Meet Kiara Alessio who joined Datamine Australia earlier this year as a Technical Writer for Supervisor and Sirovison software. Kiara holds a PhD in geology and has prior experience working in the mining industry in addition to providing technical writing support to various software companies over the last two years.
Get to know Kiara a little better through the interview below:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I come from country South Australia and moved to Adelaide to study Geology about ten years ago. I worked in exploration for a little while but have spent the last few years of my career working as a Technical Writer in the software industry.
I love learning new skills, so I dabble in a lot of hobbies in my downtime. Woodworking, gardening, painting and 3D printing are my current flavours of the month.
Can you explain some of the challenges you consult to your clients on in a few sentences and how you help them improve?
As a Technical Writer at Datamine, I’m currently working on updating the help documentation for the Supervisor program, which will soon also extend out to Sirovision. In general, I’m trying to make it as easy as possible for our users to find the information they need to complete a process or get themselves “unstuck”, but I’m also expanding the material to cover lots of worked examples and detailed explanations that new users can utilise to get themselves started with these programs.
What inspired your career in this industry?
Despite now being a Technical Writer, I actually took up Geology as a subject in my final year of high school as a way of getting out of studying English! I didn’t like doing book reviews or writing reports on movies, but to get out of English I needed a replacement subject that would be approved by my school career counselor and principal. I looked for other subjects in the distance education booklet (coming from a small school, many of my subjects were taught remotely) and came across Geology. I spun a story about being interested in Geoscience because there was an exploration site close to town that could be an interesting career option for me—Subject swap approved.
Over the course of that year, I found that I actually was very interested in Geology, and the exploration site that I mentioned also became the place of my first Geology-related job after high school.
As mentioned previously, I studied Geology at university and continued right through to my PhD. During this time, I became more interested in the tech industry and wound up working as a technical writer for software companies after I’d graduated. Working at Datamine has given me a “best of both worlds” situation where I’ve been able to simultaneously pursue my interests in both Geology and Technology at the same time, which is an amazing opportunity to have!
What is the most satisfying aspect of your role / the work you do?
Just as I like learning, I also really enjoy teaching others. I love seeing people reach that “Ah-ha!” moment when something finally clicks and they understand, so writing help/learning material that effectively conveys difficult concepts is really satisfying to me.
What are your best memories from your career?
I have some very fond memories of working night shift as a fieldy in a geotechnical program straight out of school. Sitting at a rig in a paddock in the middle of a warm summer’s night, having midnight barbecues for lunch, and the adrenaline rush I got from collecting more core trays from a pitch-black area behind a shed, surrounded by trees and often patrolled by screeching owls.
These days I really enjoy working from home, but I’m glad that I had the experience of working out in the field for a while.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I love sustainability and being able to do things for myself, so one of my life goals is to live on a self-sustaining off-grid farm (well, modern off-grid—I still want internet and all that), where I can grow lots of fruits and vegetables and practise my homesteading skills to my heart’s content.
Connect with Kiara on LinkedIn here.
For more information or to connect with our team, make sure to send us an enquiry.
