The faculty of the Technical/Professional Writing Program at UNC Charlotte strive to prepare students for careers that combine strong communication skills with technical expertise. At UNC Charlotte, students can explore the relationships between language, writing, and computing technologies through an undergraduate minor, graduate certificate, or a concentration within the M.A. in English.

Students with a Technical/Professional Writing background can find careers in:

• computing-related industries, software and hardware
• engineering communication
• environmental communication
• government
• medicine
• other scientific or technical fields.

As a technical writer, you may be called upon to research, write, test, design or edit:

• software and hardware documentation
• grants and proposals
• technical information for a variety of audiences
• electronic multi-media presentations
• websites
• and company training materials.

According to the Society for Technical Communication (STC), an international organization with more than 23,000 members, technical writers consistently report extremely high job satisfaction rates, 87 percent. In the Southeast Region of the United States, technical writers earned a median salary of $41,850 annually in 2000. Experienced writers and editors often choose to work as independent contractors and consultants.

In addition to strong communication skills, a technical writer must be exposed to a variety of computer applications from word processing and page layout applications to on-line help authoring software and hypertext mark-up language (HTML) editors for the creation of World Wide Web sites.

The program at UNC Charlotte is specifically designed to prepare the students for the challenges they will encounter in today's rapidly changing, technologically global society.

If you have additional questions or require further information, please email Dr. Meg Morgan, Associate Professor of English & Director of University Writing Programs, or call 704.687.4210.