I ask these two titles because the current theme seems to be less about doc writing and more about doc platforming, management, accuracy, accessibility, and overall orchestration.
Do you see the field actually surviving and evolving into these areas? How do you upskill to do this? Will this make our jobs more important and stable?
I’m working as a technical writer at a major cybersecurity firm. I graduated 4 years ago and pursued this path, and then the AI boom happened right after. Since then, my career is being existentially threatened. I am looking for backup career options. I love talking to various stakeholders, project planning, writing about new features, and being close to users. I also do user research and previously assisted a PM deliver usability testing presentations to executive leadership. It was scary, but I had a blast delivering that. I also learn to deal with tight deadlines, lots of ambiguity, conflicting needs, and heavy scrutiny/feedback to get docs accurate and delivered. That doesn’t phase me. Most of my job is very thankless and undervalued by the business where you are in constant cycles of revising docs based on conflicting feedback and user priorities. Obviously, that’s not anywhere near as visible as PM.
The problem is that I’ve historically been prone to depression and high anxiety mostly due to uncertainty of my career. I currently deal with high stress and anxiety completely due to AI swallowing up tech writing jobs and my current one being on the chopping block. I also have a baby due in 3 months, and I’m existentially scared of being locked out of a well-paying career. I figured I’d rather be stressful in a job where I have things more in my control than the existential stress of working a dead-end and easily-replaceable/reducible career field.
My previous company wants me to interview for an APM role where I’d be in charge of the product I used to write manuals for. I love the idea of being a PM and having high stakes business visibility, but I feel highly unqualified. Being the mini CEO, engineer, and CFO of a product sounds insane but equally rewarding. I figured the stress of trying new things is a little less stressful than the existential dread of being unemployed and automated out of a career where my skills don’t transfer elsewhere that easy. I know the director of PM very well and we talked over coffee a few years ago about inquiring the field, and he seems like an incredibly encouraging and nice guy. I also have strong relationships with the other PMs under him since I collaborated with them all the time.
They have given me advice and encouragement through this process and sound like they really want me to interview.
The tech world is sobering up on AI hype, despite companies desperately trying to cut jobs and be efficient. More stories come out about people in various professions getting rehired, AI being way too expensive for what it’s worth, etc. My current company has been scrambling to replace writers and failed each time, despite cutting down writer numbers and all of us our drowning. They can’t find a new tool or AI combo, shift docs to PMs, or find any reliable solutions, yet they still cut down on our teams to make finances look good anyway…
Do we have any tech writer-specific cases where cutting down writers or implementing AI backfired and resulted in rehiring?
Are we yet to find out?
I’ve been a writer in the cybersecurity space for 5 years at big companies. I have great skills in Docs as Code, working with SMEs, etc. I love my job, difficult SMEs and all. But AI has killed my passion and the constant existential threats have ruined my mental health. I went to school with the goal of becoming a tech writer, and I didn’t fall into it on accident like so many do. I graduated in 2022 and shit hit the fan right away in the industry.
I’m seeing more and more rhetoric that AI is backfiring, blowing up budgets, and investors are getting skeptical. I can see the profession surviving and even increasing headcount once AI hype and costs level out, but no one really knows. I’m also down for documentation engineering and moving into a more technical, information architecture route, but I fundamentally love the craft of writing.
My backup plan would be security GRC but I’ve had barely any luck getting interviews. My current company is drinking the AI koolaid after we were acquired and forced to follow what they say. My current gig is on borrowed time and I’m so sick of the nonstop job instability. It seems like every company is dealing with this so it’s not like this is escapable.
Does anyone see this getting any better or should I give up and pivot careers? This is all a giant disappointment and source of anxiety but I have another 30-35 years left to pay bills and hopefully retire if I’m not recovering from constant layoffs. I’ve got a baby coming in a couple months and a future to secure. It’s getting hard to have faith that tech writing will make a comeback, or remain existent at the very least.
