In our CWiT Talent series you can meet professionals from across the industry working in various roles. Learn about their experiences and get inspired for your own tech journey!
Name: Annette Sohor
Company: IBM
Position: Information Development Lead
Tell me about you and your role?
I’m the documentation lead for IBM Social Program Management, which is a product within the Government Health and Human Services division of IBM Watson Health. The product is a web-based application that organizations, such as government and social welfare agencies, can use to administer and deliver benefits to people in need, such as income support and food assistance. I work with and manage a team of technical writers who write the product documentation. We provide the doc both within the product user interface as online help, and also in the web-based IBM Docs portal. We also support the production of other web-based support docs, such as security bulletins and release notes.
Tell me about your career path so far?
I started off by doing a batchelors and masters degree in electrical and electronic engineering at Bath University, England. A school career visit to Ferranti in Manchester first got me interested. GEC Sensors sponsored me during my degree and I worked for them a while after I graduated. The work was all focused on aviation electronics and I worked on developing image processing algorithms for heat seeking cameras. After that, I moved into ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) development. I worked first at Motorola designing chips for GSM mobile base stations. Then I moved to Dublin, Ireland and worked at 3Com on chips for ethernet hubs, before changing to software development. Another change and I joined a small writing consultancy as a technical writer where I worked for a few years. I’ve been at IBM more than 10 years now, where I’ve worked as a technical writer on a variety of software products.
What do you like about working in tech?
I’ve worked in a wide range of roles, and you can change from one role to another fairly easily. I’ve always like physics and maths, but I also like working with people, and communication and writing. Working in tech has enabled me to use all these skills – in my day to day job I work with many people in many different areas, such as developers, testers, UI designers, and business analysts.
Share 1 insight for someone looking to enter the tech industry?
Whatever you study and your interests, there’s a route in for you and a job for you. Also, people and team working skills are important – it’s not all about just staring at a computer screen or writing lines of code.
