Write the Docs NA <3
en route from LA to Portland <3
It’s uncanny to revisit this blog and see that the date of this post is exactly one year later than this post describing the beginning of my 2016 Outreachy summer internship.
I feel like I’ve passed through multiple selves between then and now – even in the past 3-7 months, I feel like I’ve progressed through several new identities since I began working at DreamHost and since I began maneuvering through various unexpected life events. In the past 7 months, I’ve touched very little of the following:
(Those are all tools that make this blog hum.) I’ve done very little writing, period.
Hello again, world.
Indeed, this post is inspired (mandated :) by the generous conference stipends that are made available to Outreachy interns by the Software Freedom Conservancy. DreamHost also generously financed a large portion of my trip to Portland for Write the Docs NA .
Revisiting this Q&A post, I see again how documentation was so very key to making my first steps as a Homebrew contributor (Homebrew being yet another thing I’ve missed playing with over the past 7 months). Now that I’m back in touch with Mike and now that I’ve picked up inspiration and momentum from WTD, I’m excited to help further the current incarnation of the brew docs. I’m also thankful that I did document so much of my process last year – if only to remember: hey, I did these fun things.
FULL CIRCLE. :)
Write the Docs is hands down the best community I’ve joined in my short time working in software. I’m already excited to help out at WTD in Prague this September, and I’m doing my best to evangelize WTD to everyone at work, everyone I know who works in technology, and everyone I know who cares about open source. A few of us here in LA are also working on starting a local chapter to add to the WTD community. And, thanks to a solicitation by Nik Blanchet at the very end of the conference, I’m excited to help spin up a WTD Latin America. <3
It’s really hard to distill all my conference thoughts and feelings in a coherent way. I’ll let a few photos do some talking…
- We kicked off pre-conf activities with a Saturday hike through Lower Macleay Park in Portland. It hailed!!! (You can see hail on the ground in the middle photo below.)
- On Sunday, I participated in Writing Day. I made baby steps towards contributing to Kubernetes documentation. Andrew and Jared at Google have been so very helpful and welcoming to new contributors.
- Monday was the first day of the conference itself. Here’s Eric Holscher talking about cultivating a welcoming environment – with the aid of Pacman. <3
- Here’s Jodie Putrino talking about treating documentation workflow like coding workflow – with the aid of an awesome stock photo provided by F5. Tongue-in-cheek caption: The information you need is clearly provided in the documentation.
- Here’s Sam Faktorovich (who flew to Portland all the way from Siberia) detailing the challenges of developing a pool of technical writers in Novosibirsk, Russia’s 3rd most populous city.
- Here’s Matthew Buttler talking about the partnership between documentarians and support … in a slide that speaks for itself. :)
- Here’s a sign that was posted by each of the restrooms in the beautiful Crystal Ballroom. It also speaks for itself. :)
None of this is about winning, of course, but – WTD wins at inclusivity, organization, thoughtfulness, and documenting process <3 when it comes to community and conference organizing. It’s why at least three of us who travelled to Portland from LA came away so inspired and motivated to form a local WTD chapter this year. We want to keep the conversations going in southern California and help spread the same openness of spirit, openness to dialogue, and openness to learning from one another.
(BTW, a full list of the conference speakers can be found here).