools, and multi-media.”

Steve Knapp is chair of the Society for Technical Communications’ Freelancer’s and Contractor’s Committees. The difference between the two is “largely a matter of semantics,” Knapp says, “But free-lancers usually work directly for clients and contractors work for the client through an agency.”

The committee includes people of varying backgrounds: “some had communications background and have an aptitude for technical writing, some had technical backgrounds and discovered they could write.”

Knapp himself has been a technical writer for six years and freelancing the last two-and-a-half. The nice things about freelancing and/or contracting? “You get to work for a variety of clients and your work is not pigeon-holed,” he answers. “If you are good and manage to stay consistently employed, you make better money than technical writers who just work for one place.”

But it does have a downside. “You have to provide all your own benefits and you have to do extra paperwork that is usually done by the employer,” Knapp says. “You assume greater risks. In other words, you might go for awhile with no work at all, especially at times like our current recession.”

A person wanting to work as a technical writer should, Knapp says, “hone writing skills, along with research and interviewing skills.”

Technical writers contemplating the independence of contract or freelancing should “get involved in groups like our committee to learn about the pros and cons. The time to think about it is before you choose to go contract or freelance, not when you’re out of a job.”

Like most of the people interviewed for this article, Knapp sees the position of technical writer as improving. “The job title is more prominent,” he says. “Now more people are setting out to be technical writers; in the past many just fell into it.”

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