The worm turns

[Peter Neilson]

Stumbled on this article. The numbers sound too big. Can we actually
pull in those biggabucks?

https://renewedright.com/tech-jobs-2026-companies-pay-775000-for-writers-while-software-engineers-face-layoffs/

[John McDermott]

Wow. I guess I have the wrong clients!

John McDermott, CPTD

j...@jkintl.com

Get TypeApp for Android

[Tony Chung]

Looks like these companies are paying for marketing shills and buying their silence.

-T

[Roberta Hennessey]

Hi Tony,

I am not making that salary, but at an advanced age I am making more than I've made my whole career as a contractor. I was a late bloomer and went to tech writing cert program at 49. Writing involves many facets as you know, I'm contracting and each of my co-workers has their own expertise. One is a fabulous organizer the builds, the timing, etc. and my other co-worker can figure out any code you give him. I see myself as doing the "writing" - it's a new software, in the semiconductor industry so I start with the blank page. I do the, this is how the system works and this is how to find the information you may need. It's what I love about this job in general. It's like being given a mystery box and being asked to explain it w/o training in this field at all. It feels like a writer having writer's block staring at a blank page - freaking out- omg how do I write about this? It's the discovery and asking myself questions, how does this work? what does it do? How do I do this?  It's continual discovery. It's scary but fun and being able to take suggestions, critiques - and I learn as I do it. AI can't do that and never will. And I see a lot of newer writers not willing to challenge themselves and shy away from this part of the work but that's why I love it. I'm a working class person and in my upbringing my dad and mom figured stuff out when challenged so it only freaks me out a bit and then it's comfortable. 

Writing is really guidance w/o extra words, make it simple, step by step. And I do see high salaries these days, not that high, but high. And I think a big part of this work is to get along with everyone and work as a team. Not everyone knows how to do that. 

My 2 cents.

Bobbi

--
TechWR-L is the “Technical Writers List” — an email discussion list focused on all issues in technical communicatio
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TECHWR-L Email Discussion group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to techwr-l+u...@techwr-l.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/techwr-l.com/d/msgid/techwr-l/CAPnOPiFEfda04J7WO-xcVXb3%2BkehBqVsLrg_X%3DX%2Bx4DSsJR3kg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jody Zolli]

I don't think we can pull in that much money, but a skilled technical writer in the right geographic area can make six figures. 

I recently discovered this article.  I know we've heard that tech writing is going away for several decades at least!  

I disagree - I think we need to pivot (again!).  To learn more about AI, how to wield it well. It's another tool to add to our toolbox.

I've spent my career working hard to become, to the best of my ability, the swiss army knife of tech writers.  

I see this as another blade to add, and add quickly.

https://shumer.dev/something-big-is-happening

-Jody

Stumbled on this article. The numbers sound too big. Can we actually
pull in those biggabucks?

https://renewedright.com/tech-jobs-2026-companies-pay-775000-for-writers-while-software-engineers-face-layoffs/

--
TechWR-L is the “Technical Writers List” — an email discussion list focused on all issues in technical communicatio
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TECHWR-L Email Discussion group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to techwr-l+u...@techwr-l.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/techwr-l.com/d/msgid/techwr-l/89445897-7184-42eb-8128-91d26b54a11e%40windstream.net.

[Keith Hood]

A line from that article caught my eye: "A 2025 Columbia Business School study found that large language models can't actually think – they just generate content without any creative process."

Gee...what an epiphany. What an earth-shaking revelation. I am just so, so shocked at reading such a thing. It shifted my paradigm without using the clutch. 

Is it possible that people actually need a study from Big Name School(tm) to realize this? 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/techwr-l.com/d/msgid/techwr-l/CAGoeYZeXPErmShwY_m0a9%3Dpo6yv2nZp2ntHdX5R2vd-ABQtLCA%40mail.gmail.com.

Virus-free.www.avast.com

[sereshk 146]

Those are high numbers indeed. Perhaps a little too high...

But knowing how to write well is an art indeed. No matter content in general, for business purposes, or technical writing in particular. 

And all those people who really believed that an AI (a machine) could do it better, will some day come to realize what is real:

Humans have hearts and brains and imagination - and each of them though similar in terms of country and region for traditions and background - still is unique.

I remember the early days of ChatGPT in a room with the department's team at the time, we looked at an example result of a prompt: I took one look and knew and said so: That's Wikipedia.

By this time some variety has entered but the long and the short of it is:
Since AI uses data and its patterns for finding similar patterns in more data to then re-assemble or make predictions, basically - how can that be unique?

Just my two cents and confirmation. :)

Kind Regards

Nina

[Robert Lauriston]

Those are marcom jobs, not tech writing.

Highest salary I've heard of for tech writing was a guy at Google who
was getting $300K. I couldn't make a competitive offer.