Life at Wizeline

Humans of Wizeline: Angela Bauche

Humans of Wizeline: Angela Bauche

Angela Bauche is an Associate Technical Director serving as a mentor and consultant on projects throughout Wizeline. Angela began her career at Wizeline through Wizeline Academy’s technical writing program, having no experience as a Technical Writer at the time. In the last four years, she’s been promoted three times and has proven to herself and the company that she can excel at anything she aspires to accomplish. In this interview, she tells her story — of how she leveraged her communications background and experience working with microsites to enter the field of technical writing, and how participating in Wizeline’s mentorship program, among other initiatives, enabled her to build self-confidence and become the leader she is today.

Angela was born and raised in Guadalajara, where she’s spent all of her life. Attending college was the norm in her family — two of her brothers graduated college, her mother studied communications and later psychology, and her father owned a clothing company. Following their example, she graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), earning a bachelor’s degree in communication science. Her journey was not a straight path, but the lessons she learned along the way serve as the foundation for the successful professional she’s become.

Angela was introduced to technology at a young age along with her three brothers, who enjoyed solving technical challenges. “I’d consider my brothers above-average when it comes to technology. We never had to worry about computer issues because they would always figure out how to fix them. One of them even started programming when he was 11.” She spent her high school years unsure of what she wanted to do and which path she’d follow in college. Then, she stumbled upon animation. “When I first heard of it, I was immediately excited to get started. Macromedia Flash was the hype software for animation at the time, and I knew this is what I wanted to go to school for,” Angela explains. 

While at ITESO, Angela furthered her interest in communications, enjoying anything related to multimedia, programming, animating, designing, and writing. She attributes her success in writing to two of her college professors. “When you’re staring at a blank page, and you’re not sure how to begin writing, it can be intimidating. These teachers taught us a formula to translate our ideas into a written piece. Essentially, you just start by writing a one-sentence idea per paragraph; it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to convey what you want to say. Then you go from there,” she explains. When asked if any projects stood out to her, she noted a social service assignment where she and a group of classmates created a documentary and website to help immigrants promote and sell their purses at local markets. Pairing her love for multimedia with helping the local community was intensely gratifying.

At the core of Angela’s love for animation was her drive to overcome challenges and continuously improve her abilities — she never grew complacent, always wanting to learn more and hone her existing skills. Shortly after beginning her college program, she realized the limitations of Macromedia Flash and decided that she would need to learn coding to increase the capabilities of her interactive animations. She began with ActionScript, an object-oriented programming language for Macromedia Flash. “Accomplishing one thing led me to want to accomplish another thing with the script and so on,” she says. With her newfound programming skills, she was ready for the next challenge — building websites using Macromedia Flash. Her experience with Flash would soon lead her into a post-college career. 

Leveraging the skills she learned in college, Angela landed a position at El Informador, a local newspaper company, where she created microsites. For her, creating a consumable piece of content from an idea or story and publishing it for the world to read and interact with was rewarding. She would oversee all processes of these microsites, from researching the content to creating the animations and writing the programming behind it. “What I loved most about working at the newspaper company was researching about different topics all the time and having a new obstacle to solve with every story,” Angela states. “I’d enjoy brainstorming ways that animations could improve storytelling and thinking of new ways to interact with the readers of each story.” This position equipped her with various foundational skills that she would later apply to her technical writing career. 

Four years later, in 2010, she accepted a position as a frontend web developer at HP, where she later moved into project management. Working for an international company was a novel experience, and something she realized she enjoyed. “It was cool meeting and interacting with people from all over the world and learning about their different work styles,” Angela explains. After three or so years as a project manager, Angela realized she needed to shift her focus from work to family. She was pregnant with her second child and wanted to work part-time to spend more time with her children while they were young — a decision that led her to work at her husband’s software company, Enlace Fiscal, for the next two years.

It was the beginning of 2018 when Angela’s journey took another turn. She missed working full time and having her own professional place apart from her husbands’ company, even though she says they worked great together. Living in Guadalajara her entire life, she remembered hearing about a local technology company with great opportunities. “Everyone referred to Wizeline as the cool place to work in town. But they also knew that very smart people worked there, and the company had extremely high standards,” Angela explains. Still, she set her eyes on technical writing and researched everything she could about a field she had never heard of before. It quickly became clear that most of her experience with microsites was directly transferable to technical writing. “With technical writing, you don’t need to know how to program, but you do need to understand it. You are also fixing problems with writing. You are translating complex information into beautiful documentation, which is exactly what I did with microsites, so I related to it,” she explains. 

Though some qualifications — like understanding programming concepts and writing for the web — may overlap between building microsites and technical writing, Angela acknowledged that she was likely not qualified to enter the technical writing field at a company like Wizeline with zero direct experience. That’s when Angela was introduced to Wizeline Academy, which proved to be the provenance of her technical writing career.

Angela expresses her gratitude for the program, having had the opportunity to learn under experts in the field, but refers to it as an eye-opening and challenging experience. “I saw that technical writing involved way more and was much more difficult than I had originally imagined, so I started getting this horrible imposter syndrome. I would fixate on my homework assignment feedback, and had no confidence that I would get the job or — if I did — be good at it,” she explains. 

