Carnegie Mellon University

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Careers in Technical Writing

The Technical Writing (TW) major prepares students to enter the workplace in fields as diverse as communications, business, instructional design, information design, education, and science and healthcare writing, or to pursue graduate study in a related field.

The B.S. in TW recognizes the important changes taking place in communication-based careers and includes two distinctive “tracks,” one in Technical Communication (TC) and one in Scientific and Medical Communication (SMC).

In both tracks, TW students work on real projects for actual clients, learn group interaction and management skills, and develop a flexible repertoire of skills and strategies to keep up with advances in software and technology. Above all, they focus on developing structures and information strategies to solve a broad range of communication and information design problems.

Along with access to the Career & Professional Development Center (CPDC) and an active alumni network, students are required to take Professional Seminar (76-300), a weekly, 3-unit seminar designed to give professional & technical writing majors an overview of possible career and internship options and ways to pursue their professional interests. Each session features guest presenters who are professionals working in diverse communications-related fields such as web design, journalism, public relations, corporate and media relations, technical writing, medical communications, and working for non-profits. The visiting professionals talk about their own and related careers, show samples of their work, and answer student questions.

Job Titles of our Technical Writing Graduates

  • Lead Writer
  • Director of Digital Strategy
  • Instructional Designer
  • Director of Communications
  • Scientific Writer and Editor
  • Senior Technical Writer
  • Medical Writer
  • Technical Manager
  • Documentation Developer
  • Manager of Innovation
  • Documentation Specialist
  • Chief Platform Architect

Employers of our Technical Writing Graduates

  • Google
  • Apple
  • Salesforce
  • Xerox Corporation
  • Naval Nuclear Lab
  • Amazon
  • Oracle Corporation
  • Cisco Systems, Inc.
  • IBM Corporation
  • NBCUniversal, Inc.
  • Microsoft Corporation
  • Siemens