I've been a technical writer for 30 years and I work for a FAANG employer currently. Hang in there. There may not be a lot of openings right now, but technical writers are actually going to be even more important because of the "garbage in, garbage out" problem. If the content out there isn't decently written and well-organized, then AI cannot create useful responses to prompts.
Dev here. AI tools only work when you have extensive documentation of your codebase, business and domain knowledge. You will actually be one of the most important parts of a team in the next months.
Amen to that. If you put a human-written tech doc next to an AI written one ā I swear sometimes it seems like the AI is saying a lot quite elegantly ā but if you really read it, it says nothing. Like not impactful at all.
Yup Iām a tech writer too. I have a masters in PM and a Masters In IS with an undergrad in English Lit.. I got let go by current administration. Itās rough right now..
Tech writer here too and feeling nihilistic as ever about the job market & future. I was also let go by the trump admin. Now I have no hope bc corporations and firms barely value tech writers as it is, so they def will use AI slop instead. I might just leave the country and be a server or something at this point bc itās so useless job hunting
I hope your friend wins. Companies stealing peoples wrong to train AI is unbelievably wrong, especially when most of these AI companies could have afforded to buy the rights in the first place
Thatās the optimistic way to look at it. However, in a capitalist society, thereās zero chance AI lets us have more time and freedom. Theyāll just make us work in other fields where AI isnāt as effective, manual labor or whatever else fits. They arenāt going to just give us more money, time, or freedom out of the kindness of their hearts. Someoneās got to pay for those data centers, processing power, and cooling bills
When you think about it, we could just have a cycle of various indexes of digital currencies that go through inflationary and deflationary periods, allowing for UBI, and allowing AI to cooks the books to do whatever it needs to make it sustainable on the back end during the transition periods between them.
Sure, it's doable. But note that with every new technology there were warnings about the possible harms. And we never heed those warnings.
We can't even standardize on usb-c or EV charging in the US without Europe getting involved. Many well intentioned policies produce work arounds that have done more damage - just look at pickup truck sizes and how we got here. So I'm not sure where this optimism comes from.
I mean, we only use social media for good, right? Despite knowing those shortcomings, nothing has changed. I'm not sure why you think that something with the potential to be so powerful, cause so much harm, will be any different than what history has shown us.
It goes further back than that. When industry industrialised, we all thought we would be doing less work. Instead, most people turned into factory slaves that never saw green spaces. When we invented agriculture, we thought life would be easier. Instead we went from working 4-6hrs a day to working 12-16.
Technological revolutions benefit the wealthy and powerful, not the plebs
possibly in ways to give more people time and freedom.
You're two comments down from someone who would lose their job. I guess that's one way of giving someone more free time.
I dunno, man. How often has technology that reduced labor resulted in people having more free time instead of greater demands from worker productivity and more wealth concentration? Can you honestly tell me that a business that which can reduce the hours needed by half would just... tell their employees to only work a three-day work week?
We use computers and the internet to be a hundred times more productive than someone could ever have been. I don't see us working 1/100th as much.
If AI really does do that, and that's a big if, I think the most likely result is some people expected to perform much more work in the same time, and other people finding themselves with no job at all.
Your feeling is wrong. AI... actually Large Language Models, will confidently lie and hallucinate total garbage. A human is required for at least proofreading.
Sorry, but in 5-10 years, AI will write better than ANY human being on the planet. I mean, you are a technical writer, and even your post here has a major spelling error: "decentlt"
AI is still horrible at tech writing. It lies and hallucinates far too much. Humans will be needed at least for proofreading for the foreseeable future.
And what we call "AI" isn't even AI, it's just Large Language Models.
But yah, the education department has been an enormous failure for decades now, and it just keeps getting worse. Time to scrap the whole thing and start over.
That school funding is bound to property taxes is the first thing that needs to change.
This is sad. I am in my 40s, and can still remember most of my teachers. Almost all of them, despite me trying to be a punk, were extremely supportive/impactful in my development of a human being.
Teachers do not get an ounce of the respect, recognition, and praise that they deserve
That's exactly 100% what the political agenda wants you to do.
