Meet Liam Connors: Senior Technical Writer at Plotly

Life at Plotly: People & Culture Blog #15

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work at Plotly?

In this blog series, we will provide insight into the daily experiences of working at Plotly. We have interviewed team members from various departments, including Engineering, Customer Success and Solutions, Sales, and Professional Services, to give a comprehensive view of Plotly.

What would you say to someone who was considering Plotly as a place to work?

If you are interested in learning and doing new things, you would love working at Plotly. In my 2.5 years here, I’ve had the chance to work on so many different aspects of our products.

Why did you choose to work at Plotly? What made us stand out?

I have been at Plotly for over two years now. I was approached by a recruiter who mentioned the name Plotly, and I recognized it as I had recently listened to a podcast episode that Chris Parmer had been a guest on. He talked about Plotly’s commitment to open source, and that really stood out to me. I also enjoyed the interview process. Sometimes interviews feel tricky, but I spoke with Plotly leaders including Laura Gray, Chris Parmer, and Alex Johnson, and had real conversations. Afterward, Laura kept me in the loop on what was going on, and that good line of communication sealed the deal for me.

It’s a combination of a fun company and doing nice things for the open-source community. The people are nice and helpful, and it’s a great team.

What three words describe your Plotly experience?

Educational, fun, and collaborative. The team is close-knit and works well together, with a lot of collaboration despite being fully remote!

What is your favorite Plotly memory?

I do like the holiday parties and trivia, though I never win. Maybe one day…

In a few sentences, what do you do at Plotly?

I am a technical writer, and the main part of my role involves creating customer-facing documentation for Enterprise customers, as well as for our Open Source docs. I work on Dash and the Plotly graphing libraries.

I also work on managing and maintaining the docs. The Dash docs is a Dash app — and I have learned to add to it and resolve any issues that arise. Overall, it’s a good mix of writing, maintaining, and managing the documentation infrastructure and processes.

What is your favorite part about working for Plotly?

My favorite part is the fact that I get to learn a lot. There are multiple opportunities for career progression, and the company promotes learning. Last year, I was working on the data visualization libraries and I didn’t have much knowledge in that area. I went to my manager, Dennis, and expressed my desire to learn more about data visualization. I asked to sign up for a data visualization course and he and the company made time for me to do this course. I appreciated how Plotly is very open to encouraging learning and helping you drive your career. The course covered different chart types and lasted for four days. It was really fun. I wasn’t expecting to be given the time and opportunity to do it.

What is the most significant thing you have learned while working here?

I have gotten better at learning how to work in a remote environment. In places I have worked in the past, it was more of a hybrid model and I always got to see my colleagues.

It can be a bit harder to maintain connections sometimes if you don’t do it right, but I have gotten better at that and understand that people work differently when remote.

What are your proudest accomplishments so far during your time at Plotly?

I am very proud of the work I did on the documentation chatbot. We launched it for Dash docs and library docs, and I got to work with a lot of people at Plotly and external providers. It was a really fun project, and I’m proud of how it turned out.

I write documentation for the graphing libraries, and I am particularly proud of that. I’m also proud of being involved in the release process for Plotly.py. That has been a fun and exciting thing to learn about.

Do you have a mentor or role model? Who are they and what are they like?

I have learned a lot from Alex Johnson, the CTO, in my tenure here. He has been very helpful and supportive with the documentation. Dennis, my manager, has also been really supportive and interested in where I want to go in my career, especially in learning about data visualization. He provides great support in that area. These are the two people who have significantly contributed to my journey here at Plotly.

What is your favorite activity outside of work?

I like to explore and walk around the city. I’m still relatively new to Montreal and there is a lot to explore. I really like to spend time with the kids. I moved from Ireland, where I grew up, and lived in London just before moving here.

What is your favorite place to travel?

Berlin, I love Berlin. I’ve been there so many times. I spent a summer there and learned a little bit of German. Also, Ireland is my favorite place, as it’s my home.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I would choose a remote, quiet island, perhaps explore a few islands off the coast of Ireland. It’s just so peaceful. Living in the countryside on an island is the perfect way to enjoy nature.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

Chocolate! 🍫

Interested in joining our team? View our open positions.