Experience Counts It’s always a pleasure to meet practitioner authors, in part because they have such varied backgrounds. What is surprising is how despite that, the unusual things they have in common. Two of the ContentLab IO authors started in accounting, one moved to programming by chance, the other by intention. Introducing David Gray, whose strategy was to understand the language of business (money flow) first, and then the programming skills to create the platforms to facilitate how companies do business. He’s experienced business workflows before and after the explosion of APIs, serverless, and devops. He brings his wealth [...]

It’s People Introducing Lisa Sidlow, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Developer Media and Content Lab IO. Lisa knows developers, she knows sales, and she knows marketing. But what she really knows is people. Give people high-quality content they can use, and they will enter into a relationship with your company. This is true pre- and post-sales. And, it is as true for developers as any other market segment. Meet the Person Behind the Role Lisa absolutely cares about the sale, but more than that, she cares about delivering value. That’s why content marketing is such an important [...]

Tunneling Josh Chang is pretty interested in the work he does every day as a developer. And, he fears the silo. Having side projects in game development gives him a view of a wider world of code and developer tools. Writing about game development helps him tunnel so there are no silos (or at least they are connected). It also hones his time management and project management skills. One of Josh's skills already stands out — communication. The Person Behind the Role Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up, where do you live, where do you work, [...]

Good Data Analysis Means Having an Impact One of the most striking things about ContentLab IO author Wayne Applebaum is that he can’t separate writing about tech from doing it. It’s just that much a part of what he does. That’s partly because of his training in graduate school, the nature of data collection and analysis, and his own philosophy. Wayne is a storyteller who believes a well-told story can have an impact. The Person Behind the Role Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up, where do you live, where do you work, and what is your [...]

Wearing Many Hats Ryan rocks the Renaissance man style of many developers. He loves programming and writing about programming. His curiosity about how to create effective content is matched by his curiosity about new technology and writing better code. He values technical content marketing because he’s seen it work––Not just to help products find customers but to help developers find the tools they need. The Person Behind the Role Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up, where do you live, and what is your role in ContentLab IO? I was born in Toronto, 5 minutes away from [...]

A Collaborator, Not A Critic The role of a senior technical editor is a funny thing. It does involve handing out some tough love to your authors. But with an attitude like Terry’s, it doesn’t have to come with a slap or a sting. A critical yet supportive editor, Terry’s goal is simple: helping authors write their best. That benefits his practitioner authors and ContentLab IO’s clients. Win, win. And, even better, it’s what Terry loves to do. Win, win, win. The Person Behind the Role Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up, where do you live, [...]