A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down with Andy Stevens, Technical Content Manager at Linode, to film a RedMonk Conversation video on Documenting the Alternative Cloud. If you are interested in tech comm and/or documentation, I recommend checking out that video (and/or its transcript), where we cover topics like docs-as-code, documentation sprawl, and tips for delivering better technical documentation.

During our conversation, however, Andy and I covered so many tech writing topics that we ended up with some additional segments that might prove useful to anyone hiring, managing, or considering finding a gig as a technical writer or documentarian. You can find these excerpts (and links to their transcripts) below. They are ordered according to where they fell in our initial conversation, but can be viewed individually or in any order.

Organizing the Docs Team at Linode

A discussion of the organization and responsibilities of the six-person docs team at Linode (including the types of documentation it produces), where the team is located in the larger org structure, and some of the professional backgrounds of team members.

Read the transcript of this video here.

A Typical Day for a Tech Writer at Linode

Find out what a typical day looks like for a tech writer at Linode, and how team processes have evolved over time (hint: they now do documentation releases on Fridays).

Read the transcript of this video here.

Hiring and Tech Writers

Andy shares tips for hiring technical writers and (conversely) for finding a job in a tech writing/tech comm field.

Read the transcript of this video here.

 

Disclosure: Linode is a RedMonk client; however, this post and the cited videos are independent pieces of work and were not commissioned by any entity.