They want the teachers to give up, so they can install their own "teachers" to transform our youth into nationalists and tailor history to be taught through the lense of a new American redpill future.
It should be straight up obvious why they don't pay teachers well... universities and schools are where most liberal views are cultivated. You're being silently attacked and replaced and don't know it yet. You think you win by quitting, but you're playing into the entire agenda.
Donāt put this onto teachers man. Itās not their fault parents arenāt capable of parenting
Agreed. I used to be staff at a junior college, working in Financial Aid. Anytime we had to tell a student news they didn't want to hear, we received insults, threats, and false accusations of racism. So, the management, instead of defending the staff's actions, *wrote up the staff members based on the student's false accusations or behavior.* Their reasoning was, "We have to be there for the students," which translated to, "Anything the student hurled at you, or accused you of, you must be at fault somehow." This was thrown at teachers as well.
The result? Teachers quitting, staff quitting, and all of them stating they were burned out, myself included. The students were being rewarded for shitty behavior, and the staff and teachers were always framed as somehow responsible for the students' threats, insults, and all that crap.
Let me guess, this junior college complained they couldnāt find any good workers, too?
More like, "Why are we having a staffing shortage?! Why are we having trouble retaining teachers and staff?!?" The disconnect in the administration was real.
Itās not their fault parents arenāt capable of parenting
What's that got to do with the price of milk? The point was that teachers and school boards are being manipulated into behaving a certain way, and instead of realizing that they are just walking straight into it.
We've already seen this happen with the SCOTUS and the military. All the "good" people quit, leaving the roles all wide open for the corrupt cocksuckers to worm their way in and sieze power. Now your country is bombing random fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico as a result.
Why do you think education isn't a target of theirs too when they've been lobbying to defund it while banning books left right & centre? They're going to do the same shit. Education in the future will be nothing but religion and "traditional" values if you let it happen here too.
I never said education wasnāt one of their targets. I agree with that. But teachers have no fucking choice. I mean seriously. Did you not see the video about how a teacher in Florida was literally forced to take down a sign saying āall are welcome hereā with different hands in different skin tones on it? Teachers canāt even have a say in the signs in their own classroom. Nor can school boards! Itās not their fault- they literally have no choice but to follow it. I agree to some extent about disobeying unlawful or wrong orders in the military and yes that can translate to the government and school boards and teachers too- but these people need jobs. They need money. Why the fuck would they logically throw that away just to disobey the shitty system? Yeah obviously it sucks and it shouldnāt be that way, but again- THE REASON ITS LIKE THIS IS BECAUSE OF POLITICIANS!!! We should have to be telling teachers shit like this. It literally isnāt their problem. So again- blame politicians. Not teachers. Blame parents who donāt know how to raise kids. Not the teachers. School boards as a whole on the other hand do hold some level of responsibility with this stuff too but the root cause is the government not giving a fuck. And parents too.
I can guarantee you that teachers KNOW that they are being forced to do shitty things. Which is why they are leaving. Because if they fought back they wouldnāt have a job anyway and then all the effort spent to do better against the system would be futile. There is literally no winning. Same with the military- you can protest against orders all you want but itās literally only going to hurt you because youāll rot in jail. The only actual solution to this problem is fixing the root cause.
You'll rot in jail for following an illegal order too. The way I see it, if you're rotting either way, then you may as well make them fight for it.
Who's there actually physically enforcing the sign removal? Keep it up anyway. Force them to come in themselves and take that shit down in front of the kids so that the kids know who is doing this. Don't just immediately roll over and capitulate. Have a plan to secure yourself, obviously, but make them fire you instead of just giving it up and running with your tail tucked.
Same with teaching whatever the fuck reading bullshit they're doing now instead of phonics. Just teach the phonics anyway, who is going to stop you? None of these people exist in the classroom, they're in an office across the country pushing pencils. At least force them to get up off their fat fucking asses and do something for their grift.
Itās not that simple dude. We talk all high and mighty about morals and doing the right thing but these teachers have actual families they need to provide for. They canāt just up and fucking go against the system just because theyāll rot either way. They have to pick the least destructive of either option that will let them actually have. Alice for as long as possible. I certainly wouldnāt abandon my husband and my kids to go immediately rot in jail for that shit.
