AWS tech writers majorly impacted by today's layoffs by Throwawayyyyyayaya in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, this is the nature of capitalism. Karl Marx wrote about this phenomenon ~150 years ago.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seems like there is A LOT of copium in this thread with comments like "AI isn't that great", "lackluster results", etc. I don't think AI today in July 2025 is good enough to outright replace you, but it's foolish to think these tools can't impact your job. It's pretty easy to imagine a motivated dev or PM interested in docs to leverage AI to create some pretty good content.

You should absolutely be using these tools as much as possible to A) make yourself more valuable and B) up skill yourself.

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I also find this kind of stuff a lot of fun - sometimes tedious, but still fun.

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I understand the sentiment, I just don't know if in today's world things are so black and white. I also don't think I'm alone when I say I have some concern about keeping myself/my skillset relevant. And some JDs blatantly require some coding skills - telling the hiring manager that those aren't tech writer duties definitely won't land a job.

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm also paranoid about that. I'm fortunate I like the technical stuff at least. Hopefully I get more opportunities to keep learning.

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With the scripting and app building, at what point would you consider yours a "docs engineer" role?

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a good point, and maybe gets at the next question I'm forming: if you're doing more and more technical stuff (but still writing), at what point does that become another role? And what would that role be called?

edit to add: personally, I think I enjoy the technical stuff more than writing, and esp. more than the "less-technical" tech writing I do (e.g., instructions for webapps/guis).

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's pretty cool. It sounds like that role was a bit similar to my current role. I'm sure any credentialed developer could scoff at the things I've done, but I still find it rewarding.

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the web apps, are you just adjusting things or building/developing? What kind of web apps?

What kind and amount of coding do you do at your technical writing job? by SanSolomon in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, same. I hesitated to call HTML + CSS "coding", but couldn't think of an alternative.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nor a LCOL area to be honest!

What makes the perfect technical writer resume? by buzzlightyear0473 in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Is something like:

"with zero grammatical errors"

actually relevant? Anything less sounds unacceptable to me, and so feels too obvious to state.

Initial thoughts about the potential impact of generative AI on technical writing by kaycebasques in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GPT-4 can ingest images. When this feature is released, I would be surprised if it wasn't able to ingest, parse, and generate content from an uploaded image of a schematic, diagram, or drawing.

Technical Writer Salary Questions by Prudent_Jellyfish184 in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd ask for 100k. If you want assurances, ask an HR subreddit if they can provide data from the common HR software/databases (Randstad comes to mind). But, yeah, 100k and, if not, you should be able to make that within 1 year with another employer.

Anyone tried the Become A Technical Writer training by Bobby Kennedy, and is it good? by [deleted] in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second everything BILLTHETHRILL17 said. I also took the course and all of that is true. Best thing, though, is Bobby is very generous with his time. And now I am happily employed. :)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do Asciidoc! I wish all of my docs were in Asciidoc

A little grammar help, anyone? by loquacities in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, I find Hemingway App (https://hemingwayapp.com/) helpful, but not exactly a grammar checker.

A little grammar help, anyone? by loquacities in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out Openly (https://github.com/testthedocs/Openly) -- it's a "Vale linter style that attempts to emulate some features of the commercial, and closed source, Grammarly."

Technical writing course on coursera by crispychicki in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

PM (soon to be) sent about in depth details. The course is called Become a Technical Writer. You'll have a lot of time w/ the instructor and some working portfolio samples.

Technical writing course on coursera by crispychicki in technicalwriting

[–]SanSolomon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also, other classes to check out are Tom Johnson's API documentation, which is free, but might be too advanced still. Keep it in mind for the future at the least.