During this time, she leaned on her mentor Berenice Beltrán, a senior technical writer, who taught her the hard skills required for the job and power skills like self-confidence. Angela speaks to Berenice’s significant impact on her growth: “She was amazing. It felt reassuring to have someone in my corner, telling me what I could do and encouraging me to see it through. She helped me with homework assignments, recommended me for an interview, and then made sure I was prepared for it.” Angela officially became a Wizeliner in April of 2018.

The work environment at Wizeline is highly collaborative. All employees give 110%, not for the sake of meeting a timeline, but for creating something of the highest quality. You’re proud to be a part of a company because you know that everyone is going above and beyond in everything they do."

During her first few months at Wizeline, Angela struggled to overcome her impostor syndrome. The first project she was assigned to was Fox, one of Wizeline’s largest accounts at the time, where she replaced a senior technical writer and joined a team of seniors. She says, “Their expectations were so high, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to meet the demands of a senior writer since I was a level two. The customer and the team loved the writer I was replacing, and I couldn’t help but feel like an imposter.” Her manager’s and mentor’s coaching during this time continued to instill confidence in Angela, assuring her that she would learn quickly and not to worry. They were right – Angela’s team was incredibly supportive and encouraging, offering assistance anytime she needed help, without hesitation. “The customers were amazing, the team was amazing, and I learned a lot from them. It was what I needed to build my confidence and succeed in the position,” Angela says.

As Wizeline grew, so did Angela’s career. A year and a half after she was hired, she was promoted to senior technical writer, and then a year later, she was offered a management position. To prepare for the new role, Angela read books to learn about the essential qualities of a successful manager and mapped out what type of manager she wanted to be. “I wanted to empathize with my new team. I think that’s one of the qualities that makes a good manager at Wizeline and something I admired about my previous managers,” she says. “I also wanted to focus on strategy. Strategies to grow the practice and enable my team members to grow in their careers, just as I did when I was in their position.” 

As a technical writing manager, Angela was responsible for assigning technical writers to various projects based on their skill sets while focusing on growing the discipline and creating awareness content. One challenge Angela highlighted was when there was a large bench of technical writers who weren’t assigned to projects. “The other managers and I came up with a plan to offer complimentary technical writing services to some of our clients for one month. The results satisfied clients who saw value in the service technical writers provided, and we haven’t had a bench since.”

As of April 2022, Angela’s journey at Wizeline is ongoing. She was promoted a third time during her tenure to associate technical director, focusing on technical writing for pre-sales assets and consulting with new and existing clients. “I don’t consider myself a good salesperson, but I really like consulting,” she says. “It allows me to think divergently, map clients’ needs to Wizeline’s solutions, and work to drive real business outcomes for our clients.” In her new role, Angela is now using the skills and tools she’s learned over the last four years at Wizeline to mentor other technical writers. 

Looking back, she attributes much of her success to some of the unique opportunities Wizeline offers employees. “I was part of the first edition of the Women in Leadership certification. I learned how to build professional confidence in myself and be a strong, effective leader. This program, along with my mentors, allowed me to overcome my impostor syndrome and believe in myself and my abilities.” She also participated in the #IamRemarkable workshop, which she says every woman in Wizeline should do. “I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but you really do recognize that every person is remarkable in their own way and how important it is to celebrate your accomplishments throughout your professional life,” she says. 

Angela praises Wizeline for investing in programs that provide opportunities for people in her community to pursue careers in technology without having direct experience. “Without the Academy, and Wizeline taking a chance with hiring me, I would never have pursued a technical writing career. Who knows where I’d be.” She’s experienced firsthand how these opportunities can change someone’s life and is excited to give back and do the same for others. 

I’ve learned a lot and grown immensely at Wizeline, but now it is my time to give back. When someone new joins the team, I want to be that person who helps them grow in their career."

Angela is grateful for her four years at Wizeline. She’s been afforded multiple opportunities to advance her career, and she’s keen to share a few pieces of advice for those with whom her story resonates. “First, ensure that you’re not just creating great projects, but talking about and promoting your work with your manager,” she says. “If you don’t talk about it, your manager may never know what you’re doing. It’s not being cocky or presumptuous, and you don’t have to oversell your work; just tell them what you’re doing.” She also speaks to the value of finding a mentor early in your career with someone you can relate with and with finding learning opportunities from every person. “Everyone in the company has something unique that they can teach you. Try to learn it from them and reciprocate it,” she says. 

When asked what’s next in her career journey, Angela’s answer is simple: she wants to become a great associate technical director. She believes in mastering her current role before thinking about what’s next. “I want to make myself proud in this new position,” she says. In her role, she’s eager to be a part of something larger than Wizeline. “I know I have the opportunity to be a part of Wizeline’s growth and help other companies realize their potential and grow as well. To me, that’s what is so great about working here.”

Angela Bauche, Wizeline Associate Technical Director
Angela Bauche, Wizeline Associate Technical Director

Courtney Duprey

Posted by Courtney Duprey on April 28, 2022