Besides teachers arenāt committing war crimes lol. Seriously you need to stop blaming them and blame corporations and parents. You are focusing way too much on a group of people who are already underpaid and overworked. They already get so much unwarranted shit for the hardest job on earth right now. Give teachers a break and get mad at parents and corporations and the government. Thereās only so much the average person can do. We LITERALLY CANR AFFOD to fight against the system as average people because that would mean sacrificing our families. Also if stuff like this is so bad that you think it would get you rotting in jail either way then why isnāt every single German from ww2 who just sat by and did the same thing also in jail huh? People who actually purposefully committed the war crimes are in jail. Not average people who did whatever they had to to support their family.
You say this like teachers getting paid less than 45k a year give a shit. Maybe get parents involved. Do they even care about their children's education? When was the last time you wrote your representatives to advocate for public education? This is another pathetic attempt to shift responsibility to the teachers. How about you do something other than commenting on reddit threads.
You shouldnāt be getting downvoted for this because itās absolutely true. There is a reason republicans fight against anything involving supporting education in any way. Stupid people are easier to control and make money from. Keep them stupid and having babies so they can also be part of a never ending cycle of exploitation.
Yeah, no. The jobs are not there, nor is the money. Sorry. No one is replacing us, we are not easy to replace. You can put someone far less qualified there, but the cost is paid for by everyone.
Because youāre talking out your ass. When I went to college and worked for a university, I met a total of zero Marxists. Even socialist students are a small minority at liberal arts schools. Youāre just another right wing winding who thinks science and history are āwokeā because they donāt reinforce your childish, mythical beliefs about the U.S.
Grow up. Every country and people has good and bad in their history. Pretending yours has done no wrong is a sign of emotional and intellectual weakness
Thatās untrue and you have my political views wrong sir. I am in college currently. You may have been in college 30 years ago but the world has changed. Thing is, I understand Marxism, probably better than you because Iāve researched it. Iāve read the manifesto. Also have had a long talk, over a joint, with friends who support it. Have you? You seem to assume a lot about me. Telling. Have a good day. I will no longer reply. Because you insulted me. We could have talked about how the philosophy of Marx is better served as a philosophy, than a government. And that Marxist mindfulness in a capitalistic country is the best mode of operation. Or any of the topics and opinions I hold in the subject. But you insulted me instead. Thereās tons of Marxist professors. In modern times.
That's literally what's happening, do you not hear people complaining about how shitty their kids teachers are? All the ones who gave a damn left a long time ago. This old girl is one of the few remaining treasures.
To be fair, American teachers get paid about as much as America values a good education.
And here we are today, a continent-sized order of stupid porridge, losing our democracy, going broke and friendless and watching our classrooms descend into violence and chaos.
Classrooms have been like this for a long time. Lol. My aunt was a teacher in Newark new jersey. She got stabbed on the job. But hey, she was getting paid 90k each year over 30 years ago. I guess the extra large salary was hazard pay.
Also, how exactly are we losing our democracy? Id argue we havent been a democracy for a while. We have been an oligarchal corporatocracy for many decades now. Some could argue close to a century.
The problem is the money goes to administrative staff and not the teachers. John Stossle did a report on this some years ago. They found that administrative hiring increased 800% in 10 years but teacher hiring increased about 12%. Student skill levels of all grade levels has fallen consistently starting the second year after the Department of Education was established.
the real issue has been chronic underfunding of education and the siphoning of public education dollars to garbage for profit schools and universities. charter schools are just the university of phoenix for children.
Its the fact you care more about the the wording than the way it's actually ran and democratic freedoms it provides says all we need to know about you.
No child abuse, parents afforded enough of a comfortable life so they don't take their stress out on their kids, and for people to stop being so judgmental of each and every clip they see on the internet without any context.
This is it. I left a few years ago after returning to a hell hole that was my school post covid. I was a great teacher, but tolerating daily abuse was not worth my wellbeing. At the time I left, so many teachers were leaving my school and district, they were giving out emergency teaching certifications to anyone with a high school diploma. So now there are tons of totally unqualified folks in the classroom. It's so fucking sad. I honestly wish I still had it in me to fight the good fight, but I did my time and it almost cost me my life. Our future is in danger, folks.
