They want someone who can design a car, and also wield the wrench.

In my experience, many people equate the "skill set for technical writing" to "knowledge of tools". I've seen people claiming expertise in Word, FM, RoboHelp, SnagIT, Visio, Epic Editor, XML, HTML - in the same breath. Whew! Expertise, I guess, is a loosely-used word.

Cheers :)
Anindita
(http://writing-technical.blogspot.com)

You guys dont illustrate?

Now that I illustrate, should I expect a higher raise? *starts building imaginary castles in the air*

No, im really curious! How many companies can have dedicated illustrators?

Sameera
http://the-techwriter-in-me.blogspot.com/

Hi,

I think it's part of the job of a technical writer to come up with the basic illustrations, wherever required...it adds value to his/her writing...a rough sketch maybe..or a rough idea on what the illustration should look like...he/she could use the basic tools (MS Paint/MS Word/MS Visio) in a basic way to come up with these illustrations...it can be expected of an experienced technical writer I feel...if, as a technical writer you do that, you could be called an illustrator too, technically speaking (you are illustrating your thoughts/ideas afterall :)).

However, there's this other type of illustrator..or a graphics specialist..who has in general, no/little idea of the subject on which the technical writer has written..and has generally nothing to do with technical writing...but has expertise on graphics tools (Photoshop etc.)...this person would actually be turning your rough sketch or idea into a presentable form...process an image for instance...and make it end-user-ready...so, if you have expertise on the graphics tools used for illustrations, you are a graphics specialist and not just a technical writer...you deserve a better pay-package I think. :)

In one of the companies I used to work for some time back...they had a dedicated graphics specialist to take care of all the images that we would require to use in our documents...later, the guy quit and they didnt find anyone to replace him (they don't come cheap..which goes to prove that it is a specialised line of work and not everyone's ball game)...and we had to do the processing ourselves...it made our life miserable and took our focus off the job of writing quite a bit...and the end-result was not very professional either...that's when we missed a dedicated graphics specialist terribly. :)

Regards,
Shompa

The job of a technical writer has become very demanding over the past few years. Employers except technical writers to be proficient in every field associated with technical content development.

For example, in our company, in addition to performing the regular role of a technical writer, the writers also substitute as graphic designers, editors, quality editors, and SMEs.

It is strange but this seems to the trend in the industry now.

Regards,
Divya