When your business needs a technical writer, the first decision you have to make is whether to hire an in-house technical writer or contract the work. Both are excellent options that have significant benefits. Hiring in-house ensures that your writer has corporate knowledge, while contracting can be significantly more cost-effective. Here is when to hire a staff technical writer and when to contract with a freelance technical writer.
When To Hire An In-House Technical Writer
You are in a highly regulated industry that requires regularly updated documentation like user manuals, training materials, or quality and compliance documents.
Your documentation requires deep familiarity with your brand’s intellectual property, including technology, products, and processes.
You need someone onsite to collaborate with your product development, engineering, and manufacturing teams.
You have contractual non-disclosure agreements with clients, government contracts, or intellectual property agreements that require strict security protocols.
When To Hire A Freelance Technical Writer
You have one-off projects like a technical proposal, case study, or product release notes.
You have budget limitations and need to save on costs related to salaries, employee benefits, and overhead.
You need specialized skills that your in-house technical writer does not have. (For example, an expert software documentation writer may not have the skills required for a market analysis.)
Your technical writing team needs support on large projects like regulatory audits, product launches, or annual reports.
Whether you should bring a technical writer on staff or contract the work out to a writing agency fundamentally depends on the volume of work, scope of projects, and amount of specialization required to create your documentation. If you’re still not sure which is best for your organization, Borrowed Pen can help. Submit an RFP here with details about your technical writing and documentation needs. Then, we’ll help you decide whether our technical writers are the right fit or if you should add to your team.
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