About Me
Hi! I’m Carrie.
I’m a manager and a technical writer in the software industry, with an interest technology, sustainability, and international business. This website is less about work and more about my personal interests, in travel, hiking, and miscellaneous odds and ends.
Professional History
For the past 20 years or so (with a break in there that I’ll talk about in a bit), I’ve worked as a technical writer for a software company. For the uninitiated, that means I write the documentation that explains what a software product is for and how it works. You know, that “Help” stuff that you only look at if you can’t figure it out on your own. (By the time you look at the documentation, you’re probably pretty frustrated.) But don’t worry—it’s not likely that I’ve written anything you’ve ever seen, so I don’t mind if you complain. Most of the products that I’ve worked on are used by other software developers, not by the average consumer.
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 find that international focus right where I was. I now work with writers and software engineers all over the world, including China.
Education
I graduated with an M.S. in Global Energy Management from the University of Colorado Denver. The GEM program, as it’s called, is unique in that it brings students from all over the world together. The program caters to working (and traveling) professionals, and brings students from many different backgrounds together. The breadth of experience my classmates brought to the program was amazing and extremely enriching. When I tell people about my degree, I always mention that it’s a business degree, not an engineering degree. It’s like having an MBA with a focus on the energy industry.