Hi all! I am a technical writer with 4.5 years of experience working in leading cybersecurity companies. I’m currently at the biggest cyber company ever right now (don’t wanna fully dox myself), working from home, and facing imminent layoffs because the company execs are drinking the AI kool-aid to replace my job, they don’t look kindly on remote work, and my team was acquired, so that brings another layer of risks. My wife is also having a baby due in 3 months and I live in a job market with little cybersecurity companies. Lots of other companies, but continuing as a tech writer in my industry will only get harder as I’m forced to find remote jobs to keep it going. The amount of existential stress has been bonkers, and I’ve wanted to pivot over to GRC for a long time.
Most of my job in tech writing is distilling complex information from SMEs and turning it into user-friendly writing. I write about IAM, PKI, and application security products for SaaS and on-prem products. I’ve also dabbled with security policy. I’m good at Git source control, CI/CD, and knowing how to communicate complexity to non-technical people. I see that GRC has lots of qualities like documentation and cross-functional communication, so I thought this would be appropriate.
I’ve been applying for 8 months and had little luck. My only interviews came from referrals. First time was for an entry level role I would’ve had to take a very large pay cut for. I made it to the final round but dropped out thinking I could find something better. Second time was an AI governance role but I got rejected after a technical round with an SME who didn’t seem to like my communication style, and then I made it the final round of a Staff IT Auditor role but they went with someone more experienced. Not a single cold application was successful. I’ve taken the GRC mastery course, post projects on my LinkedIn from what I learned in “GRC Engineering”, built a portfolio on an TPRM AI vendor audit, and I still don’t have much luck. I’m friends with my old company’s CISO when I did an informational interview, and I’m being referred to an open GRC role there but the hiring manager still needs to decide if they’ll interview me, and it’s a very senior role so I’m not keeping my hopes up. It seems like every single GRC job is Senior or Lead only. This is all the amount of luck I’ve had for 6 months and about 400 applications. I’ve had many resume reviews and networked with dozens of folks who were kind enough to hear me out. They all said my skills were perfect for GRC and I’m doing everything right.
I’ve also networked internally with GRC directors and VPs at my company. They all offered to let me interview if there was anything available but hiring has stopped, and I am unable to relocate due to my wife’s job and all our family being around to help us with the baby.
Tech writing is under huge pressure and shrinking due to AI, and I feel like GRC at least has better prospects and transferrable skills. Do I need to try certifications and keep trying? Transferrable skills and initiative won’t get me past the ATS.
AI prices skyrocketed lately and many AI companies switched to token-based billing, meaning that the more AI you use the more expensive it is. Many big companies put limits on Claude use and reared back on the “tokenmaxing” and blindly putting AI into everything possible because it was getting so expensive to run agents and use AI to the degree fantasized by tech execs.
What happens when the pressure to shoehorn AI into everything is far more expensive and reliability is not worth the cost? Is this a good thing for us?
How are we feeling about AI disrupting technical writing jobs? Is the field even about writing anymore? Is it shifting towards doc engineering, governance, or information architecture? Should we pivot fields entirely or can we truly adapt and keep going into something adjacent?
I am interviewing for a risk-based IT Auditor job in the med tech field after being referred by a friend in that same function. I am a cybersecurity technical writer looking to pivot into GRC and IT Audit, and this role is for an entry-level-ish auditor.
I had the recruiter call and was moved mid-interview to the next round with the hiring manager. I talked to the HM and it went 30 min overtime, got explicit feedback that my answers were what they were looking for, said my documentation experience and GRC-adjacent background in cyber was a huge plus, and that my behavioral answers were great. I also presented a mock IT Audit and Risk Assessment mirroring the company's industry 10-k reports and went into a lot of detail. The HM was very impressed. I also live close to HQ and mentioned being able to work hybrid or on-site, which seemed like a plus to them too. At the very end they said "Oh wait! Before you go, let me explain next steps. I had a candidate scheduled at the end of the week but I just need to check them off before we move forward. You'll be talking with the director but he is travelling and we'll need to finish that last interview and coordinate his schedule, so please be patient!"
