Don Glover

Programming Writer

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Programming Writer focused on the developer experience. Application developer with 15 years experience turned writer. Experienced writer in the developer space. Familiar with React Native, C, C#, and Windows Azure.

General Info

  • Locale: Greater Seattle region
  • E-mail: donglover@programmer-writer.net
  • Phone: (206)297-0954
Don Glover

Work Experience

What is a Programming/Programmer Writer?

A programmer writer (sometimes known as a programming writer) develops documentation that developers need to do their jobs. This encompasses writing technical references as well as guides to programming techniques and sample code to demonstrate the techniques. To develop documentation, the programmer writer researches features and functions, writes code to figure out how things work, and translates the knowledge gained into written documentation.

Some of the attributes of a programmer writer are:

  • A passion for technology and for software that uses those technologies.
  • Possess good programming skills in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, Visual Basic (VB), and others.
  • A natural curiosity about how things work.
  • An enjoyment of learning.
  • Self-confidence to ask a developer for information and the willingness to research the issues before talking to the developer.
  • The ability to ask for help from others and to be able to say "I don't know" or "I don't understand."
  • Good communication skills—both written and verbal.
  • Strong problem-solving skills.
  • Excellent time management skills and the ability to meet tight deadlines.
  • Tenaciousness in keeping up with continually changing code and interfaces.
  • Adaptability and flexibility to work with schedules and priorities that change frequently.
  • The patience to deal with changes that occur during the course of the project.
  • An ability to learn quickly.
  • Self-directed and a strong self-starter.
  • Is an advocate for the customer and for user education.

Tasks that programmer writers may perform as part of their job:

  • Writing sample applications, if none exist to demonstrate specific technologies or techniques.
  • Reading code to understand how things work.
  • Figuring out how programmers will use the application programming interface (API).
  • Translating implementation specifications to reference information.
  • Spelunking through header files to validate reference information.
  • Completing drafts for technical review.
  • Incorporating feedback from reviewers.
  • Fixing errors that have been found in the documentation.
  • Working with editors during edit passes and handling queries that editors raise.
  • Talking to testers, developers, and engineers from developer support to get information.
  • Managing assignments to meet schedules.
  • Developing tutorials around samples.
  • Participating in team meetings with developers or documentation team members.
  • Staying informed by keeping up on e-mail from aliases that provide information about project issues and status.

The programmer writer (programming writer) job title seems to be a creation of Microsoft, though many technology companies (such as Amazon and Bea Systems) seem to be adding the job title to their ranks. Microsoft has been standardizing on the programming writer title in recent years.

References

It's always a gift to have an engineer on a team writing developer docs, and Don was no exception. He dove headfirst into the code and emerged with the insights and clear observations that are invaluable to developers. In addition to being a skilled writer, Don is a passionate developer advocate and dedicated engineering ally who will make both your products and docs better. He's also a unifying force on a team -- bringing folks together with his good cheer and camaraderie. A pleasure to know and recommend.

Donna Thomas Former Direct Manager, Amazon

Don worked in our MS Open Tech team as a Programming Writer reporting to me in 2014-2015. His responsibilities included development of sample content and documentation for the use of various open source technologies on Windows Azure, hands-on support of web properties based on a CMSs including WordPress, Umbraco, Orchard and SharePoint, and acting as a one-man video recording and production team for internal events.

Don is an experienced and versatile programmer, writer and project manager who was able to dig into the details of projects figure out how to deliver on our goals. Two typical examples were the launch of the .NET Foundation web site (www.dotnetfoundation.org) and the release of Moodle plugins for Office 365. On the .NET Foundation project, Don handled content updates from writing and editing to publication and troubleshooting. For the Moodle plugins, Don quickly ramped up on Moodle, Office 365 and Azure Active Directory configuration and then created and published the installation guides for the plugins. In both cases, he was new to the technologies involved but learned them quickly and made himself our go-to subject matter expert.

When we had a tech related task that nobody knew how to do and needed research, we gave it Don and he got it done, time again. I strongly recommend him for any similar role.

Doug Mahugh Former Direct Manager, Microsoft OpenTech

I worked with Don on Azure SDK documentation. He worked closely on taking our very vague specifications and my verbal feedback into reference documentation that was key to the platform. Working with him was always a pleasant experience as well.

Elaine Morrison Former Direct Manager, Microsoft

Don was a programming writer on my team for several years at Microsoft. During most of that time, he was responsible for the Cryptography API documentation on MSDN. Don did a great job of gathering information from subject matter experts and distilling it into logical and understandable form.

Don also was valuable to my team. He kept up on the latest trends and was the first to suggest that we establish a Twitter account to inform our users of updates to the documentation.

Don has a curious mind and is always looking for ways to improve the customer relationship and the processes for getting information to customers. He thinks outside of the box. I truly enjoyed working with Don.

Daniel Wang Principal Development Lead at Microsoft

Don Glover consistently does a great job of absorbing task requirements and delivering exactly what's needed. Great performance to schedule with no supervision overhead. I recommend without reservation.

Don Kretz President, Eaglesoft Corporation

Samples

Quickstart: PlayFab Client library for C# in Unity

Written for Microsoft PlayFab.

View Sample
Unity Addressables

Written for Unity Technologies.

View Sample
Call an operationalized Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit model from an Android app

Written for Microsoft Machine Learning.

View Sample
Sample details

A few notes about the samples.

View Details