While the field of usability has existed for decades, the number and quality of careers in the field have greatly improved in the last 10-15 years. The long-term prognosis for the industry is good: there are constant opportunities in almost every industry since new products and technology come out all the time, in usability as well as user-centered design, interaction design and user experience design.
#22575
Errors and Omissions Insurance: Assuming the Risk of Professional Liability 
Discusses the costs and benefits of errors and omissions insurance, a type of coverage normally obtained by independent technical communicators and consultants.
Juillet, Christopher. Intercom (2004). Careers>TC>Consulting
#23137
Coloque o seu anuncio em destaque. O cliente que solicite um trabalho a um dos Freelancers inscritos, terá que entregar todo o material necessário para o trabalho, bem como informar do tempo de realização se houver,os preços e formas de pagamento deveram ser acordados entre os mesmo.
Online.pt. (Portuguese) Careers>Job Listings>Writing>Technical Writing
#23688
Essential Pharmaceutical URLs and Organizations
Systems and network engineers, developers, project managers, and technical staff have been hit hard since the technology bubble burst. Since Y2K there has been an influx of competitive workers on H1B visas who have stayed and now have green cards. Now there is also outsourcing to India, Bulgaria, Russia, Ireland, the Philippines etc.
Marie, Cecile. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#14686
Essentials of Successful Cooperation
Brys discusses ways that technical communicators can lay foundations for good working relationships with subject matter experts.
Brys, Catherine M. Intercom (2001). Careers>Workplace>Collaboration>SMEs
#14146
Establishing and Building Mutual Respect with Technical Team Members 
As a technical writer, are you finding yourself wishing for just a bit of respect from the engineers, SMEs (Subject Matter Experts), or other technical people you work with? Are you finding that these folks seem to stonewall you on every question you have or every goal you're trying to achieve? Are they obstreperous? Difficult? Or just plain unhelpful? When I hear technical writers complaining about--er, describing--such troubles when working in a team environment, my first reaction is to want to sit and observe how they actually interact with those seemingly impossible team members. In my experience, I've found that the problem isn't always with a surly SME or with an engineer who lacks communication skills. Certainly, there are cases where other team members just don't value any contribution other than their own; however, most often, I have found the problem is with the technical writer's approach to the team environment--and have found that the problem began from the very start of that writer's involvement with the team.
Ray, Eric J. TECHWR-L (2002). Careers>Collaboration>Workplace>SMEs
#22600
Estimating a Technical Writing Project
How do you go about estimating the number of hours that a project would take?
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2000). Careers>Consulting>Writing>Technical Writing
#15130
Estimating Documentation Projects
Outlines a system for estimating the costs, in time and money, of a documentation project.
#18645
Estimating Editorial Tasks: A Five-Step Method
Accurate time estimates are essential to projecting the costs of doing work, whether it's for external clients or other departments within an organization. In the olden days, it didn't seem to matter how many hours were spent editing, as long as all the errors were caught. Now, managers everywhere are looking for ways to cut costs; they want to know in advance how long things will take so they can monitor their increasingly strained budgets. Publications are often a prime target for cost cuts.
Cormier, Robin A. STC Northeast Ohio (2001). Careers>Editing>Pricing>Estimating
#18537
Describes a detailed process for estimating the time and costs of online communication projects.
Drakeley, Caroline A. Intercom (2003). Careers>Web Design>Consulting
#29410
Estimating Project Times and Costs Without Losing Your Shirt--Or Your Sanity
Determining how long it takes to complete a job is essential for planning and for budgeting your time, whether you're a wage slave or a freelancer. In this article, I'll focus on the needs of the freelancer, but the same approach will work equally well for managers of teams of technical communicators and even for lone writers.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2006). Careers>Freelance>Proposals
#27978
Estimating Resources in Technical Writing
Project management principles that can easily be applied to working as a documentation manager.
Prabhakar, Rahul. Blogspot (2006). Careers>Management>Project Management>Technical Writing
#22031
One of the more challenging parts of being a contractor or managing a writing project is developing an estimate of the fee or costs. Sure, there are various techniques out there, some more accurate than others, but generally no hard and fast rules applicable across the spectrum of potential assignments. Therein rest at least part of the key to doing a viable estimate, i.e., what kind of document development are you doing.