I was then moved on a few days later for what I think is the final round with the director of IT Audit. That comes up in a couple days. The interview is just with the director but the HM was CC'd in the meeting invite for "awareness". The recruiter said they're coordinating schedules with a few candidates and gave me options to interview the director and I was given the earliest slot.
I have a lot of transferrable skills in tech writing, but I have no IT Audit experience, no certs, but just a ton of initiative, self-learning, and transferrable skills I tried to frame into an auditor context. I really hope I get this job, but I'm not sure what I may be asked. The hiring manager mostly sold me on the role, gave easy questions, and was very conversational and informal while talking to me, but not in the careless or uninterested way. Will I get grilled on technical info? The HM said they liked my resume and I hardly had to go into any detail on it.
I'm trying not to get my hopes too high since I am not that experienced (formally) in this profession, so I'm really trying to shoot for the moon here and do my best. I have 5 YOE experience in technical documentation for the top cybersecurity companies with a hybrid in GRC policy and risk assessments/NIST frameworks and collecting/translating technical info cross-functionally. It's transferrable but I have no real audit experience, CISA, etc., that I'm sure my competition easily has in this market.
I am interviewing for a risk-based IT Auditor job in the med tech field after being referred by a friend in that same function. I am a cybersecurity technical writer looking to pivot into GRC and IT Audit, and this role is for an entry-level-ish auditor.
I had the recruiter call and was moved mid-interview to the next round with the hiring manager. I talked to the HM and it went 30 min overtime, got explicit feedback that my answers were what they were looking for, said my documentation experience and GRC-adjacent background in cyber was a huge plus, and that my behavioral answers were great. I also presented a mock IT Audit and Risk Assessment mirroring the company's industry 10-k reports and went into a lot of detail. The HM was very impressed. I also live close to HQ and mentioned being able to work hybrid or on-site, which seemed like a plus to them too. At the very end they said "Oh wait! Before you go, let me explain next steps. I had a candidate scheduled at the end of the week but I just need to check them off before we move forward. You'll be talking with the director but he is travelling and we'll need to finish that last interview and coordinate his schedule, so please be patient!"
I was then moved on a few days later for what I think is the final round with the director of IT Audit. That comes up in a couple days. The interview is just with the director but the HM was CC'd in the meeting invite for "awareness". The recruiter said they're coordinating schedules with a few candidates and gave me options to interview the director and I was given the earliest slot.
I have a lot of transferrable skills in tech writing, but I have no IT Audit experience, no certs, but just a ton of initiative, self-learning, and transferrable skills I tried to frame into an auditor context. I really hope I get this job, but I'm not sure what I may be asked. The hiring manager mostly sold me on the role, gave easy questions, and was very conversational and informal while talking to me, but not in the careless or uninterested way. Will I get grilled on technical info? The HM said they liked my resume and I hardly had to go into any detail on it.
I'm trying not to get my hopes too high since I am not that experienced (formally) in this profession, so I'm really trying to shoot for the moon here and do my best. All my experience is in technical documentation for cybersecurity with a hybrid in GRC policy and risk assessments/NIST frameworks and collecting/translating technical info cross-functionally. It's transferrable but I have no real audit experience, CISA, etc., that I'm sure my competition easily has in this market.
I am interviewing for a risk-based IT Auditor job in the med tech field after being referred by a friend in that same function. I am a cybersecurity technical writer looking to pivot into GRC and IT Audit, and this role is for an entry-level-ish auditor.
