Jean Hollis Weber
From 30 May through 31 August 2004, I conducted a survey of Australian technical communicators regarding current salaries (or hourly rates) in relation to experience, qualifications and other factors. The survey was open to technical communicators living in Australia. It was advertised on the Internet through the Technical Writers' List, the Australian Technical Writers' List, the STC Australia Chapter, the ASTC NSW, the ASTC Victoria, and various smaller mailing lists in Perth, Brisbane, and elsewhere.
The survey was sponsored by the Society for Technical Communication (STC) Australia Chapter and was conducted using the online service Surveymonkey at http://www.surveymonkey.com.
This article summarises some of the key results. I have not attempted to draw conclusions or do any type of statistical analysis from the data presented. Results are also posted on the website.
A total of 140 people responded. This response was disappointing compared to last year's 206.
Gender
Age groups
Highest level of formal education (any field)
Experience in technical communication
Location (part of the country)
Work location (on/off site)
Primary type of employment
Tertiary qualifications
Training in technical writing
Salary
Hourly rate
Satisfaction with compensation
Employees in organisation
Technical communicators in organisation
Changes in working conditions
Billable hours worked per week
Non-billable hours worked per week
Main areas of work
Professional memberships
Materials produced
Age group by gender
Experience by age
Salary by gender
Salary by age
Salary by experience
Salary by education
Education by gender
Education by age
Hourly rate by experience
Hourly rate by gender
Hourly rate by age
Salary by location
Hourly rate by location
Hourly rate by education
|
Female |
75 |
54.3% |
|
Male |
63 |
45.7% |
|
No answer |
2 |
|
|
29 years or under |
16 |
11.4% |
|
30–39 |
50 |
35.7% |
|
40–49 |
42 |
30.0% |
|
50 years and over |
32 |
22.9% |
|
No tertiary qualification |
15 |
11.1% |
|
Diploma/certificate |
25 |
18.5% |
|
Bachelor's degree |
44 |
32.6% |
|
Graduate diploma/certificate |
26 |
19.3% |
|
Master's degree |
21 |
15.6% |
|
Doctorate |
4 |
3.0% |
|
Total respondents |
135 |
|
|
Less than 2 years |
7 |
5.1% |
|
2–5 years |
29 |
21.0% |
|
6–10 years |
50 |
36.2% |
|
11 years or more |
52 |
37.7% |
|
Total respondents |
138 |
|
|
Sydney area |
35 |
25.5% |
|
Other NSW |
1 |
0.7% |
|
ACT |
12 |
8.8% |
|
Melbourne area |
46 |
33.6% |
|
Other Victoria |
4 |
2.9% |
|
Adelaide area |
3 |
2.2% |
|
Other SA |
0 |
— |
|
Perth area |
20 |
14.6% |
|
Other WA |
0 |
— |
|
Tasmania |
0 |
— |
|
NT |
0 |
— |
|
Brisbane/Gold Coast/ Sunshine Coast/other SE Qld |
9 |
6.6% |
|
Other Qld |
1 |
0.7% |
|
Outside Australia |
6 |
4.4% |
|
Total respondents |
137 |
|
|
Onsite |
110 |
80.3% |
|
At home/own office |
9 |
6.6% |
|
Both/varies |
18 |
13.1% |
|
Total respondents |
137 |
|
|
Salaried |
82 |
59.4% |
|
Consultant |
4 |
2.9% |
|
Contract (hourly rate or fixed price; includes freelance work). |
43 |
31.2% |
|
Not in paid employment |
9 |
6.5% |
|
Total respondents |
138 |
|
|
A technical field |
47 |
40.5% |
|
Technical communication, |
44 |
37.9% |
|
Other (please specify*) |
42 |
36.2% |
|
Total respondents |
116 |
|
* Other qualifications
|
Business studies |
History & politics |
|
Life sciences |
Library & information mgt |
|
Education |
Business |
|
MBA |
Industrial relations |
|
Office administration |
Theology |
|
Science |
Librarianship |
|
BA |
Gemmology |
|
Australian standards |
Marketing |
|
Management diploma |
Education |
|
Sociology |
Philosophy |
|
Ind. Psych. Ergonomics (medical) |
B.App.Sci (Scientific Information Services) |
|
English lit, languages, linguistics |
BA Communications (Journalism) |
|
Psychology |
Cognitive science |
|
Mathematics |
Earth science |
|
On your own |
103 |
75.7% |
|
On-the-job informal mentoring |
78 |
57.4% |
|
On-the-job formal mentoring |
33 |
24.3% |
|
Private tutoring |
6 |
4.4% |
|
Conferences/seminars/workshops |
77 |
56.6% |
|
Tertiary course |
36 |
26.5% |
|
Other (please specify) |
8 |
5.9% |
|
Total respondents |
136 |
|
|
Not applicable |
6 |
7.1% |
|
under $30K |
1 |
1.2% |
|
$30K–$40K |
2 |
2.4% |
|
$40K–$50K |
7 |
8.2% |
|
$50K–$60K |
25 |