#26153
Estimating the Cost of Writing and Editing
The cost depends on how long and complex the document is, and how much editing is required. Most editors have a fixed hourly rate, and will quote for a job after they have studied the document. Skilled wordsmiths usually charge more per hour, because they do the job faster. When you find a fine wordsmith, handle with care. They are not exactly thick on the ground.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Careers>Consulting>Writing
#28555
In today's shrinking global marketplace, many technical communicators face challenges related to intercultural communication. This article examines ethical issues in intercultural communication, beginning with a brief survey of classical ethical models, then focusing on the guidelines for ethical communication developed by Allen and Voss to provide a framework for discussion. Of Allen and Voss's 10 values for ethical communication, we focus on privacy, legality, teamwork, social responsibility, and cultural sensitivity. We offer specific suggestions for avoiding stereotyping, tokenism, and ethnocentrism in technical documentation, including before-and-after examples. We examine the risks involved in using graphics and icons and in attempting to translate idiomatic usages. The article concludes with guidelines for technical communicators preparing documentation for international audiences and with suggestions for managers who wish to give their employees guidance regarding ethical and effective intercultural communication.
Voss, Daniel W. and Madelyn Flammia. Technical Communication Online (2007). Careers>TC>Outsourcing>Offshoring
#10838
Ethics in Scientific and Technical Communication
Discusses many ethical issues including: taking personal responsibility for one's actions, Behaviour toward colleagues, subordinates and others,Dealing with experimental subjects, interviewees, etc, Telling the 'truth', and choosing between advocacy and objectivity.
Weber, Jean Hollis. WISENET Journal (1998). Careers>Advice>Ethics
#31900
Once you receive a job offer, you must decide if you want the job. Fortunately, most organizations will give you a few days to accept or reject an offer. There are many issues to consider when assessing a job offer. Will the organization be a good place to work? Will the job be interesting? Are there opportunities for advancement? Is the salary fair? Does the employer offer good benefits? Now is the time to ask the potential employer about these issues—and to do some checking on your own.
#31587
Evaluating and Managing Surveys
While surveys aren't the only research tool available to HR managers, they are the most useful one when 'hard' numbers are needed on how many people see things a certain way and when it's important to track differences among subgroups or improvement over time.
Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2004). Careers>Management>Assessment>Surveys
#10301
Evolution-Revolution: Toward a Strategic Perception of Technical Communication 
Although we tell ourselves that technical communication is important to the bottom line of organizations and all of the business literature reinforces our convictions that information is strategic to business success, few of us feel 'strategic' to the organizations we work for.
Carliner, Saul. Technical Communication Online (1996). Careers>Management
#19488
This is a real proposal for a real client. We changed the name of the client and the product. Download to see what we detail in our plans.
#20764
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses: A Manager’s Guide
Sometimes it seems your employees spend more time thinking of excuses than actually working. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to respond to common excuses and how to avoid them in the first place.
#21669
Your professional development and the ultimate success of your career depend upon you alone. If you don’t want to be viewed as 'just another doe writer,' broaden your career plan by expanding your talents into areas that are important to your organization's goals.
Henderson, D.L., Bonnie J. Davis and Genie Vidal. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Education>Continuing
#25317
A sure way to find new work opportunities is to expand the range of skills you offer your employer or clients.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2004). Careers>Advice>TC
#29101
Expanding Internships to Enhance Academic-Industry Relations: A Perspective in Stakeholder Education
To improve technical communication education, educators and internship providers need to find ways to revise internship experiences so that educators, internship providers, and students/interns can use internship experiences in a way that benefits all three parties. This article uses a stakeholder education approach to propose two new kinds of internship processes to benefit all three groups. The first approach--colloquia--allows all three parties to interact via the same scheduled event. The second approach--student publications groups--shifts internship from a workplace to a school activity. By including such approaches into their curricula, technical communication programs can both improve their relationships with local internship providers and improve the training received by their students.
St. Amant, Kirk R. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Careers>Internships>Industry and Academy
#23657
Exploring Our Future: Technical Communication in the Year 2013
Recent fluctuations in the technical communication job market prompted this examination of trends that are likely to affect our careers. STC and other professional organizations’ publications describe how we can increase the value of our profession by embracing new skills and new technologies, but they rarely examine the larger environment in which these skills and technologies might be applied. For that, the researchers examined futurist publications and more general news sources. As well, they continue to survey technical communication professionals about their past, present, and future work. This paper reveals the initial findings of the research.
Highby, Marie and Beau Cain. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>TC>Planning
#28174
Exporting Technical Writing Jobs
Traditionally, contractors have played an important role in the technical writing field by providing specific expertise, thereby allowing companies to focus on their core competencies. Contactors have made it possible for companies to add temporary personnel when needed ' an important benefit in a field where work output peaks periodically.
VanNorman, Maggie. Carolina Communique (2004). Careers>TC>Outsourcing>Offshoring