I had the recruiter call and was moved mid-interview to the next round with the hiring manager. I talked to the HM and it went 30 min overtime, got explicit feedback that my answers were what they were looking for, said my documentation experience and GRC-adjacent background in cyber was a huge plus, and that my behavioral answers were great. I also presented a mock IT Audit and Risk Assessment mirroring the company's industry 10-k reports and went into a lot of detail. The HM was very impressed. I also live close to HQ and mentioned being able to work hybrid or on-site, which seemed like a plus to them too. At the very end they said "Oh wait! Before you go, let me explain next steps. I had a candidate scheduled at the end of the week but I just need to check them off before we move forward. You'll be talking with the director but he is travelling and we'll need to finish that last interview and coordinate his schedule, so please be patient!"
I was then moved on a few days later for what I think is the final round with the director of IT Audit. That comes up in a couple days. The interview is just with the director but the HM was CC'd in the meeting invite for "awareness". The recruiter said they're coordinating schedules with a few candidates and gave me options to interview the director and I was given the earliest slot.
I have a lot of transferrable skills in tech writing, but I have no IT Audit experience, no certs, but just a ton of initiative, self-learning, and transferrable skills I tried to frame into an auditor context. I really hope I get this job, but I'm not sure what I may be asked. The hiring manager mostly sold me on the role, gave easy questions, and was very conversational and informal while talking to me, but not in the careless or uninterested way. Will I get grilled on technical info? The HM said they liked my resume and I hardly had to go into any detail on it.
I'm trying not to get my hopes too high since I am not that experienced (formally) in this profession, so I'm really trying to shoot for the moon here and do my best. I have 5 YOE experience in technical documentation for the top cybersecurity companies with a hybrid in GRC policy and risk assessments/NIST frameworks and collecting/translating technical info cross-functionally. It's transferrable but I have no real audit experience, CISA, etc., that I'm sure my competition easily has in this market.
I am interviewing for a risk-based IT Auditor job in the med tech field after being referred by a friend in that same function. I am a cybersecurity technical writer looking to pivot into GRC and IT Audit.
I had the recruiter call and was moved mid-interview to the next round with the hiring manager. I talked to the HM and it went 30 min overtime, got explicit feedback that my answers were what they were looking for, said my documentation experience and GRC-adjacent background in cyber was a huge plus, and that my behavioral answers were great. I also presented a mock IT Audit and Risk Assessment mirroring the company's industry 10-k reports and went into a lot of detail. The HM was very impressed. I also live close to HQ and mentioned being able to work hybrid or on-site, which seemed like a plus to them too. At the very end they said "Oh wait! Before you go, let me explain next steps. I had a candidate scheduled at the end of the week but I just need to check them off before we move forward. You'll be talking with the director but he is travelling and we'll need to finish that last interview and coordinate his schedule, so please be patient!"
I was then moved on a few days later for what I think is the final round with the director of IT Audit. That comes up in a couple days. The interview is just with the director but the HM was CC'd in the meeting invite for "awareness". The recruiter said they're coordinating schedules with a few candidates and gave me options to interview the director and I was given the earliest slot. What's weird was that the first recruiter screen implied I'd be talking to a panel with the director at one point, but now it's just him after rapidly moving forward from the hiring manager. The hiring manager made it sound like it could be a week until I hear back to move forward but it happened only 2 business days after.
I have a lot of transferrable skills in tech writing, but I have no IT Audit experience, no certs, but just a ton of initiative, self-learning, and transferrable skills I tried to frame into an auditor context. I really hope I get this job, but I'm not sure what I may be asked. The hiring manager mostly sold me on the role, gave easy questions, and was very conversational and informal while talking to me, but not in the careless or uninterested way. Will I get grilled on technical info? The HM said they liked my resume and I hardly had to go into any detail on it.
I'm trying not to get my hopes too high since I am not that experienced (formally) in this profession, so I'm really trying to shoot for the moon here and do my best. Tech writing is being eaten up by AI and the future is bleak unless I pivot careers.
