Hacker News Reader

Comment by maxwelljoslyn | Hacker News Reader

I would love to do this kind of work. Aside from a general passion for writing and editing, I enjoy describing problems, characterizing existing solutions' strengths and weaknesses, writing docs and user instructions, organizing information, etc. I'm a good enough developer to build useful tools and work with more senior engineers, and my favorite part of working in scientific research was being a force-multiplier and hindrance-destroyer so subject-matter experts could focus on using their skills.

If anyone reading this is in a position to hire for a "technical writer/librarian/secretary/developer assistant," click my username and send me an email. We can try a short-term contract and see how it goes.

View on HN

I don't know if you've ever considered a position in pharma or biotech, but clinical research has a career like this called Clinical Trial Associate, and their entire job is to organize information, prepare instructions and documents for the research sites, organize and run the eTMF aka "Trial Master File" and other documentation tasks. Our CTAs start at 95k and make up to 125 for senior level. From there onwards you have a good career path of Clinical Trial Manager and leadership- might want to check into it.

I appreciate the tip. As it happens, my last full-time position was in clinical (computational linguistics) research.

I've definitely applied to positions similar to what you've described, but as cold applications, they went nowhere. If I decide to return to regular W2 employment, I'll be sure to keep an eye out.

Yeah same honestly. I don’t like producing a ton of code, but I’m good with tech and more complicated stuff like memory management. I think I could be very helpful just answering folks questions - I feel that’s mostly what I do anyways.

My job is exactly like what you describe. In a way, I am the executive branch of management. I don't decide what needs to be done or how it needs to be done. I just make sure it gets done.

I pair people with questions with people with answers. I synthesise business requirements into usable tickets. I take ownership of cross-team tasks to make sure they don't get stuck. I digest a lot of information, and share the relevant bits with the relevant people. I make sure that important conversations happen, and that important things aren't forgotten.

In other words, I take care of all the details that would prevent the team from being focused and productive.

It's pretty fun. I am told to make things smoother, but left to decide how to do it.

This, to me, defines the heart of a true DevOps mindset. It's not easy to find this role defined as such, though, and you'll often find yourself fighting to carve it out of a more simplistic definition (i.e. automate stuff) at most organizations if you choose to pursue the path.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com