Kate sounds off on building confidence

In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Heather Zoppetti’s interview (S3:E38) ( https://thenotboringtechwriter.com/ep... ). I also share some thoughts on shifting from focusing on reducing stress to building confidence and share an anecdote about how my podcast t-shirt helped me discover a local tech writer in the wild. — I wrote and hosted a series of five webinars on our Change Management Toolkit this month, which seemed to go well and which gave me a sense for where the gaps in the toolkit still are. I’m still hoping to create a publicly accessible version of the toolkit I can share with you. I’ve also been continuing to update docs as part of the article editor redesign, this month focusing on our synced articles, categories, and knowledge base documentation. This prompted a partial reorganization and the creation of 14 new articles as that reorganization identified content gaps. I reflect on my interview with Heather Zoppetti, a former software developer and knitwear business owner. I love how Heather combined her software developer tech chops with a decade of crafting knitwear patterns and content to get her first tech writing job. I reflect on the similarities in our approaches and outlooks around getting feedback from other writers and viewing varied or unusual experiences as beneficial for a technical communicator. I’m trying to embrace her idea of technical communication’s goal of building confidence in your end-user, reader, or watcher, which I think is a much more positive way of framing my whole “reduce stress” goal. I close by talking about all the different forms that technical communication can take, and therefore all the different paths and roles that technical communicators have. I share a story of a woman at a local natural foods store asking me questions about my podcast t-shirt, which culminated in me pointing out that if she writes SOPs, she’s a technical writer, too. In this episode: [00:00:29]: Progress updates on my change management toolkit webinar series and Support knowledge base content updates [00:04:48]: Reflecting on Heather Zoppetti’s career path, skills, and collaboration techniques [00:11:50]: Reframing the idea of docs as stress reduction to docs as confidence builders, thanks to Heather [00:14:28]: The variety of technical communication types and paths [00:19:10]: My podcast t-shirt in the wild: a story of discovering a tech writer in the wild Resources discussed in this episode: Support knowledge base: Shared & synced content ( https://support.knowledgeowl.com/help... ) Knitting together a technical writing career with Heather Zoppetti (S3:E38) ( https://thenotboringtechwriter.com/ep... ) The craft of technical writing with Marcia Riefer Johnston (S3:E8) ( https://thenotboringtechwriter.com/ep... ) Join the discussion by replying — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: [email protected] ( [email protected] ) thenotboringtechwriter.com ( https://thenotboringtechwriter.com/ ) LinkedIn (   / the-not-boring-tech-writer   ) Bluesky ( https://bsky.app/profile/thenotboring... ) Guest suggestions form ( https://form.asana.com/?k=_npY_9pPEqT... ) Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.com ( https://knowledgewithsass.com/ ) LinkedIn (   / sassafras-kate   ) Bluesky ( https://bsky.app/profile/knowledgewit... ) Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.com ( https://www.knowledgeowl.com/ ) LinkedIn (   / knowledgeowl   ) The Not-Boring Tech Writer Episode 39, Season 3 June 25, 2026 ★ Episode details: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3c862c44 ★ Additional episodes: https://thenotboringtechwriter.com/