Tech writing has been in a bad place lately due to AI and the overall economic outlook/job market, as we all know. However, I'm seeing a ton of sentiment lately that AI is starting to crash:
Of course, companies are still going for a last-ditch effort with mass layoffs continuing and calling out AI. We all know what happened to AWS and Snowflake, but we're finally seeing some investors scrutinize this. Microsoft and Amazon stock tanked after announcing massive spending deals, and CloudFlare stock dipped almost 20% when using AI as an excuse for layoffs the other day.
When this AI bubble pops, we'll keep having AI, of course, but it seems like we can't sustain this free lunch era for much longer. Companies will very likely pull back on AI costs when model performance begins to match pricing.
I know companies aren't seeing it now, but LLM performance fundamentally relies on documentation and human-written prompts, context, Skill file instruction, and someone who architects all this. Literally, who else does this better than a tech writer?
AI is an insanely powerful tool, but the promises these AI tech bros advertise, and what execs are buying into to appease shareholders, are a pipe dream. I know it's rough right now, but I'm convinced that this has to be a transitory period.
If anything, this is just making a stronger case for tech writers to become Information Architects in a more strategic sense.
Do you think tech writing will come back? Right now, things feel absolutely F'd with the job market and what company execs are falling for, but I don't think this will last. Even in software, I feel like the shift will just move to Content Ops and Documentation Engineering while we see traditional tech writing stay for things like Aerospace, Medical Writing, Hardware, DoD, and highly-regulated docs where the human-in-the-loop is critical.
I am in the final stages of an AI Governance role where I’d be taking ownership of creating the program, while collaborating with existing GRC folks and cross-functional stakeholders. I’ve been a technical writer in cybersecurity and have a lot of hybrid experience in GRC, but never a formal role with a mandate to do GRC tasks or facilitate programs.
How stressful is GRC? I understand that it’s much more social, you need to be assertive, etc., but how stressful do you think this role could be? I’d love to hear what some of the stressors are in this role and if I can prepare or evaluate my career trajectory. As someone who deals with imposter syndrome and feels a bit lost (but equally excited), I’d love to know more!
I am in the final stages of an AI Governance role where I’d be taking ownership of creating the program, while collaborating with existing GRC folks and cross-functional stakeholders. I’ve been a technical writer in cybersecurity and have a lot of hybrid experience in GRC, but never a formal role with a mandate to do GRC tasks or facilitate programs.
How stressful is GRC? I understand that it’s much more social, you need to be assertive, etc., but how stressful do you think this role could be? I’d love to hear what some of the stressors are in this role and if I can prepare or evaluate my career trajectory. As someone who deals with imposter syndrome and feels a bit lost (but equally excited), I’d love to know more!
I am aspiring to pivot to the AI Governance side of cybersecurity GRC. How stressful is the job since so much of AI Governance is maturing/evolving fast along with the tech?
I am a technical writer likely about to be laid off in the near future after being acquired, re-orged, sunsetted projects, and new senior manager who wants to cut team size. I’ve worked at the world’s largest cybersecurity companies for 5 years and the automation push is getting worse and worse, where we went from “adapt to AI” to cutting down team members up to 50% because it’s apparently good enough for security documentation. I see no long term future in tech writing and my local job market has so cyber companies or salaries nearly as high as I make now. I’d have to go back 6 month contract jobs paying maybe 60k no benefits if I lost my current gig. With a baby due in September and a new mortgage, I’m just trying to secure a future.
I’m starting the interview process for an AI Governance role as my tech writing jobs had tons of crossover with GRC. I love documentation. I’m a “check-boxer”-brained person, and I like work life balance just making good money with a stable career with growth opportunities. Cybersecurity is interesting but GRC sounds perfect for me. I’m also extremely passionate about responsible and secure AI use as the AI threat to my current career has made me obsessed with keeping up with the trends and being a realist with it.
I hear people say GRC is not stable either and ripe for efficiency. I think just about anything is better than tech writing, but will I stand a chance being a fresher in the field with how things are going?