How can I get started doing freelance technical documentation?
unless you live in a major metro, nobody is going to have any work for you. I assume that cosmicbandido means “major metro area,” not just inside the city. Lots of high-tech companies locate outside the city, even out to semi-remote suburbs. Get that portfolio together. You need not ‘sanitize’ any of it if it won’t remain with the interviewer. Get references from all those people who gave you the writing assignments, especially the ones who liked the results. Also, stay in touch with those people, and let them know what you are trying to do; if they move to other companies, it can get you contracts. What’s ‘good money’? Where I am, W-2 contract tech writers can get $40/hr and up. 1099 independents can make $50+/hr. My experience is that the STC salary surveys are extremely low.
You need not ‘sanitize’ any of it if it won’t remain with the interviewer This is extremely not true; proprietary info is almost always covered by the contract you signed when you went to work for the company whose document you created (the part where it says they own everything you write, and get to decide who sees it). That’s even apart from NDAs, which are a separate matter. Proprietary info in a sample = person who won’t be hired by our company, ever. You actually get put on an informal blacklist in the HR office. It’s even a question on our hiring form (“have you ever violated any company security policies? If so, explain below”) Mind you, we’re in technology. If you’re looking to work for, say, heavy industry it might not be quite the same problem. However, we take these sorts of things very very seriously, and so did both of my previous employers. …also, I strongly suggest considering the suggestions amtho makes regarding OSS projects.
