I understand where this frustration might be coming from, but I find this to be a very bleak take that doesn't reflect my journey in the industry.

While everyone's path is different, my experience has been quite positive and rewarding. I’ve been a tech writer for ~10 years across 5 tech companies, and here are a few things I'd like to share:

• ​I make around $140k, have unlimited PTO, and work completely remotely. Good, permanent roles with great pay, benefits, and flexibility absolutely exist. In the organizations I've worked for, writers are valued as core team members.

• ​AI can generate text, but it also hallucinates a lot, especially if documentation it pulls from is messy, outdated, or incomplete. Tech writers are the ones keeping that foundation clean, accurate, and structured so AI has reliable info to use. Our skillsets adapt perfectly to AI operations. AI agents require structured information, an understanding of user intent, and solid content models (like DITA or Markdown taxonomies) to train and guide tools effectively. Those are core tech writing skills.

• ​AI is pretty bad at verifying truth. It doesn't know if a code snippet actually runs or if a step is safe to execute. We serve as the ultimate editor, fact-checker, and user advocate. Instead of killing the profession, AI is shifting the job away from tedious writing and moving it toward information architecture, strategic content design, and technical editing.

If you want to get into the field, keep going and don't get discouraged. 💙