Anne leads technical writers and developers who automate workflows for consistent, repeatable infrastructure uses. She uses open-source techniques for API design, documentation, dev ops, and developer support.
While I often lead others in writing projects, here’s a project portfolio with added context for varying types of writing that I’ve authored or guided authors to complete.
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Additional Context: These pages were revised and all steps were thoroughly tested by me, prior to publishing on the Pismo developer portal. When I found any errors in the Collection itself, I updated the public Collections so that customers would not discover those errors.
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Additional Context: These evaluations are designed for technical writers and developers exploring static site generation (SSG) options. I gathered these questions from various communications with tech writers asking me conceptual questions about SSGs. The guides examine specific features like table layouts, search integrations, and templating capabilities. Each piece assesses practical considerations for maintaining flexible, user-friendly documentation sites using docs-as-code methodologies.
Example Project:
Additional Context: At Cisco, we provide free online learning through Learning Labs, where we track tutorial completion rates. I developed hands-on labs and procedural guides for Cisco DevNet Learning Labs, including detailed tutorials such as “Hands-on with REST APIs.” These tutorials are aimed at users who need a step-by-step approach to mastering REST APIs in a secure, guided environment. My writing offers clarity and approachability for learners of varying skill levels, ensuring they can confidently achieve each milestone. This course leverages Docker containers to provide a controlled, browser-based environment where users can directly experiment with API requests. The modules serve two primary audiences: security professionals and network engineers, each looking to enhance their programming skills to apply “infrastructure as code” principles. My work here ensures these professionals can transition from traditional networking tasks to programmable automation with Cisco’s security and network platforms.
Example Projects:
Additional Context: At Pismo, I work with developers to update the OpenAPI files across multiple services. This example is for the Lending API, which underwent a complete version change from v1 to v2, requiring multiple updates to the API reference documentation on developers.pismo.io.
At Cisco, I authored foundational templates for API documentation on developer.cisco.com and guided comprehensive API documentation for the Catalyst Center, which involved multiple OpenAPI specifications. Their team assigned sales engineers to write and revise “guides” for API use cases, and I provided guidance and reviews. These references prioritize consistency and usability, helping developers to quickly locate and understand the relevant endpoints, parameters, and data flows.
Another example, the OpenStack Object Storage REST API guide, highlights my adaptability across platforms and audiences, ensuring developers can integrate with complex API ecosystems seamlessly.
Anne appreciates and supports open tools for API design, documentation, and developer support. You can see recordings of her talks on these topics on her Speaker profile page. Here’s an example from Kubecon 2023:
Fallback link: Watch on YouTube
Anne is an industry-recognized author whose books promote collaboration among developers, writers, and other stakeholders within open-source and enterprise communities. Most recently, Anne is working at Pismo, a Visa company, as a technical writing manager in the developer experience team. Previously, she was a Director for Developer Experience at Cisco DevNet, working on developer relations, API documentation quality, and tutorials.
Anne wrote the book, Docs Like Code, to share tested tools and techniques with all who want to provide helpful, accurate technical information to the world. Get a copy for yourself at https://docslikecode.com/book. And if you’re going to learn docs-as-code techniques using hands-on tutorials, read https://docslikecode.com/learn.
Author page: Amazon
Blog: justwriteclick.com or justwrite.click
Docs Like Code site: docslikecode.com or docsascode.com
GitHub: github.com/annegentle
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annegentle
Twitter: twitter.com/annegentle