Hi! I’m Carrie.
I’m a content leader and writer with over 20 years of experience in the enterprise software industry. Currently, I’m the Sr. Director of Technical and Training Content at Nextworld, where I lead teams creating documentation and training for complex business software.
This website is my personal space—less about work and more about the things I love: travel, writing, and exploring the world.
What I do (Professionally)
For those who haven’t met a technical writer in the wild: I spend my days making complex software understandable. You know that “Help” documentation you only look at when you’re frustrated? That’s my domain. (Don’t worry—you’ve probably never seen anything I’ve written, so feel free to complain about documentation in general. I won’t take it personally.)
I’ve spent over 20 years in enterprise software—mostly middleware and business applications that help companies run. These days, I lead documentation and training teams, building content strategies for audiences ranging from developers to business analysts. I’ve launched customer community platforms, integrated AI tools into content workflows, and collaborated with distributed teams from Denver to India to China.
What I love about this work is the puzzle of it: How do you explain something complicated in a way that actually helps? How do you anticipate what someone needs to know before they know they need it? And increasingly, how do you leverage new technologies to create better content faster? After two decades, those questions still keep the work interesting.
Peace Corps
One of my stops in my journey towards figuring out what I want to be when I grow up was the Peace Corps. After having established myself as a writer for a few years, I took a break and joined the Peace Corps, where I taught English in a small town in Ukraine. (If you want to know more about that experience, you can find out all about it here.)
I learned a lot during my two years in Ukraine. For example, I learned that I’m not very good at teaching high school students. I also reaffirmed my interest in international communication, business, and work that “does a body good.” When I returned from my assignment, I enrolled in a graduate degree program with the goal of transitioning into a career that had a more international focus—only to discover that the international collaboration I was looking for was already part of my work in software.
Education
I graduated with an M.S. in Global Energy Management from the University of Colorado Denver. The program has since been renamed and somewhat re-envisioned, but was originally designed for working professionals. It brought together students from diverse backgrounds around the world. The international cohort was one of the most valuable aspects—my classmates’ varied perspectives and experiences made the program exceptional. When I tell people about my degree, I always mention that it’s a business degree, not an engineering degree. It’s essentially an MBA with a focus on the energy industry.
About This Site
This is where I collect my travel writing and personal projects—mostly documenting trips I’ve taken over the years. I don’t update frequently, but I keep it around as an archive of places I’ve been and things I’ve learned along the way.