Hi! My name is Erin.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a teacher like my mom. Yes, of course, I toyed with the idea of being a veterinarian, a marine biologist, a detective, but underneath it all, I knew the truth: I'd be a teacher.
When I got to Iowa State University, I decided to pursue English and Spanish education. Throughout my studies, I realized that the education field wasn't what I dreamt it to be. I was a bit of a wreck. What did I want to do with my life now that I've found that the thing I thought I wanted wasn't right for me?
I sat down with myself to determine my goals and interests, which led me to enroll in a technical writing course. That course helped me realize that technical writing was what I wanted to do; it forced me to think and write in ways that I never had before, and the challenge excited me (and to this day, it still excites me).
I finished my studies at Iowa State in English and Spanish and moved out to Seattle, enrolling in University of Washington's Professional Technical Writing certification program. I'm now a Content Developer 2 for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) at Microsoft.
Below, I've shared links to just some of the projects I've worked on: AKS content, blog pieces, and my initial portfolio projects with the inspiration behind them.
- Best practices for performance and scaling for large workloads in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Deploy an AI model on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with the AI toolchain operator
- From teaching to tech: 5 ways my education background helps me in my tech career
- Ageism in tech: A history, what we can do to help, and more
After finding my passion for technical writing, I began teaching myself the basics of Python and decided to enroll in a Python programming course at Iowa State University. I didn't have the fastest computer, and that became very clear when running my scripts. After my course ended, I learned that most major cloud providers give students free credits to apply toward their services. Out of curiosity, I went through the process and realized it would've been an easy way to run my scripts faster. I documented my steps, hoping to help college students in similar situations take advantage of this free resource.
As a member of the Yelp Elite Squad, it's safe to say I really enjoy Yelp. The pandemic changed what I prioritized when browsing reviews of businesses and restaurants. There was no major reviews service with granular metrics that focus on COVID-19 safety. By adding a new user-given COVID-19 rating feature to every Yelp page, Yelp can allow their users to continue leaving comprehensive and accurate reviews, so we all can safely support local businesses and restaurants.
This research narrative details the unjust treatment of the Cree Nation by the Canadian government, Hydro-Quebec, and the James Bay Energy Corporation.