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Working with me

It's awfully hard to get a sense of what it's like to work with someone just from a LinkedIn profile. It's probably not much easier via Markdown file, but I'll give it a shot.

What sort of work do I like to do?

  • Technical writing, and other roles where I get to first go research, ask smart people about complex things, and play in a sandbox to get the gist, and then distil those concepts for other people in a way that is beneficial to them. I love digging into new tools, processes, and generally complicated systems and seeing how they tick; I'm happiest in a role where I can continuously challenge myself to learn new things, while consistently empowering others. (See also: teaching, specifically ESL teaching; English remains the weirdest, hardest, most esoteric system I've ever tackled, and I love it to bits!)
    • Topics I've engaged with as a tech writer include:
      • AI (specifically, Natural Language Processing, or NLP - in particular, I recently wrote a paper comparing accuracy and resource consumption metrics across six different models for Named Entity Recognition, or NER, and summarization tasks)
      • Data analytics and visualization (I'm especially fascinated by storytelling with data - Edward Tufte is a personal hero of mine)
      • Cybersecurity (I even got to have a Security+ cert for a few years - it's since lapsed since I moved projects, alas, but I hope to have an excuse to renew it one day, because security is not only critical for literally organization, but utterly fascinating. Shoutout to Darknet Diaries.)
  • Knowledge management, because you can write the most majestic documentation in the world, but it won't matter if no one knows where to find it or trusts that it's up to date. Knowledge management is a fascinating blend of disciplines (which means that - hooray! - there's so much to learn); this means that it looks different in every organization, while usually being relegated to a part-time position for one determined person (e.g., me). I want to change that! I've become quite a KM evangelist recently - much like FinOps, security, or documentation (i.e., the writing of such), it's something that every tech team needs even if not every team is specifically "doing KM". (And KM is part of all of those disciplines, too!)

What sort of relationship do I want with my team?

Collaborative, respectful, curious, and fun. I want to work with smart, passionate, warm people who embrace their own and others' quirks, are inquisitive and engaged at work while being respectful of each others' time, and have fascinating hobbies and exceptional Slackmoji game.

Where do I want to work?

For the most part, I prefer to work remotely, from home or wherever I choose to travel. I want the option to relocate seasonally, take time to explore, and spend extended time in different places.

That said, I have experienced the isolation and lack of connection with coworkers that comes with no in-person time at all. I have had many teammates who I've just known as black boxes in Teams calls, and no more. It's no way to collaborate, and I believe that in-person connections are difficult if not impossible to replicate totally online. However, little frustrates me more than hamfisted RTO mandates that result in people commuting to offices just to sit on Zoom calls the same way they would at home.

Rather, I'd love to work with a team that dedicates specific events to team-building, unconnected to a particular project - that is, setting aside time for everyone to come together, chat, mingle, get to know each other as people, and establish the relationships and trust to support the work they do remotely the rest of the time. High trust, high connection, high quality time.

It's the dream, anyway.

Don't just take my word for it...

I have had the immense pleasure of working with some truly exceptional people over the years, and am even luckier that they liked working with me, too. Here's some of what they had to say:

"Ryan consistently delivers high quality products, on time and above expectations. She has a reputation for being prepared for anything, willing to jump in at moment's notice, and being able to adapt to changing situations with grace and a sense of calm that is reassuring to others. It is abundantly clear that Ryan is extremely knowledgable about change management processes, working with technical clients and teams, and implementing process improvement plans/strategies... Her attention to detail, ability to rapidly leverage her experience for new products, and technical expertise has helped our team build out a substantial repository of internal SOPs and best practices. In large part due to Ryan's efforts, these documents are easy to understand, comprehensive, accessible to technical and non-technical stakeholders, and regularly updated.

...Overall, Ryan continuously makes recommendations for how to make things better, strongly executes existing processes, facilitates team discussions, fosters inclusion, and rolls up her sleeves to do outstanding work for our clients, our team, and Booz Allen. I am honored to be working with Ryan and our entire team is very grateful to be working with such a talented individual." - Organizational Transformation and Change Consultant, Booz Allen

"Ryan is an invaluable asset to our team, and to Booz Allen overall. She repeatedly goes above and beyond in her role, is always available for questions or assistance, and routinely jumps in to learn new things or assist without being asked. I genuinely appreciate all that she has brought to our project and look forward to working with her every day. Thank you, Ryan, for all that you do!" - Information Assurance Engineer, Booz Allen

"I cannot say enough about the tremendous value that Ryan brings every day to the Team and to the overall Project. In her position as Release/Change Manager, she plays an invaluable role of driving key client-facing activities. Day after day, Ryan gives all of her work an attention to detail that sets a high standard for her peers, regardless of the number of moving pieces involved. She serves as a steady, centralizing force for the Team to ensure that Client needs and deliveries are met, on-time and to specification. She is not afraid of new challenges, instead decisively and methodically breaking down the issue and properly structuring time and resources to overcome. Her individual contribution and work quality always exceed expectations and translate into an exemplary Firm image to our clients." - Release Train Engineer (RTE), Booz Allen

"I have had the pleasure of working with Ryan in a number of different capacities over the last several months, and she never ceases to amaze me with her ability to jump in and contribute to a project from the moment she joins. Ryan has a knack for creating order out of disorder, an innate ability to address areas of ambiguity with structured yet lightweight processes that enable her team to formulate creative solutions from a stable foundation. This knack of hers was most evident to me during Ryan's brief time on a migration effort. We were in the final two months of the project when she joined as our Technical Writer, yet her presence was immediately felt across the board. Whereas our previous Technical Writer had only assisted with the maintenance of two contractual deliverables, Ryan became the team's point person for all migration-related documentation. Internal SOPs, configuration baselines, architecture diagrams, cross-team lunch and learn presentations, targeted client presentations - she produced all of them, all with minimal guidance and all via a combination of independent analysis and interviews with various team members. She was the key driver in our team's knowledge transfer activities with development, PaaS/SaaS, and Production Operations teams, and proved essential in fostering collaboration between all parties involved. All this she did with a smile on her face and a witty remark at the ready. The team was exponentially better for Ryan having joined it, and for that I can give no higher praise." RTE, Booz Allen

