Ten Lessons for Technical Writers - Part 3 of 3

My third main event was even more significant. Soon after I published my first article, I saw a Help Wanted ad: BYTE Magazine needed an editor. On the strength of my one published article for them, my programming background, and my book publications, I landed the job. BYTE was a whole new ballgame. Yes, I knew about computers. Yes, I could write step-by-step manuals. But this was writing and editing magazine stories. I knew nothing about how to write interesting ledes or titles. I knew nothing about editing the work of other writers. Luckily, BYTE, then the leading computer magazine, taught me all that. They turned me into a professional technical writer. This was my Lesson 7: You can always learn more, always get better.

There was plenty of variety at this job: each month was a new set of assignments, new topics, new people to work with, and new things to learn. Sadly, BYTE went belly-up in 1998. I have been a freelance technical writer ever since, using everything I learned at BYTE.

Since then, my work has split into two pieces. For one piece, I try to get a 40-hour-per-week contract position in place. This is almost always writing manuals or other documentation for some high-tech company. The contracts last 3 months or more. I have acquired all the necessary skills – FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Word, WebWorks, and so forth – so that I can handle whatever is necessary. (By the way, if you sign up with any of the Robert Half agencies, like Office Temps, they will test you for Microsoft Certification for free. I am Microsoft Certified in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Approach. Looks good on a resume.) The contract pay is good, but not enough for me to cover benefits and so forth. (By the way, unless you're really desperate, never accept a long-term assignment for less money than you want: you'll be miserable and resentful the whole time.)

The other piece is writing magazine articles. I have now written hundreds of articles, mainly for computer magazines. I have contacted lots of editors, shown them my credentials, and asked for assignments. I have a Web page, which makes me seem more professional, although I don't often have the time to update it. My name is unusual enough that a search of Google shows lots of my publications. Sure, it's never easy to get assignments from a newly-found editor, but the payoffs are great. I just did an assignment that took about 3 hours to complete – including interviewing a very interesting person – and paid $600. That's good money per hour. If I could do that all the time, I could let go of my "day" job.

Moving from contract to contract can be difficult. I think of it as flying from trapeze to trapeze, like in the circus. Sometimes I have to let go of one trapeze before the next one appears. That's scary. But the work always shows up, eventually. That's Lesson 8: There is work out there: go find it!

Sometimes contracts just fall into my lap. Other times, I have to beat the bushes. I have sent out mailings to companies in my geographical area, and gotten a couple of little contracts as a result. I subscribe to many online job search services, including Monster, Dice, Craigslist, and NinaNet. I have no problem working with contracting agencies: I have gotten some nice placements through them.

Sometimes assignments don't work out. I've gotten stiffed by clients. There's one magazine that still owes me money for articles I wrote over a year ago. There are magazines that – inexplicably – suddenly decided not to work with me any more. There are others where I decided never to work with them anymore. No career is perfect, but, at least, when you freelance, you're not tied to anybody. You can leave unpleasant situations and move on. I've learned Lesson 9 the hard way: Sometimes it just doesn't work out: try to learn from it, then put it behind you and continue forward.

In conclusion, freelance technical writing works well for me. It has the variety that I enjoy. It often allows me freedom in my schedule – working from home, flexible hours – that lets me spend time with my family. It can be a juggling act to keep multiple magazine assignments going, or to line up new contracts when your current one is going to end. But it always works out. My final Lesson is: Stay flexible!