actual conversation from saturday

[jazzfish]

COWORKER R: So what did you do before?

ME: I was a tech writer for a bunch of software companies.

R: Oh, like documentation? Isn't that really boring?

ME: I mean, that's part of why I'm not doing it anymore.

R: Yeah, it's part knowing the tech, which is a real skill, and the rest is just admin work.

ME: Okay, I disagree pretty strongly with that.

R: I'm a program manager at a tech company, and we replaced three of our four writers with ChatGPT. The last writer just has to proofread it.

ME: This conversation is over.

---

I saw the writing on the wall a year and a half ago, and I have no regrets about getting out.

Maybe in another five years whatever parts of "the tech industry" care about documentation will realize that no, actually they do need real writers. I'm not optimistic.

Comments

[jazzfish]

The "just admin" attitude is ESPECIALLY galling in this case: the guy's elections job is 'recruiter,' identifying and interviewing potential pollworkers. Which has an awful lot of administrative components. And which it's my understanding that he screwed up some of, resulting in a cascading failure of scheduling and hiring that took much of last week to sort out.

I try not to think about the sheer amount of money sloshing around in tech, or the degree to which programmers think they're inherently superior to everyone else and thus deserve all that money, because it just makes me annoyed in multiple directions. Including towards some folks I count as friends.

[shadowkat]

Oh, I hear you on that.

I kind of stepped in it yesterday - when I was asking a co-worker about a new job she was taking. She said it was a manager, and that her tasks included checking payroll, if there were enough trains, if various safety measures were followed, timecards...

ME: So administrative section?

Co-workers: No, it's not administrative, she's managing people.

Me: Uhm, administrative doesn't mean being a secretary, it means checking payroll, and that there's enough of this, etc.

Co-worker who is leaving looks at me in abject horror, radiating dislike: okay fine, whatever you think it is, I have to leave now.

[Good news, after this week? It's unlikely I'll have to deal with her again.]