About Ed Marsh

Updated: Thu Apr 17 2025

I’ve always been curious about technology. As a kid, I was the one who pushed all the buttons to see what would happen. That curiosity led to some scolding and an award-winning career in technical communication.

A proud New Jersey native, I’m passionate about:

Proper punctuation (especially the semicolon and ellipsis…).
Craft beer (former homebrewer).
Making restaurant-quality food at home with local ingredients.
IndyCar racing.

Career journey

My web journey started in the mid-1990s with my first website (archived link). Since then, I’ve evolved with technology — from self-hosting WordPress to building this site with Eleventy starting in late 2024. This evolution reflects my commitment to understanding and documenting technology. Continually evolving has been a foundation of my adult life — from learning how to be a technical communicator, to learning how to teach music to middle- and high-school students, to content strategy, governance, and project management.

My career started in New York City’s software industry at Information Builders (now part of Tibco) in 1994. I learned how to be a technical writer as part of a large documentation team. After a stint as a solo technical writer for a financial services SaaS provider, where I spent time on a trading floor and in data centers, I progressed to Goldman Sachs. Over 13 years, I worked in two divisions on Wall Street, creating both user- and developer-facing content. Working in small, medium, and enterprise environments taught me crucial lessons about:

Cross-functional collaboration.
Risk management.
Governance.
Content strategy at scale.
Managing projects and subject matter experts.

Community impact

I believe in giving back:

Created and hosted the Content Content podcast, featuring interviews with industry professionals.
Regular speaker at conferences and meetups:
- “So, you want to be a technical writer?”.
- “Pros and Cons of Using Markdown for Technical Documentation” (panel discussion).
- “Blogs, Vlogs, and Podcasts” at STC Rochester Spectrum 2023.
Podcast guest:
- Content Journeys.
- Content Strategy Experts
- I’d rather be writing Evolution of podcasting.

Educational impact

As a former high school drumline instructor, my goal was to get young drummers to play and sound like one through teamwork and structure. I bring that approach to content.

I’ve mentored dozens of people:
- Former students.
- Colleagues.
- Children of former colleagues.
I was a high school marching band instructor for 14 years, including six as director.
- The band represented New Jersey in Washington DC’s National July 4th Parade.
- I co-founded a percussion ensemble called Cacophony, writing original scores.
- I created and maintained the band’s website starting in 1996. The band performed in an Ikea video because they found our website.
- In 2006, School Band and Orchestra magazine recognized me as one of “50 Directors Who Make a Difference”, representing New Jersey.