Salaries for New Prof/Tech Writers with Hard Science Minor?

[Barker, Thomas]

This is a very interesting thread to me.  We're proposing a new BA here at Texas Tech that will have a minor as a major component of the value of the TC degree.  The idea, coming from recent scholarship in TC program design, is that students need to have a domain area in which they're proficient.  For example, our poster child graduate pulled down $55K a year in Austin straight out of college with a BA in Tech Comm and a minor in Industrial Engineering.  

Our university offers majors in just about every area, many of which would provide TC majors with plenty of background to talk the talk with engineers, programmers, physicists, doctors, managers, and so on. Whether this strategy will work is something I'm hoping to track as our new BA (in the last stages of approval) gets underway.  

Tommy

Dr. Thomas Barker
Manager, STC Academic Community
Director of Technical Writing, Texas Tech University
thomas.barker at ttu.edu
http://www.stc-ac.org

The STC Academic Community serves STC members worldwide who work as educators and researchers in colleges and universities.  These responsibilities involve areas of curriculum design, current practices in technical communication, research and research funding, and academic workplace and professional issues.

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-stc-ac-264184 at lists.stc.org [mailto:bounce-stc-ac-264184 at lists.stc.org] On Behalf Of Bell Neice
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 3:38 PM
To: stc-ac
Subject: [stc-ac] Re: Salaries for New Prof/Tech Writers with Hard Science Minor?

I don't know of any actual data about suggested minors for technical writing 
majors.

Anecdotally, I would say a computer sciences or programming minor might help 
if you are heading toward software or hardware documentation.   An 
engineering minor (is there such a thing as an engineering minor) or an 
engineering major also seems to open the doors at a lot of companies.

Biology or other sciences minor might not do as well for someone looking to 
get into Medical or Pharmacy writing.  Companies that are looking for 
science writers look at candidates who have a science degree, and they don't 
tend to value the writing part of technical writing.

It also depends on what part of the country you want to live in, and what 
companies are available there.

From: "Morgan Saarikoski" <msaarikoski at hotmail.com>
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To: "stc-ac" <stc-ac at lists.stc.org>
Subject: [stc-ac] Re: Salaries for New Prof/Tech Writers with Hard Science 
Minor?
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:16:08 -0400
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I can't give a dollar amount (money depends on who you work for), but I 
would say that a minor in computer science, or any of the biology and 
engineering majors is a big plus as a tech writer!  Even a minor in Graphic 
design will give a writer an edge.  Any of these will add to your 
marketability.

Morgan Saarikoski

System Support Engineer

Harris Corp. (GCSD)

Palm Bay, FL






From:  Andrew Hahn <hahna at uwstout.edu>
Reply-To:  "stc-ac" <stc-ac at lists.stc.org>
To:  "stc-ac" <stc-ac at lists.stc.org>
Subject:  [stc-ac] Re: Salaries for New Prof/Tech Writers with Hard Science 
Minor?
Date:  Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:38:28 -0500
 >I would be interested in this as well, as I am a technical
 >communication major with a concentration in computer science.  I
 >anticipate graduating in May '08.
 >
 >Andy Hahn
 >UW-Stout
 >
 >Janice Norton wrote:
 >>Is there any data out there about whether or not a science and/or
 >>computers minor adds to the marketability of Professional/Technical
 >>Communication majors and if so, how much, i.e., are there any

 >>dollar
 >>figures? We want to properly advise our students about their minors
 >>if it
 >>makes a difference to their marketability.
 >>
 >>---
 >>You are currently subscribed to STC Academic Community as:
 >>hahna at uwstout.edu. To make changes in your subscription via the
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