"This award is to recognize Ryan's passionate service to our team. Ryan consistently goes above and beyond her role as a release manager and is consistently commended by her peers in regards! She consistently is a driving force for continuous improvement, and without her, our area would not shine as brightly." DevOps Engineer, Booz Allen

"Ryan has transformed the Change and Release Manager role... She stepped in to this vital role at a time when the project required stability and authority from the position. She got up to speed on the existing processes quickly and immediately began identifying opportunities to improve the value that the position provided to the ProdOps team and our clients. Over the last 9 months she has streamlined the process for request and approval, led the effort to migrate work items from RTC to Jira, bridged the gap between development and operations teams during the migration to GitHub for property management, and assisted with the ramp-up of change and release management for the wider project." System Train Engineer (STE), Booz Allen

"Ryan was an excellent team member for our team. Ryan held not only the highest professionalism and courteous attitude, but also maintained the highest standards of competence and delivery. Her role was not defined by the title of Technical Writer, but the immense value she added to the team. She was critical to the team's acceleration of delivery, automation of fundamental tasks, and a thought leader on improvements. I am glad to see her move on to greater opportunity, but in earnest we did not lose just a tech writer but a solid team member." Director of Engineering, Booz Allen

StrengthsFinder top 6

For those who like that kind of thing, myself included. As you'll no doubt gather, I love a tidy framework.

In order of resonance, highest first:

Deliberative

I am careful, vigilant, and do not rush decisions, and I approach most situations with a certain reserve. I take time to scan for risks, read the room and between the lines, and weigh trade-offs and multiple perspectives before speaking. I like async communication because it gives me time to absorb and reflect before answering.

Ideation

I get a rush from seeing the ways in which things connect. Bonus points if it's elegant ways that seemingly complex and unrelated things connect. If I'm not solving something, I'm probably mapping and documenting it. Signals from noise is my jam.

Input

I sometimes refer to myself as a "resource magpie". I'm a collector, not (exclusively) of things, but of ideas, content, tools, and contexts, and I love surfacing the right thing at the right time. I tend to quietly build a personal knowledge base wherever I go, and often become my team's go-to person for answers. And yes, I excel at trivia night.

Learner

My curiosity is never turned off, ever. I thrive in environments where I can pick up new skills, systems, or tools and immediately start playing with them, seeing what they do, and putting them to use. For me, the learning journey is the point more so than the destination. Once I've understood how something works, I'm likely to be looking for the next challenge.

Focus

I set courses and follow through with clarity. I chart and make consistent progress on complex tasks, not by sprinting, but by showing up every day and taking step after step that lead me to my goal. (Tasks I've accomplished in this way: moving across the country during Covid, training for a half-marathon, spearheading a knowledge base modernization effort, designing and implementing a five-month NLP model evaluation project...more to come on these!).

Harmony

I try to find the common ground. I'm good at sensing roadblocks and finding paths through them, especially in cross-functional work where clarity and cohesion are everything. I like collaboration that feels frictionless and productive, and I'll quietly cultivate cooperation when needed.

Extracurriculars

  • Live music. I'm down for almost anything, but some highlights recently have been King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard1, Ween, Khruangbin, Pretty Lights, Doom Flamingo, Sound Tribe Sector 9, and Deltron 3030.

  • The written word. I'm a voracious reader. Big genres for me include sci-fi (recent favorites include Murderbot and Terra Ignota1), fantasy, mythology and epic poetry, history, particularly 20th century (it's not Tony Judt's fault I haven't finished Postwar1, but in fact a testament to his writing that I keep trying), philsophy, etc. I usually have a few books cooking at once.

  • Hiking, camping, and the great outdoors in general. I'm so fortunate to live in a gorgeous part of the world with natural beauty aplenty, so am often out hiking or backpacking in the warmer months. Recent favorites include Five Mile Island (WA), Hoh Rainforest (WA), and Quandary Peak (CO).

  • Fun Committee. I'm also very fortunate to live in a town with a lot of cool new friends, and I delight in coming up with fun events. Recent activities include Soup-er Cozy Winter Solstice Party (potluck soup party, everyone wears sweatpants), Second Saturday Brunch Spectacular (monthly potluck brunch), and Picnic Society (recurring event where anyone is free to suggest an outing that somehow involves a picnic). Events in the hopper include Champion's League Invitational (wear whatever makes you feel like a champion; admission price is one good deed, to be shared and celebrated with the group. I just need to find medals and/or trophies to hand out for this one.)

  • Sewing, thrifting, and other sartorial adventures. I've always carried a small fashion flame for Claudia Kishi, and enjoy hunting for (or creating) new items to spice up my wardrobe.

  • RPGs of many flavors. I love D&D (alas, Scheduling is the biggest, baddest boss of all, else I'd be playing nigh-constantly), and single-player RPGs like Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout, Disco Elysium1, etc.

  • Unapologetic consumption of trash media. I'm a recent and enthusiastic convert to the Bravo-verse. I'm almost all the way through legacy RHONY1 and have been chipping away at Beverly Hills, Potomac, Atlanta, and SLC. Love Hotel had no right to be as good as it is, and Love Island is absolutely insane in the best way. What's your favorite tag line?

  1. If you're a fan of any of these, we're probably going to be instant friends. If you know, you know. ↩↩↩↩↩