About
Business wants outcomes, engineers want clarity, users want something that works, and systems need structure. As a diplomat in tech, I make sure all of them are heard and that they come together.
Hi, I’m Birgit. I find out where work gets stuck and why, then create what removes the friction: standards people actually follow, patterns teams can reuse, and a better developer experience. Right now, I’m a Technical Writing Expert at OTTO in Hamburg, where I established technical writing as a discipline, made it an official role, and paved the way for more technical writers.
Knowledge becomes valuable when it reaches the people and systems that need it, when and how they need it.
What I’ve built
- A discipline at OTTO: established the technical writer role, built a team, and created a documentation ecosystem that works across engineering teams.
- An API Portal at OTTO: owned vision and roadmap as product owner, grounded in user research with developers.
- API guidelines and an API community: introduced standards together with the teams who use them, not for them.
- A Developer Portal at ePages: hired to write API docs, ended up building the portal and the developer experience around it.
- Knowledge for humans and AI: structures that make implicit knowledge explicit, so AI tools have something reliable to work with.
How I got here
I studied International Technical Communication at the University of Hildesheim and started out documenting wind turbines, consumer products, and industrial systems. In 2015, I found my professional home in software development. Along the way, I discovered that what fascinates me most isn’t documentation itself. It’s helping knowledge move. Twice, I was hired to write and ended up pioneering: the full story is on my blog.
Beyond the day job
I speak at conferences, mentor young talent, cultivate my website, and volunteer as a job ambassador at Mein Jobbotschafter.
Curiosity brought me to this profession. Sharing what I’ve learned is what keeps me excited about it.