How I Built a Technical Writing Company: An Interview with Karl Hughes. CEO, Draft.Dev

Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.

My name is Karl and I own a technical writing company called Draft.dev. For almost 10 years, I was a software developer in Chicago and held engineering leadership roles in tech startups here.

Most recently, I was the CTO at an education technology company. When the pandemic hit, the company was sold and I decided to start writing full-time. I had been approached by companies to write technical blog posts before, so I figured I could do it for a few months while I figured out what I’d do next in my career.

Within a few months, I had more clients than I could handle, so I started hiring other writers, editors, and support staff to make Draft.dev a real business. We now have over 150 writers and work with almost 80 developer tools companies to write developer tutorials and blog posts.

Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?

I don’t write for clients anymore, so I get to write about whatever I find interesting on Hackernoon!

For one of my recent pieces, I interviewed a couple of industry experts for a write-up on observability. At my last startup, I struggled to build distributed APIs that had sufficient logging and error reporting, so it was fun to learn about how the tooling has improved so much lately.

I really enjoy bringing people from my network into articles so they aren’t just my voice, but reflect the opinions of the broader community.

Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?

Honestly, one of the reasons I like writing here on Hackernoon is that I can write about any random topic that comes to mind. I’ve also written about databases and getting content to trend on Hacker News, so I’m all over the place.

I’ve always enjoyed exploring new tech, building little demo apps, and growth hacking. I got into the habit of writing about things as I learned them a few years back, and I put some of those pieces on Hackernoon now (others go on my personal blog, DZone, FreeCodeCamp, or Stack Overflow's blog).

Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)

I start by doing research and taking notes. I’ve found that having an outline is essential if you want to present information in an organized way.

I typically read a lot before I start writing too. Having good source material is another must-have when you want to write on technically deep topics.

Then, I start writing. Typically, I try to do as much as possible in a single block of time (most pieces take me 2-4 hours). I try not to edit along the way, but just to get everything out on the page.

Finally, I self-edit. Grammarly is a fantastic investment, but I also read it out loud to make sure it sounds conversational and authentic.

Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?

I said this on Twitter the other day, but it holds true: the hardest part about writing is making the time to do it!

I love writing, but between managing a 13-person company, having a 2-year old son, and playing around with new tech, it’s hard to commit a ton of time to write. That said, I typically set aside one morning per week to it, and over time it adds up. I wrote over 100 blog posts in 2020 when I was just starting Draft.dev, so I’ve gotten a lot of practice.

What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?

I’d like to get Draft.dev to a point where I can take a month off and the business runs without me.

I really like being involved, but being a lynchpin in a small business is scary. What if I need time off for health reasons? What if I want to retire someday?

My dad was a small business owner and was never able to take much time off, so I’m really hoping I can build Draft.dev in such a way that I’m not necessary every day.

Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?

Right now, it’s Civilization 6. I got it running on my iPad for a long flight last month and now I’m playing it every other night after my son goes to bed. 😬

Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?

I just started re-learning piano after a 10-year hiatus. It’s fun because I’m not good at it, but I can see myself improving a little every week if I’m consistent. It’s also nice because there’s no pressure to make money from it or turn it into a career - it’s just something I’ll always do on the side.

What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?

I’m currently working on a piece about developer relations career paths.

Developer Relations (or “DevRel” for short) is a new hybrid role that puts software developers in people-facing roles where they do writing, videos, presentations, and open-source work to help other developers use their company’s tools. I find it fascinating, so I interviewed a bunch of people to learn more about how the role works in different organizations. I’m looking forward to publishing it in a couple of weeks!

Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?

If I can help you out, feel free to reach out or follow me on Twitter. I love meeting other software developers and helping them get started with writing!