Who are Technical Writers?

& Chapters 1 to 6 from The Practice of Technical and Scientific Communication (Luz and Storms, Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 1997).

After I read these six chapters, I just thought that all these specific fields of technical writing are alike in their principles. Even if you are specialized in aerospace, engineering, manufacturing, environmental sciences, hazardous waste management or computer industry, you will always come to the conclusion that you are a part of the same business scheme.

Being a technical writer in business fields requires high flexibility and creativity. You will have to deal with different audiences (internal and external) and purposes (see below). Therefore, you will rather be called a “technical communicator” since you will need excellent written, oral and visual skills (e.g.: you will have to deal with a great variety of documents).

There are three kinds of communication:

1/Corporate communication

You will actively participate in creating a corporation’s identity (position statements, policy guides, strategic plans of positions, etc). You will have great responsibilities since you will stand as a spokesman of the company.

This includes press relations, employee communications, local community relations, government affairs at local and federal levels, environmental and safety affairs, financial relations, training programs, exhibits, conventions, trade shows.

2/Marketing communication

This is basically the same as corporate communication but with a stronger emphasis on sales and advertising.

3/Corporate-based communication

This provides the readers with information that they need in order to do their tasks (procedures, instructions) as well as informing the customers with the company’s performance.

In the context of economic growth, the scientific and technical information is steadily expanding, thus increasing the demand for technical writers. Before engineers had to develop writing and editing skills on the job, today it has turned out to be the contrary: technical writers are to familiarize themselves with the technical skills necessary for the job.

Restricting oneself to pure technical writing is restricting one’s possibilities of advancement. Because of downsizing, small companies prefer to hire freelance or temporary technical writers. For instance, aerospace industry is prone to cyclic fluctuations in employment. To secure your position, you have to favor a multidisciplinary education: you will need a broad background in communication and a specific training in the field you will work for. You need to develop multiple skills and learn new skills on a continuous basis to be more marketable.

There are two categories: the technicians and the managers. The greater the managerial responsibilities, the higher the salary. To move into management ranks, technicians have to move to marketing, public relations, human resources or sales.

European approach

While reading these chapters, I was quite astonished that there were no allusions made to technical translation. I guess this book is written by Americans and designed to an American public and since English is spoken worldwide, there is no big need for American companies to emphasize on multicultural communication and technical translation. I have a major in International Business and a minor in technical translation (English-German-Spanish) at the Foreign Languages Department of my university back home. In France, it is of high importance to link business with foreign languages. Through several internships in Europe, I was able to see that foreign languages are a key part of corporate communication. Any position you will apply for in a company will require fluency in at least two foreign languages.