Technical Writing Careers in San Jose (Palo Alto, Menlo Park: rental, buying a house, employment)

[CouponGal]

Greetings,

I'm seriously considering taking the plunge and relocating to California from Texas. I recently earn my graduate degree in Technical Writing, and achieved a 3.88 GPA. I am a 32 year old single female, a free thinker and fairly liberal.

The reason that I am researching California, specifically San Jose, is that there appear to be more job options for me. The prospect of working at the corporate headquarters of a large company really appeals to me. I've done this before, and had many promotions opportunities. Also, I believe that I would be around more like-minded people in California than in Texas.

Can anyone shed light on the employment for technical writers in San Jose? I have progressive work experience, as well as an undergraduate business degree. Please share your experiences of finding this type of work. Also, have you found that companies offer relocation packages?

I appreciate any help in advance.

[ccm123]

There are many high technology companies in San Jose and the southern end of the Bay Area. The larger companies do need technical writers, though I don't know specifically how the market is. (I work in high technology, but in Sales.) I would apply from Texas and see if you can get an interview. Most of the larger companies here do offer relocation packages to out of state and out of area candidates. Usually, they will offer a lump sum for staff level employees (generally between 3K to 10K) to help pay for your expenses.

[sezzam]

In general, I have seen more technical-writing opportunities on contract than for employment. I am sure there are employers that supply technical writers to large companies.

[sjnative]

I suggest you contact some technical or temporary work recruiters and see if they can get you a job as they already have relationships with many of the companies here.

Then you can start doing your own searching and applying.

My apprehension is that going from TX to CA will be a shock to you. My understanding of TX is that the COL is much lower there which includes the lower cost buying a house- or nearly anything, for that matter.

In the Silicon Valley and the Bay Area in general, you'll find the housing market to be highly impacted with high rental costs and an undersupply of housing causing the housing (buying) market to be extremely expensive. Generally the most expensive housing is in Palo Alto and Menlo Park and the closer any housing is to that area, the more expensive it is.

How expensive is housing here? Consider this- nearly everyone who comes here from middle American states has a rude awakening when they see what their money gets them here, followed by bleats such as "but I could get twice the square footage in (enter state here)."

You'll also find ample traffic and a generally alienating human interaction as the demography here is heavily first-generation immigrants who segregate themselves and interact little outside of their cultural/language groups.

Being a female may help you, though, as the culture of the Silicon Valley is heavily feminist and more generally postmodernist with a strong current of intolerant, self-righteous liberalism. I guess you'll find out not just how liberal you are but what kind of liberal you are- the 'live and let live' kind or the kind who calls nearly anyone a racist or a sexist for nearly any reason.

Whatever you do, I suggest you at least visit the Silicon Valley and get a feel for the place before you go through the trouble of moving here. Then you'll have a better assessment of whether the grass is greener here, or not.

[roadwarrior101]

My wife is a Sr. Technical Writer and has been doing so for over 15 years. She initially had trouble finding full time positions, but that changed as she got additional experience. I will say that for contract roles, Jr. tech writers can make $30-40/hour. More Sr. level roles can be in the $50-75/hour range. For full time positions, I think Junior roles would be more in the $60k+ range. Sr. level roles can be well over $100k, not including stock awards, which can be significant.

[nagleepark]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Sr. level roles can be well over $100k, not including stock awards, which can be significant.

That surprises me. Can the OP count on finding something like that or that a one-of-a-kind opportunity?

I've only seen 3-month contract opportunities at my employer. Usually, the contractor freshens up some documentation that was written by an engineer or QA person. As you can imagine, that doesn't yield a good end result.

The decline of printed user manuals and then printed technical books has been hard.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by nagleepark

That surprises me...

Me too. I just learned something new.