In this episode, I talk with Kate Pond, a software engineer and former park ranger who turned self-documentation into a career superpower. We discuss her practical system of using Google Forms to track daily work and accomplishments, how this helps with performance reviews and job interviews, and why documenting your own work is essential for professional growth.

Kate Pond and I discuss her unique path from park ranger to software engineer and how documentation played a crucial role throughout her career transitions. She shares how creating personal runbooks as a college RA taught her that writing things down once saves countless hours of reinventing the wheel later. We explore how this philosophy extended into her transition to software engineering, where she documented everything she learned at technical meetups.

The heart of our conversation centers on Kate's Google Forms system for self-documentation, which she created to track her daily work, accomplishments, and professional development. She explains how the system uses a mix of checkbox ratings (like "how do you feel right now?" on a 1-10 scale) and free-form text fields to capture what she worked on, who she collaborated with, what she learned, and what she's proud of. We discuss how this creates both quantitative data you can graph over time and qualitative records you can mine for performance reviews, peer feedback, and interview preparation.

We also explore the broader philosophy behind self-documentation, including how it helps combat the reality that we simply can't remember everything we do, the value of having "retro docs" when taking breaks from projects, and how documentation for yourself follows the same principles as documentation for users. Near the end of our conversation, Kate shares practical advice from her career coach about doing "scary hour" sessions with a friend to tackle procrastinated tasks.

About Kate Pond:

Kate Pond is a Seattle-based software engineer, technical storyteller, and former park ranger. With a background in both environmental education and backend engineering, she brings a systems-thinking approach to everything from documentation to distributed systems.

Through her studio, The Pond’s Edge, Kate is building climate-tech and AI-powered tools that support sustainability and reduce waste—most recently focusing on circular economy solutions rooted in local community needs.

Kate is passionate about making complex ideas accessible and mentoring others to grow as thoughtful technologists. She’s spoken at GopherCon, REdeploy, and SeaGL, and actively contributes to the PNW tech and climate communities through events like CascadiaJS and PNW Climate Week.

Recommendation from Kate Pond:

9Zero Climate Innovation Hub is a coworking space and community designed for climate innovators—founders, engineers, scientists, creatives, and changemakers. With locations in San Francisco and Seattle, and expanding to NYC and Los Angeles, it’s a vibrant hub for events, collaboration, and climate-focused work.

If you’re based in or near one of those cities and looking for a supportive, mission-driven space to work or connect, definitely check them out.

✨ Referral perk: If you sign up for a membership and mention my name (“Kate Pond”) as your referrer, we both get a free month (or up to $150 off). Win-win!

Learn more at 9zero.com

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Kate Pond - DEV Community
• Kate Pond – Medium
• Google Forms for Self-Evaluation
• Talks from Write the Docs Portland 2025

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