Career Explorer Arts, media and sport
Changing shape
Technical writers
Write technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices, or operating and maintenance instructions. May assist in layout work.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 2% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +0.8% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $90,390
- Job growth to 2035
- +0.8%
- Openings a year
- 3,200
- People doing it (2025)
- 46,400
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Edit written materials or documents
- Compile records, documentation, or other data
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Maintain operational records
- Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Organize material and complete writing assignment according to set standards regarding order, clarity, conciseness, style, and terminology.
- Maintain records and files of work and revisions.
- Edit, standardize, or make changes to material prepared by other writers or establishment personnel.
- Analyze developments in specific field to determine need for revisions in previously published materials and development of new material.
- Study drawings, specifications, mockups, and product samples to integrate and delineate technology, operating procedure, and production sequence and detail.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools grows, allowing technical writers to produce documentation more efficiently.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Mechanical draftersChanging shape, Index 10, -6.0%
- Civil engineering technologists and techniciansChanging shape, Index 17, +3.2%
- Social science research assistantsGrows with AI, Index 16, +5.0%
- Electrical and electronics draftersChanging shape, Index 3, -3.4%
Also known as: Engineering Writer, Grant Writer, Narrative Writer, Requirements Analyst, Com Writer, Global Technical Writer, Medical Writer, Principal Technical Writer.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.