You wish you could be paid the benefits plus salary amounting to 120k/year for technical writing or you wish that was all that it cost?

I worked as a professional full-time technical writer, salaried with benefits and options, for four years across two companies. I exited the field entirely because even factoring the costs beyond salary I never came close to clearing US$100k/year spent on the role, nor did any of my colleagues outside of management (which notably wasn't a writing role).

There was no path toward that number without moving to what were considered "technical" roles on other teams, including when I moved into a tools development role within the tech writing team.

So I wish I, or anyone I've worked with, or any full-time technical writer I've ever spoken to, got that level of compensation for technical writing. I'd still be doing it if I'd gotten paid that much.

I'm not saying nobody gets paid that, someone probably does or I'm sure y'all wouldn't talk about it. But god I _wish_ I'd ever actually seen it, just to know it was out there.

In my limited experience, the role is titled “software developer” or similar, but is actually mostly a technical writing role pretending to be development in order to justify the necessary expense. With occasional development duties. But that’s the only context I’ve seen it approach that figure (including taking into account benefits like health insurance).