Arts, design, media and sports
Technical writer
Write technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices, or operating and maintenance instructions. May assist in layout work.
Median pay
$90,390
Growth to 2035
+1%
little or no change
Openings a year
3,200
Time to qualify*
2.1 years
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Technical writer
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- Less than 5 years
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Technical writer: 46% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Organize material and complete writing assignment according to set standards regarding order, clarity, conciseness, style, and terminology.
- Maintain records and files of work and revisions.
- Edit, standardize, or make changes to material prepared by other writers or establishment personnel.
- Analyze developments in specific field to determine need for revisions in previously published materials and development of new material.
- Review published materials and recommend revisions or changes in scope, format, content, and methods of reproduction and binding.
- Select photographs, drawings, sketches, diagrams, and charts to illustrate material.
- Confer with customer representatives, vendors, plant executives, or publisher to establish technical specifications and to determine subject material to be developed for publication.
- Assist in laying out material for publication.
Also called: Com Writer · Engineering Writer · Global Technical Writer · Grant Writer · Medical Writer · Narrative Writer · Principal Technical Writer · Requirements Analyst
Outlook and AI
Technical writers held 46,400 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 46,700 by 2035 (+1%, little or no change; all jobs: +3.5%).
Productivity change - share decreases as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools grows, allowing technical writers to produce documentation more efficiently.
Compare with
- Technical writer vs. Computer occupations, all other
- Technical writer vs. Project manager
- Technical writer vs. Editor
- Technical writer vs. Management analyst
- Technical writer vs. Proofreaders and copy markers
- Technical writer vs. Data scientist
- Technical writer vs. Social science research assistant
- Technical writer vs. Writers and authors
- Technical writer vs. Electrical and electronics drafters