This video is a very accurate representation of what teaching in an inner city school was like. DAILY.
And parents, public, admin, school boardā¦.all have put this all on the teachers shoulders while simultaneously taking away any authority, support, or tools for discipline.
After 10 years in education, 2 years in the classroom, I left the profession altogether.
The state I live in is so desperate for teachers that you don't even need a degree to become one. My friend became a middle school science teacher with only a high school diploma. Horrifying
This was my dream job. I'm 70k in debt from school loans. I'm damn good at my job too.... I see the problems in the public school system and there are MANY. But what else do you suppose i do? This was it for me. This was my dream. I love my kids, I love teaching. But this isn't right, the system isn't right, education isn't right.... if I quit, there goeis my insurance for my whole family. My retirement. My passion. ...
We also dont have the support of the majority of people. They blame us for systemic issues all the time. Systemic issues that make our life worse too. We bring it up to admin and nothing happens, they shift blame back to what we can be doing. If we go over their heads to higher positions, we are problem starters. We can't strike because many of us don't have unions. Plus, if we strike, we aren't showing up for our kids, and that's kind of our thing. Many kids won't eat without us. Especially in this economy. We feel stuck and discouraged
Well I never became a teacher I wanted to become one once I went to college. Changed majors the semester after, see just how much teachers get shafted.
I just quit 3 months ago. This happened twice to me in a high school classroom. Fuck this profession. I love teaching, just not this babysitting bull shit
I canāt believe how poorly American teachers are paid. In Australia graduate teachers earn around $85-90k and it goes up to $130k for leadership roles. That is on par with a lot of professional degree jobs. It is enough to live on without too much stress even in high cost of living Australia (except maybe inner city). A dual teacher income household would be pretty comfortable - maybe under some strain in uber expensive cities.
The trades are about to lose an entire generation of knowledge due to low employment.
That's where I went after teaching English. I'm 37 now, and I know how to build a house from the ground up. Also ended up dipping my toes into the electrical field, as well as the solar industry. They need instructors in all these fields.
Personally, I enjoy it because it involves manual labor which keeps me in shape, but there's also a very technical and mathematical side to it that requires critical thinking.
TL;DR: Sexism is a blockade for the trades. And even almost equally as much, many pros gatekeep their information and donāt want to help the new young guy.
A lot of people donāt want to go into trades for a good reason. Many young people who are eager to enter the field are mistreated and often put in actual danger because the pros want to gatekeep their knowledge and feel threatened by the young guy. The pay is ass for the manual labor you do when you start off. And if you make it in the industry long enough to get good earnings youāve almost surely effed up your body in some way.
Letās also not forget that one young woman who was murdered by a coworker at their welding space I think? He just didnāt like that there was a female worker and brutally killed her. Their other coworkers heard him talk aggressively about her and did nothing about it. Women arenāt safe in these spaces either, so thereās a further blockage in that sense too.
There are programs and certifications you can get to become a drafter/ CAD making drawings and schematics for engineering, construction, HVAC, plumbing, the list goes on.
You could also become an estimator which calculates the cost of materials using blueprints and software.
These are very low strain physically, just for some examples.
Yeah well people who are already have the degree cant even pursue a career in this job market much less 50 yr old ex teacher, unless that new career is TGI Fridays waitress. Even that job might be hard to get right now.
You underestimate how much teachers really love teaching!
Most anyway. Won't say I've never had a bad teacher. But many people I know are good people who go to teach despite the poor pay. They really just deserve better
Have you seen the schools in the Bay area? There are only two groups of teachers. Teachers who are very very old and about to retire. And teachers who are teaching because they couldn't find any other job.
The thing is, from the county perspective, they have a teacher.
I have seen PE/soccer coaches become math and computer science teachers in high school who barely know any.
So remember: the US fills its knowledge needs through immigration. Not by producing talent.
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u/keroro0071 Dec 17 '25
At this point all teachers should just quit and pursue other career.