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Last Page Update: Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Resources: 2005 Salary Survey

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication Salary Survey has become a chapter tradition, conducted every other year to help our members better understand what the local technical communications market looks like. All members were recently invited to answer questions about the year 2005. Thirty-four percent of the chapter’s members took the survey – the same response rate we received for the 2003 survey.

This report summarizes the findings based on these member responses. Responses were analyzed from many perspectives to provide a rich set of data, and comparisons were made to past survey results to provide an even more in-depth portrait of the technical communications market.

Because permanent employees and independent contractors/freelancers typically operate quite differently from a financial standpoint, results have been divided into two profiles, one for permanent employees and another for independent contractors. Permanent employees include both full-time and part-time workers.

Click here to view these results in a PDF file. If you're interested, compare these results to the 2003 salary survey.

Permanent employee profile

Age and gender

The median age of respondents is 44 years. Sixty-nine percent of respondents are female and 31% are male.

Employment status

Ninety-six percent of respondents work full-time, while 2% work part-time. The other 2% are unemployed, which is down from 5% in 2003.

Ten percent of respondents were laid off in 2005, compared to 7% in 2003. It took those now employed an average of three months to find a new job, compared to seven months in 2003.

Education level

Thirty-three percent of respondents have college degrees and 37% have advanced degrees. These percentages have not changed since the 2003 survey. Many respondents have degrees specifically in technical communication – 10% undergraduate and 21% advanced (masters or doctorate).

The chart provides more detailed information about respondents’ education level.

Employment level

Almost two-thirds of respondents hold senior-level, non-supervisory positions.

Entry-level	4%
Mid-level	15%
Senior-level, non-supervisor	65%
Mid-level supervisor	10%
Senior-level supervisor	6%

Experience in field

Respondents have worked in the technical communications field an average of 12½ years. The percentage of respondents with 16 or more years of experience has steadily increased since 2001, while the number of respondents with 5 or less years of experience has decreased.

Primary industry

Respondents work overwhelmingly in the computer software industry (44%). The following chart shows the industry breakdown.

Median income by years of experience

Median income by education level

In general, those with higher education levels earn higher incomes. Respondents with a doctorate degree have the highest median income ($87,500), followed by those with graduate degrees ($67,500) and those with college degrees ($62,500). The median salary for those with Master’s degrees has not increased since 2001.

Median income by primary industry

The top-paying industries and their corresponding median incomes are:

1	Computer hardware ($87,500)
2	Marketing/advertising ($87,500)

Income by gender

The median income for both genders is the same ($62,500). However, the 25th percentile results differ.

About percentiles
Use of the 25^th and 75^th percentiles helps to understand the overall distribution of results in more detail. The 25^th percentile value indicates that a quarter of responses fall below this figure, and another quarter of responses are higher than the 75^th percentile value. In other words, half of responses fall within the range between the 25^th percentile and 75^th percentile.

Median income by employment level

Senior supervisors and mid-level supervisors tied with the highest median income ($87,500). All other employment levels besides mid-level, non-supervisors reported an increase in median income from the 2003 survey.

Income ranges by employment level

Compared to 2003, all levels but senior supervisor and entry-level saw an increase in the 75^th percentile income range.

Job satisfaction and importance ratings

Respondents rated 12 factors on importance and satisfaction. The following four factors reflect the highest “unhappy index”—a measurement of satisfaction relative to importance. The higher the number, the less “happy” respondents are for that factor.

These areas of concern have not changed much since 2003, where the top four factors (in order) were job security, perceived value, skills development, and creative opportunities.

Reading this scatter plot
The chart plots the average percentage of respondents who rated each factor as important or very important and as satisfied or very satisfied. The further a point lies from the center, the greater the importance or satisfaction. You can compare importance and satisfaction for a single factor. The greater the distance between the importance point and satisfaction point, the greater the disparity.

Independent contractor profile

Independent respondents

Thirteen percent of respondents identified themselves as independent contractors or freelancers. The median number of years they have been freelancing is five. They have been working in the technical communications field an average of 12½ years.

Independents are very well-educated – 47% hold graduate degrees (compared to 37% for permanent employees), 37% have completed college, and 16% have completed some graduate school. Respondents are predominantly female (74%), with a median age of 50.

Hourly rates

The median hourly rate compared to 2003 increased significantly, from $48 to $60. More than two-thirds of the independent freelancers (68%) indicate that their rate changes depending on the service they are providing. Training classes, instructional design, and project management command the highest median hourly rate ($80), followed closely by user interface/human factors ($75) and Web design ($70).

Primary industry

Independents report working in the following industries:

Source of work

The top three primary methods for finding clients are: contacts/networking (74%), work for former employers (16%), and client referrals (5%). The other secondary sources that independent freelancers use to find work are:

Summary

Compared to our 2003 survey:

• Median hourly rate increased by $12, to $60 an hour.
• Median hours billed decreased 198 hours to 980.  
• More independents are charging different hourly rates for different services, from 58% in 2003 to 68% in 2005.
• The percentage of respondents billing by the project rather than by the hour has been steadily increasing, from 0% in 2001, to 14% in 2003, and to 21% in 2005.
• Independents are subcontracting much more than in 2003; 58% of respondents said they have subcontracted projects, compared to 26% in 2003.

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