While that's true; If you look at how the surplus of productivity generated by technology was distributed among the members of the society in the last 30 years, you will notice that, maybe, she was right.

Who got benefited from the increase in productivity I generated with the automation I made? The owners of the company.

I automated an entire department down to a single person (me) -- this was during a severe downturn for the business with layoffs left at right. I didn't quite feel I was putting others out of work, as two jumped ship and one was retired out (comfortably).

I even significantly improved timeliness and accuracy. And I absorbed a major change in inputs that likely would not have been accommodate-able under the old system. Turned one of the high-priced consultants onto a reporting package that greatly improved their life feeding upper Management endless varieties of ad hoc reports. Etc.

And... this senior management, brought in from outside due to the share price, set up separate reporting channels using their people, and eventually laid me off.

These days, with so much top-down control, it's often a matter of who you know more that what, and how you are perceived. I was very good at what I did, but from their perspective, I was a "grunt" and a replaceable cog.

In the mainstream work environment, you can indeed work yourself right out of a job, especially if perceptions of you don't match a profile that Management is used to respecting and promoting.

I know I often come across as cynical, here. And certainly, I bring my own faults to the table. But... experience has shown me that these days, still, image often outshines talent in the job market.