Writing | Kristen Foster-Marks

Your Engineers Do Need Communication Skills. So Teach Them about Rhetorical Situations. (Part 1)

Our failure to communicate effectively in the engineering domain can have consequences inimical to our ultimate goal of shipping software.

Learn to Code: The Importance of Practicing Speaking & Listening

When we think about coding – especially early in our journeys as code learners – we typically think about writing code.

Using a Learning-Themed Retrospective to Strengthen Learning Culture & Reduce Learning Debt

Software development teams traditionally use the retrospective ceremony to reflect on their results, performance and processes. But the...

Get Ahead of Burnout Through Candid Conversations with Your Leader

In December of 2019, I was horribly burnt out. Over the prior four years, I’d been working maniacally to exit a career in education.

The Pythonista’s Guide to Setting Up a Mac for 🐍 Python 🐍 Development

It's been seven years since I set up a personal machine for software development, and my first time setting up for Python development.

Increase Web & Software Accessibility Through Focused Upskilling

The overarching objective was to arm folks across the company with the knowledge to diagnose the accessibility of our products.

I Finally Finished a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)! Here’s How.

I’ve never been able to sustain the motivation to actually complete a MOOC. Until now!

From Teacher to Tech: A Conversation with Hannah Aldine

Following is an asynchronous conversation as Hannah onboarded to her new role as a Solutions Architect at Pluralsight.

The Life-Changing Magic of Mentorship: A Conversation

My uncertainty around how to be was fundamentally grounded in questions about authenticity.

On "Big" Words & Lexical Precision

Most have likely heard – and probably even uttered at one point or another – the phrase “big word”.