Earlier this month I received an email from someone wanting to know what the Technical Writer market is like in Montana.
Is it concentrated in a particular area of the state? This person says he primarily develops Help systems.
Thoughts?
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2 comments:
As you can see by the diverse group of STC members in Montana, the opportunities are here if you are willing to be a jack-of-all-trades in the world of communications. We are spread across the state, in smaller towns and larger cities. We are responsible for everything from proposals to user manuals/help to web content and everything in between. We work for the state and federal government, university system, and private companies.
It seems many of the jobs in technical communication evolve from other titles over time and more often than not, are advertised by word of mouth and local newspapers rather than more public forms of advertising. Simply because of more opportunities, there seem to be more positions in the larger cities.
According to last year’s STC salary survey, technical communicators in Montana make about two-thirds of what STC members in other states make for similar jobs. Of course, not all Montana residents currently involved in the field of technical communications in some form are members of STC, but this year we only have 27 members statewide. That’s not very many given the population of the state is approaching 1 million.
I think Lori summed up the market in Montana nicely. I would add that it is sometimes a challenge to flush out technical writing jobs in Montana because of the job titles associated with a job opening. In addition, if you are committed to living in a certain area of the state and don't want to relocate, the options become smaller.
We had a temporary employee working for us last fall who moved to Butte from Denver to be around her family. She has a masters degree in technical communication and had owned a small web company at one time. She has found it very difficult to find a permanent job in Butte. So I think sometimes you have to be willing to commute to the job.
One of the benefits of being a member of STC Montana is that we all look out for each other, and we share what we know when a job opening does come up. We may be small in number but we're a feisty bunch, and we advocate for our profession.
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