Summary

I build and lead teams that create exceptional and high-performing educational content for software developers, I build open-source software and web applications, write technical books and articles, and I mentor aspiring developers. I develop software, content, and people.

Experience

Temporal Technologies (Remote)

Director of Developer Education - March 2022-Present

• Owned developer documentation and content strategy, and managed the performance and growth of eight remote full-time technical curriculum developers and content engineers who create written tutorials, technical documentation, code samples, videos, courses, technical assessments, and live workshops. Successfully merged Product Documentation into the Education function in 2023.
• Created Temporal’s Education function from the ground up, and developed a full hands-on competency-based program plan and curriculum that helps developers build applications using Temporal’s products and SDKs through written, video, and interactive lessons in online and live environments.
• Built and launched a learning platform using Docusarus and custom tooling, and integrated it with a commercial Learning Management System that served tutorials and courses in TypeScript, Java, Go, and Python to the developer community, leading to a steady stream of new named users month over month.
• Oversaw production and delivery of product documentation for Temporal Cloud and Temporal SDKs in multiple programming languages, and developed a process to bring engineers and product managers into the product documentation process as authors.
• Oversaw integration of LLM tools into our documentation, learning resources and content development workflows.
• Drove the implementation of a live training program to support expansion within enterprise customers, with successful results.

The Pragmatic Bookshelf (Remote)

Author and Developmental Editor (Contract) — August 2010-Present

• Wrote 11 technical books including Build Websites with Hugo, Small, Sharp Software Tools, tmux 2: Productive Mouse-Free Development, and Exercises For Programmers.
• Edited 19 technical books including Designing Data Governance from the Ground Up, Powerful Command Line Applications in Go, and Fire In The Valley, 3rd Edition.
• Maintained and enhanced the proprietary toolchain that produces print, PDF, and Ebooks of all Pragmatic Bookshelf titles.

DigitalOcean (Remote)

Senior Manager, Technical Editing, DigitalOcean Community — March 2021 - March 2022
Manager, Technical Editing, DigitalOcean Community — September 2018 - March 2021
Senior Technical Editor, DigitalOcean Community — June 2016 - September 2019

• Built and managed a high performing distributed team of technical editors that produced hundreds of high quality tutorials for millions of developers, driving awareness and adoption of DigitalOcean’s product offerings and contributing to revenue.
• Managed the Write for DOnations program and budget, paying authors and making donations on their behalf.
• Oversaw the integration of two content acquisitions, adding over 1000 pieces of new content to our library, resulting in increased traffic, conversions, and awareness.
• Used data to set, execute, and re-evaluate publishing goals for our team, increasing output, traffic, and revenue year over year for three consecutive years.
• Coached direct reports through professional development plans and promotion plans, resulting in successful re-leveling and promotion of multiple team members, including IC to manager transitions.
• Created automated workflows to manage virtual servers running Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, and FreeBSD using Docker, Terraform, Vagrant, Ansible, and the DigitalOcean API to accelerate technical testing of submitted tutorials.
• Created DigitalOcean’s first collection of interactive tutorials featuring an embedded terminal.
• As an individual contributor, reviewed, tested, revised, and published articles from open-source software experts on the DigitalOcean community website through the Write for DOnations program, driving awareness and adoption of DigitalOcean’s product offerings and contributing to revenue.

Chippewa Valley Technical College

Adjunct Instructor — January 2018-March 2018

Software Development Instructor — August 2012-June 2016

• Designed, developed, and delivered performance-based curriculum for online and in-person courses in entry-level web development, Linux fundamentals, programming fundamentals, and agile software development concepts to a diverse student population.
• Used demonstrations, lecture, discussions, video tutorials, written materials, practice sessions, and online supplemental instruction to accommodate multiple learning preferences.
• Nominated by students for teaching excellence awards in 2012, 2014, and 2015, and consistently scored high on student evaluations in all areas.
• Facilitated well-received inservice sessions focused on teaching methods in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Web Application Development Specialist — January 2008-August 2012

Senior Web Developer - January 2003-January 2008

Web Application Developer – June 2001-January 2003

• Used PHP, Ruby on Rails, SQL Server, and MySQL to build robust systems to manage student registration for programs, service learning, parking services, and an emergency alert system using SMS messaging.
• Managed servers for public web servers, application servers, and database servers running both Windows and Linux, handling almost one million visits per month.
• Supervised and mentored student interns, guiding them on best practices in software development and testing.

Recent Publications

• Build Websites with Hugo - The Pragmatic Bookshelf - 2020
• Small, Sharp Software Tools - The Pragmatic Bookshelf - 2019
• tmux 2: Productive Mouse-Free Development - The Pragmatic Bookshelf - 2017
• Exercises For Programmers - The Pragmatic Bookshelf - 2015

Software Projects

• node-livereload https://www.npmjs.com/package/livereload
• Codecaster http://codecaster.io
• Amelius http://amelius.napcs.com
• Rendera http://rendera.org
• Open-source projects: https://github.com/napcs

Volunteer Work

The Collab Lab (https://the-collab-lab.codes/)

Volunteer Mentor - January 2021-Present

Vets Who Code (https://vetswhocode.com)

• Content advisor - August 2020-Present

Skills

• People: People management, mentoring, teaching, coaching, public speaking, technical writing, developmental editing, community engagement, educational content creation and delivery, adult education, teaching methods.
• Software Development: Ruby, JavaScript, Elixir, HTML, CSS, Sass, Bash, SQL, MySQL, SQLite, Postgres, responsive design, accessibility, test-driven development, automation.
• Software Tools: Vim, tmux, Git, Apache, Nginx, Vagrant. Terraform, Ansible, Docker, JIRA, Confluence, Google Docs, Looker.
• Operating Systems: MacOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), iOS.

Education

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI

• BBA (Information Systems Management)

Wisconsin Technical College System Teaching Certification courses

• WTCS Course 50 - Course Construction
• WTCS Course 51 - History of the Wisconsin Technical College System
• WTCS Course 52 - Teaching Methods
• WTCS Course 53 - Educational Psychology / Behavioral Methods
• WTCS Course 69 - Diversity in Education