Salary Survey - What Is in It for You?

We are elated to present this issue of Indus (close on the heels of the May-June issue), which is dedicated to the Salary Survey of Indian Technical Communicators 2005. The STC India chapter published the results of the survey on July 2, 2005. This salary survey, encompassing the responses from 450 technical communicators, is the most comprehensive survey done until date. The STC India chapter has done salary surveys in the previous years too. However, the magnitude of data is of a totally different dimension this year. The data tabulated, the statistics drawn out, and the conclusions made are awesome, some contrary to popular beliefs, yet some meeting expectations. To sum up, the Salary Survey of Indian Technical Communicators 2005 report has everything rolled up in it for every technical communicator in our growing industry.

Next time you feel unhappy about your pay, you have a resource to tell you whether you should really be unhappy. Compare your pay with your peer's in the next-door company. Are you looking at the best location to work from? As you move up on the ladder, where are you going? If you are a manager, how much are you managing? We talk mostly of the IT industry. What are the other industries that employ technical writers? Is it good to work in teams or is it better to be a lone writer? Figure out the typical team sizes from the survey report.

The survey has answers to many of the questions you had in mind about the salary, industry, and profession. If you have gone through the survey report, and haven't found clear answers for some of your questions, or shocked with some of the results, it is no surprise. Your personal experience really depends on how you look at them. We also felt that it would be great if some experienced people interpret these results and draw some conclusions to help you understand the survey results. The audiences of the Bangalore Employment Fair on the July 2nd had the good fortune of taking part in a panel discussion around the salary survey results.

We also asked some senior practitioners and thought leaders in technical communication to express their thoughts for this issue of Indus. Their interpretations, we believe, have the potential to give immense meaning to the data and provide pointers for understanding the real trends across the business of technical communication.

Read on and send us feedback on the survey coverage in this issue.

Subash Babu and D. Vijayalakshmi

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