29.4% |
|
$60K–$70K |
21 |
24.7% |
|
$70K–$80K |
13 |
15.3% |
|
$80K–$90K |
7 |
8.2% |
|
$90K–$100K |
2 |
2.4% |
|
$100K + |
1 |
1.2% |
|
Total respondents |
85 |
|
|
Not applicable |
14 |
20.0% |
|
Less than $25 |
0 |
0 |
|
$25–$29 |
4 |
5.7% |
|
$30–$34 |
2 |
2.9% |
|
$35–$39 |
0 |
0 |
|
$40–$44 |
5 |
7.1% |
|
$45–$49 |
7 |
10.0% |
|
$50–$54 |
8 |
11.4% |
|
$55–$59 |
17 |
24.3% |
|
$60–$69 |
7 |
10.0% |
|
$70–$79 |
2 |
2.9% |
|
$80–$89 |
3 |
4.3% |
|
$90–$99 |
0 |
0 |
|
$100 or more |
1 |
1.4% |
|
Total respondents |
70 |
|
|
Very satisfied |
9 |
6.8% |
|
Satisfied |
86 |
64.7% |
|
Dissatisfied |
32 |
24.1% |
|
Very dissatisfied |
6 |
4.5% |
|
Total respondents |
133 |
|
|
1–50 |
34 |
27% |
|
51–100 |
17 |
13.5% |
|
101–500 |
23 |
18.3% |
|
501–1000 |
16 |
12.7% |
|
1001 or more |
36 |
28.6% |
|
Total respondents |
126 |
|
|
1 |
32 |
25.4% |
|
2 |
21 |
16.7% |
|
3–5 |
24 |
19.0% |
|
6–10 |
20 |
15.9% |
|
> 10 |
29 |
23.0% |
|
Total respondents |
126 |
|
|
Made redundant/sacked |
8 |
7.4% |
|
Contract terminated or not renewed |
17 |
15.7% |
|
Increased workload due to staff cuts |
35 |
32.4% |
|
Projects cancelled |
19 |
17.6% |
|
Training and/or travel budget cuts |
24 |
22.2% |
|
No (or less than normal) salary increase |
42 |
38.9% |
|
Job offers have increased |
24 |
22.2% |
|
Salary or hourly rate has increased |
29 |
26.9% |
|
Training and/or travel budget increased |
4 |
3.7% |
|
Total respondents |
108 |
|
|
10 or fewer |
4 |
3.1% |
|
11–20 |
4 |
3.1% |
|
21–30 |
14 |
11.0% |
|
31–40 |
57 |
44.9% |
|
40–50 |
47 |
37.0% |
|
over 50 |
1 |
0.8% |
|
Total respondents |
127 |
|
|
10 or fewer |
89 |
74.8% |
|
11–20 |
20 |
16.8% |
|
21–30 |
4 |
3.4% |
|
31–40 |
2 |
1.7% |
|
40–50 |
3 |
2.5% |
|
over 50 |
1 |
0.8% |
|
Total respondents |
119 |
|
|
Technical writing |
122 |
93.8% |
|
Technical editing/copy editing |
84 |
64.6% |
|
Indexing |
35 |
26.9% |
|
Training |
37 |
28.5% |
|
Documentation consulting |
70 |
53.8% |
|
Website management/development |
43 |
33.1% |
|
Project leading/team
leading/ |
24 |
18.5% |
|
Quality assurance |
38 |
29.2% |
|
Usability/accessibilty testing |
34 |
26.2% |
|
Sales support (first or second level) |
8 |
6.2% |
|
Knowledge management |
37 |
28.5% |
|
Supervising/management |
12 |
9.2% |
|
Other (please specify*) |
24 |
18.5% |
|
Total respondents |
130 |
|
* Other areas of work
|
Content management |
Managing translations |
|
Business analysis |
Research |
|
Documentation & KM systems analysis |
Marketing communications, writing, editing |
|
Creating network diagrams |
Process analysis |
|
Curriculum development |
Needs analysis |
|
Document control |
Questionnaire design |
|
Tech comms support & mentoring |
Document automation, templating |
|
Data analysis |
Graphic design |
|
Instructional design |
Forms design |
|
Copywriting |
Build systems for testing |
|
Current member of ASTC |
44 |
68.8% |
|
Current member of STC |
26 |
40.6% |
|
Current member of other professional organisation (please specify*) |
17 |
26.6% |
|
Total respondents |
64 |
|
* Other professional associations
Inst. Engineers, Society of Editors, Standards Australia, Women in Publishing, ACS, ACM, Aus. Inst. Training Development, NSW Writers Assoc., AMSRA, AIM, The Alliance (AJA Section), ISTC, PRIA, ISPI
|
Paper-based documentation |
116 |
89.2% |
|
Online documentation |
107 |
82.3% |
|
|
103 |
79.2% |
|
HTML Help (Microsoft proprietary) |
47 |
36.2% |
|
HTML-based help |
54 |
41.5% |
|
Web pages/sites |
49 |
37.7% |
|
Multimedia, including video |
15 |
11.5% |
|
API documentation |
14 |
10.8% |
|
Intranet content |
57 |
43.8% |
|
Marketing materials |
35 |
26.9% |
|
Policies and procedures |
58 |
44.6% |
|
Proposals |
30 |
23.1% |
|
Surveys |
9 |
6.9% |
|
Specifications |
29 |
22.3% |
|
Templates and forms |
69 |
53.1% |
|
Tenders |
13 |
10.0% |
|
Training and education materials |
70 |
53.8% |
|
User documentation |
105 |
80.8% |
|
White papers |
22 |
16.9% |
|
Other (please specify*) |
10 |
7.7% |
|
Total respondents |
130 |
|
* Other materials produced
|
Magazines |
E-learning courses |
|
Third-party books |
RoboDemo tutorials |
|
Flash |
Presentations |
|
Internal style guides and process guides |
Architecture documentation planning |
|
Analysis/research papers |
Graphics |