I originally wrote this post a short time into my first tech writing job on MongoDB's Server Docs team. I never ended up sharing it because, for a whi

You Don't Have to be a Developer

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2025-01-19 02:30:02

I originally wrote this post a short time into my first tech writing job on MongoDB's Server Docs team. I never ended up sharing it because, for a while, I wasn't sure if I would end up staying in the docs world or switching back into software development.

Less than a month ago, I got a new job running documentation at Gradle. My experience as a Developer Educator for MongoDB Realm Docs convinced me that documentation can scratch all of my developer itches -- building automation, infrastructure, and writing tutorials and code snippets.

I've added some thoughts at the end of the post and tightened up some language. But this post largely reflects my thoughts on working as a documentarian very early in my transition from software development. If you're currently pursuing a computer science degree, or attending a coding boot camp, or working as a developer, and it's not completely satisfying... maybe this will help.

I graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. in computer science and a B.A. in English in 2017. For over two years after graduation, I worked at Bloomberg as a software developer (called "FSD", or "Financial Software Developer") internally.