--- title: Gugulethu Hlekwayo | ResumΓ© description: "i'm a pen for hire..." hide: - toc - navigation ---

hey, i'm gugulethu

and i'm a pen for hire

Berlin, Germany(1)
  1. πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ German permanent residency
15 years(1)
  1. Content Management: 8 years
    Copywriting: 2 years
    Technical Writing: 5 years
Languages(1)
  1. English: Fluent (spoken/written)
    German: B1 (spoken)
    isiZulu: Fluent (spoken/written)
    Xhosa: Fluent (spoken/written)
    Afrikaans: Basic (spoken)
    French: Basic (spoken)
linkedin/gugulet-hu
codeberg/gugulethu

Copywriting

The Jupiter Drawing Room
(1)
  1. The Jupiter Drawing Room is an advertising agency that serviced clients across South Africa and Namibia.
marketing, advertising, print, radio, television, online, established, private

I worked on brands such as Windhoek Beer, Hyundai, Vitaminwater, Sanlam (financial services), Lucky Star (food), and Club Mykonos (accommodation) in print, radio, online, and television. Campaigns where I was the Copywriter have won Gold, Silver, and Bronze Loeries; a Silver Cannes Lion; and a Bronze Clio.

Communications Specialist

Allan Gray
(1)
  1. Allan Gray Investment Management is one of the largest asset managers in Africa and operates in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, and other countries.
financial services, investment, unit trusts (mutual funds), established, private

I created and edited investment content for radio, print, and online; worked in public relations to prepare executives for inrterviews; managed the creation of webinars for outreach to advisers and other creative projects.

Content Manager

Yoco
(1)
  1. Yoco is the largest payments processor for small- and medium-businesses in South Africa.
financial services, payments, hardware, scale-up, series b

Built a content hub from its foundations - including building a team of freelance writers across the country to supply the content. I was involved in developing content for content marketing campaigns and multimedia stories about merchants.

Senior Technical Writer

Mambu
(1)
  1. Mambu is a SaaS banking back-end that provides services to banks such as N26 and Solaris.
financial services, banking, saas, scale-up, series e
Promoted to team lead

I was promoted to team lead to lead a team of two other technical writers. This shifted my role into more managerial tasks on top of working on documentation.

Maintained legacy API Reference

The API References included old documentation that needed to maintenance for clients that had not yet migrated to the latest versions of the REST API.

Documented integrations and CLI

Documented integrations with services like nCino and Wise, and documented the Mambu Process Orchestrator - which managed these connections. Also documented the Mambu CLI for external engineers to connect to the back-end.

OpenAPI Specification
Hugo
Shell
JavaScript
TypeScript
Current

Documentation Engineer

SPREAD.ai
(1)
  1. SPREAD.ai is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for creating actionable and contextualised data for product engineers. The platform counts Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and other automotive firms as users.
manufacturing, automotive, heavy machinery, saas, scale-up, series b
Established the documentation function

As the first hired technical writer, I established documentation as a function in the company. This includes creating the processes for the Engineering and Product teams to include documentation as a part of the software cycle and onboarding new joiners.

Set up the technical infrastructure

Built the documentation operations infrastructure from scratch using a Docs-as-Code approach. This included getting a portal up in the first month, building the CI/CD pipeline for publishing and linting content in the first quarter, and setting the procedure for in-app documentation.

Achieved 75% product coverage

Documented three quarters of the product range with the first documentation set published in the first three months. The product range has since shifted, but coverage remains high - despite being the only person maintaining documentation.

GraphQL
MkDocs Material
Markdown
Jinja
Vale
Ollama
Docker
Python
JavaScript

Writing

Writing is my primary skill and I'm capable of writing in different formats using different mediums to persuade, teach, and engage. I've been writing professionally for over 15 years and privately since as far as memory can recall.

  • API documentation

    Documented REST APIs and GraphQL. With REST APIs worked with a system where annotations in the source code automatically created the reference.

  • Developer content

    Created developer-focused documentation to create integrations with other financial services and orchestrate services.

    Read developer docs
  • Hardware documentation

    Documented Point-of-Sale (POS) devices for small business owners to use. This involved getting user feedback to understand how users were using the devices.

  • Technical theory

    Created explainer content to give readers an understanding of concepts or ideas behind a tool,technology, or application.

    See the overview docs
  • Task content

    Documentation for performing actions and using a tool or an application.

    Read the tutorial
  • Reference content

    Reference content is like a dictionary: a term and its definition in a list. I've created glossaries and technical references for developers and non-developers.

  • Course content

    I've created courses for more in-depth teaching that combines theory and practice in a set lesson plan.

    Open the intro course
  • Scriptwriting

    I have written and edited scripts for television and radio, including this advert.

Technical

As a one-man technical writing department, my technical skills are important to maintaining Documentation Operations (DocOps) and building infrastructure. I create, service, and maintain all the technical aspects of documentation.

Web development
html, javascript, css, sass, python, static site generators, node.js, yaml, appsmith
DocOps and automation
github workflows, vale linting, shell scripting, node red
Reading and writing code
javascript, python, json, xpath, yaml, openapi spec, graphql, markdown
Machine learning
ollama, deepseek, qwen, llama, agents, chatbots, comfyui, openweb-ui
Built the documentation site of SPREAD.ai and the CI/CD pipeline and review automation process.
``` mermaid sequenceDiagram autonumber ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Collect feedback ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Brainstorm content ideas ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Write draft content ✍🏽 writer->>πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert: Check the draft for technical accuracy πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert->>πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert: Check content Note right of πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert: Identify issues with draft πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert-->>✍🏽 writer: Revert with issues to fix ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Fix issues and send back πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert->>πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert: Check content Note right of πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert: Pass content πŸ§‘πŸ½β€πŸ”§ technical expert-->>✍🏽 writer: Return pass ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 other writer: Check draft for language ✍🏽 other writer->>✍🏽 other writer: Review language and understanding Note right of ✍🏽 other writer: Note improvements ✍🏽 other writer->>✍🏽 writer: Send notes for improvement ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Make improvements ✍🏽 writer->>πŸ€– automated check: Check using AI and/or Vale πŸ€– automated check->>✍🏽 writer: Return fixes ✍🏽 writer->>✍🏽 writer: Prepare and publish final draft ```
An example of the documentation writing process.

Process

Publishing content, reviewing content, and managing a tehcnical writing team involves creating processes around people. As a team lead, I've had to define priorities for the documentation function; mentor and manage other writers; create writing and review processes; measure impact; and manage relationships with software engineering teams, marketing and sales, and executives.