Some magazines won't accept technical articles from nonprofessionals. Others are willing to work with writers who can interview professionals. Use your query to develop a convincing argument as to why you should be given this assignment. Many publications now accept queries only, due to the time and cost involved in reading unsolicited submissions. Consequently, a query may be the only way to be considered at all.
Many publications pay more for assigned articles than for unsolicited articles.
Queries save you time and effort. Compare the amount of time involved in researching and writing an article to the amount of time required to write a query. Those flaws, however, are the reason for on-spec assignments. Every editor has been burned at one time or another by a writer who made glowing promises but didn't deliver. Instead, they are given an opportunity, on speculation, to prove that they can deliver well-crafted material.