Besides creating written and video content, I run the Scaler Writer program, focusing on supporting engineers as they write and tell their stories. I help with everything from finding the narrative hook to creating structure and improving writing. I work closely with engineers, product managers, and product marketing managers from various teams. I also initiated video content at Scaleway, starting the interview series “Scalers go Open Source”.
About Me
Hi, I’m Kai! I help product teams explain what they’re working on, creating clear communication for both internal and external use. I can also build and grow your company’s technical content team and help your engineers create relevant content.
Helping developers create content for developers
The content that matters most to your audience comes from your developers. Many engineers would love to communicate their ideas and experiences through blog posts. They just need a bit of help with the writing, be it through hands-on editing, interviews, or just some guidance getting over that blank-page syndrome.
Explaining something that they’ve learned or built also helps developers gain more clarity on a topic, and it can be a real confidence booster for them as well.
Here are just a few examples of articles that I’ve recently been involved with, helping engineers put what matters to them on the page, covering a wide variety of technical topics:
‣ A primer on effective monitoring practices
‣ Isolate resources across Availability Zones with Virtual Private Cloud
‣ Creating Cockpit: From ecosystem tool to observability product
‣ Graduating from Docker to Kubernetes
‣ Tripling the lifespan of servers: why we retrofitted 14,000 servers
‣ Giving back to Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS)
Content whiz with a journo background
Aside from providing engineers with editorial support, I create fantastic content (blog posts, live streams, podcasts, etc.). I have a strategic mindset and a knack for understanding and communicating technical topics. I’m also a skilled interviewer thanks to my background in journalism, my empathy, and my endless curiosity and eagerness to learn new things.
I currently work more with engineers than I write my own posts. But when I do, I bring my own voice to the content:
‣ Why we used open-source software to build Cockpit, our observability product
‣ Get started with Cockpit: use cases for Scaleway Observability
Engaging public speaker
I’m one of those oddballs who genuinely enjoy public speaking. I love giving talks (catch me at DevRelCon London in September 2023!), doing live streams or podcasts, and moderating events. I’m involved with and volunteer in various online tech communities and have a keen interest in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), mental health, and neurodiversity.
Watch my most recent talk “Host your interviews like a Golden Globe winner” from DevRelCon 2023 in London.
Work Experience
I help startups and entrepreneurs shape their brand and find their voice and values. Services include tone of voice workshops, brainstorming content strategy, re/structuring websites, copy creation, and inclusive language audits. I can also guide other writers with copy coaching and constructive editing.
Dialogue in the Dark is a social business providing empowering job opportunities for blind and visually impaired people and educating the public about what it is like to be blind. I handled PR and marketing responsibilities, created content for the website and social media, created and spearheaded ad content, liaised with journalists and helped run events.
Skill3D is Austria’s biggest eSports agency specialising in eSport and gaming events. As Skill3D’s first ever PR hire, I set up press work procedures at the company. I wrote press releases and blog posts, monitored media coverage, managed media contacts, and liaised with journalists during our events. I also initiated and organised the “Games Don’t Kill” exhibition at Museumsquartier Wien in June 2009, which attracted a lot of attention and was covered by multiple media outlets.
Wiener Zeitung is one of Austria’s biggest (and oldest) national broadsheets. I worked in the Local/Vienna department, creating a wide range of content. I wrote daily content, often on a very short deadline, but also created extensive, research-based features on topics such as youth trends, extreme sports, environmental issues and technology. I liaised with contacts, covered press conferences, occasionally co-authored pieces with colleagues, and edited and proofread other people’s work on a daily basis.
Education
Class Central’s Web Development Bootcamp
–
FreeCodeCamp/Class Central remote
In 2022 I completed Class Central’s Web Development Bootcamp. Over the course of six weeks, I learned HTML and CSS through the combination of FreeCodeCamp’s self-paced New Responsive Web Design classes and live-streamed lessons by Jessica Rose. I’ve finished multiple projects varying in scope and have also engaged in my cohort’s Discord channel, where I tried to help out others wherever I could — which, in turn, has also helped my own learning progress. At this point in time, I just have to hand in my very last project.
Diploma in Digital Filmmaking
–
Filmschule Wien Vienna, AT
During this comprehensive course in Digital Filmmaking, I focused on script writing and directing and made my first short film called Snapped, a story about two young women who find a way of communicating with each other through art.
MA in Journalism & Media Management
–
FH Wien Vienna, AT
During my studies, I acquired further knowledge about journalistic methods and honed my writing skills. In my thesis, I explored the effects of lobbying efforts on reaching marriage equality in Austria.
Volunteering & Own Projects
Taboola Rasa is a non-profit mental health advocacy project I started in 2016. Taboola Rasa seeks to create awareness for mental health experiences and neurodivergence and erase the stigma attached to them by interviewing people and sharing their stories with the world.
As part of the TEDxVienna group of volunteers, I played a significant part in organising three separate conferences in 2014. I was involved in communication and PR work but also ensured the show went smoothly as the stage manager for the main conference, “Brave New Space”.
Fun facts about me
- Started working as a journalist when I was 16
- Gigged as a stage manager on live TV broadcasts while in school and uni
- Almost became a professional bassoonist
- Wild swimming all year round (yes, even in winter!)
Skills
- Technical Communication
- Developer-Focused Content
- Content Strategy
- Editorial
- Interviews
- Public Speaking
- Live-Streaming
- HTML & CSS
- Python
- Culture, Branding & Tone of Voice
Languages
- German (native)
- English (native equivalent)
- Italian (intermediate (used to be fluent))
- Hungarian (second mother tongue, very rusty)
- I Also Speak Dev (fluent)