To everyone else who is just looking for the next installment in the story - I'll return you to your regular November scheduling
Yesterday, a co-worker alerted me to the fact that my name had been listed as one of the Top Open Source Technical Writers on the web. I was blown away! I am seriously over the moon about it all, and wanted to sincerely thank both Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt of DMN Communications for the vote of confidence.
Technical writing is a funny kind of industry to be in. The people who are in it are for the most part seriously excited about where tech writing is going, and what we can do along the way. Of course, combined with the type of people who are involved in open source generally, it means you end up working with crazy-smart people who are really seriously passionate about what they do, and how what they do can make the technical world a better place.
I'm very privileged to be able to write free/libre and open source technical documentation for a living. Not many get to have that experience. The things that the open source community has taught me, and the experiences I've been able to have doing so, are something that working anywhere else just wouldn't offer you.
My passion is creating the best technical documentation I possibly can, and making it available to as many people as possible. More often than not in open source, the deadlines are tight, the scope is big, and the resources limited. The challenge that situation creates is, as expected, pretty huge. Being given the opportunity to attempt to create documentation that shines within that environment is one of the biggest challenges I've ever encountered. It's a challenge that I wake up every morning to, and while there are days that I think I can't do it, there are many more days where all I want to do is inch a little closer to that goal. Having people like Aaron and Scott publically recognise that effort is what makes the hard work all worth it.
To follow on from Aaron and Scott's list, I'd like to shout out to all those people who write, contribute, edit, review, and use open source technical documentation - even if it's only spotting typos and raising a bug. You are the ones who deserve the recognition, because without you, I wouldn't have the opportunity to do what I love. I hope you all enjoy creating and using open source technical documentation as much as I do.
Cross-posted to Foss Docs
2 comments:
Believe it or not, I've been using some of the documentation you've written (covering MRG) on a contract gig I'm engaged in. Which is one of the main reasons why you made the first draft of the list.
Scott, thanks for dropping by. I'm glad you're getting some use out of the MRG docs! They've been my sole distraction for over two years now. Some of the docs are good, some are still getting there. Please don't hesitate to contact me (email address is in the docs) if you think I'm missing something, or should change something around.
Cheers,
Lana
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