Technical Writer

Writing plus curiosity pays tech money — AI is eating the low end.

Median pay

$85k/yr

Typical range

$60k–$120k

Runway to entry

3–6 months

Education

A bachelor's degree

Outlook

Solid if you read code

What does a Technical Writer actually do?

Interview an engineer about an API, turn their shrug into a quickstart, and rework the docs nav because user tests showed nobody finds anything.

Serves people who value:

Deep, focused workHelping peopleLearning & growthWork–life balance

Skills that get you hired

Core skills

• Clear, ruthless prose
• Docs-as-code: Markdown, Git, static sites
• API literacy: REST, JSON, curl examples
• Interviewing engineers effectively
• Information architecture

The complementary edge

• Python for working code samples
• Docs analytics and user testing
• Diagrams and screencasts: Mermaid, Loom

How to become a Technical Writer: the roadmap

Phase 1: Build the toolkit (Weeks 1–6)

• Learn Git and Markdown properly, not barely
• Take Google's free technical writing courses
• Stand up a docs site with MkDocs or Docusaurus

Milestone: A live docs site you built yourself

Phase 2: Write real docs (Months 2–4)

• Document a public API: quickstart, reference, troubleshooting
• Fix an open-source project's docs via pull request
• Rewrite one terrible README; show before and after

Milestone: Three published doc sets, one merged upstream

Phase 3: Target and land (Months 4–6)

• Tailor samples to each product's domain
• Practice timed writing tests — they're standard
• Ask interviewers how docs ship; judge them too

Milestone: Offers passing the writing test

Quick wins this week

• Start Google's technical writing course today
• Rewrite the worst README you can find
• Make your first docs pull request

Proof of skill to build

• A portfolio: quickstart, tutorial, API reference
• Merged documentation PRs on real projects

What screeners look for

• Samples that survive an engineer's skim
• Comfort in Git and a terminal
• Questions that expose fuzzy thinking

Is Technical Writer a good career? The honest take

What surprises newcomers

• The job is investigation; typing is the last 10%
• Reading code beats beautiful prose in hiring

You ask 'wait, why?' until systems make sense, then explain them without showing off.

How to get hired: networking that works

Where to show up

• Write the Docs Slack and conferences
• Society for Technical Communication chapters
• Open-source docs teams: Kubernetes SIG Docs, Season of Docs
• API and dev-tools meetups

Tactics that actually work

• Live in Write the Docs Slack; its job channel is kind and active
• Do Google Season of Docs — a paid credential
• Post doc teardowns of popular tools' gaps
• Interview engineers for a blog; sources become referrers

The principle: Your samples are the interview — make three unignorable.

A cold-outreach template you can adapt:

Hi [Name] — I rewrote the quickstart for [tool] as a sample ([link]); it cuts setup from 12 steps to 6. Could I get 15 minutes to hear how your docs team works and what it needs next?

Current Technical Writer openings

• Engineering Technical Writer with Security Clearance — TAD PGS, Inc. · Hanover, Anne Arundel County · ≈$151k–$151k · Adzuna
• Technical Writer (CBP) with Security Clearance — Agile Defense, LLC · Ashburn, Loudoun County · ≈$71k–$71k · Adzuna
• Specialized IETM Technical Writer with Security Clearance — TAD PGS, Inc. · Hanover, Anne Arundel County · ≈$132k–$132k · Adzuna
• Technical Writer with Security Clearance — Odyssey Systems Consulting Group · Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma County · ≈$82k–$82k · Adzuna
• Technical Writer with Security Clearance — SPA · State Farm, Arlington County · ≈$94k–$94k · Adzuna

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