Senior Lands Job at Cloud Computing Pioneer
Brian Trimboli
At this time of year, most Carnegie Mellon University technical writing and communication seniors are job hunting – boarding planes to interview at some of the best companies in the nation to become the next generation of copywriters and technical writers.
But, Brian Trimboli knows where he’ll be working after graduation in May 2016. He recently landed an associate technical writer position at the global leader in customer relationship management, Salesforce.
From 2011-2014, Forbes has called Salesforce one of the most innovative companies, and Fortune’s named it one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the past seven years.
“Brian does it all, and he does it all well,” said Necia Werner, assistant teaching professor of English and director of the Undergraduate Professional Writing and Technical Writing Programs. “He’s very Carnegie Mellon, bridging so many skills with ease: technical writing, literary and cultural studies, programming, and journalism. He somehow manages to balance being editor of the paper, launching an honors thesis, and landing his dream job. I don’t imagine he sleeps much, but he never lets it show!”
At Salesforce, Trimboli will be tasked with writing software documentation, online tutorials and other instructional material at the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
He will arrive at Salesforce well prepared – Trimboli interned there last summer. He worked with their platform documentation team to make the company's products easier to use with documentation and online help. He also wrote content for Trailhead, an online learning tool meant to help system administrators and developers quickly and easily learn how to use Salesforce software.
Along with having experience at Salesforce, Trimboli said his Carnegie Mellon courses such as ‘Document Design’ with English Professor Suguru Ishizaki, ‘Software Documentation’ with Jennifer Ciroli, adjunct professor and Rhiza’s senior manager of training and documentation and ‘Style’ with Kari Lundgren, former Ph.D. in Rhetoric student, were instrumental in his success at CMU and beyond.
“Style was the most helpful class I’ve taken,” he said. “It helped me become a more concise and precise writer.”
Trimboli is a double major in English and is writing his Dietrich College Senior Honors Program thesis. His research explores the similarities and contrasts between 1970s creative literature and traditional heterosexual love stories that are prevalent in literature.
Trimboli said his thesis advisor, Kristina Straub, helped him find direction in his research and gave him pointers for what theory to look at next.
“Brian is an excellent example of that balanced, CMU student who likes the practical, applied side of his work as well as the theoretical, research-based humanities side of his work,” said Straub, a professor of English.
Outside of his research and classes, Trimboli is heavily involved on campus. He’s the editor-in-chief of The Tartan, CMU’s weekly student newspaper that has a circulation of 6,000. He makes all major content decisions, edits all articles, and contributes weekly as a writer to the news, science & technology and Pillbox (arts & culture) sections of the newspaper. He’s written over 150 articles for The Tartan since his freshman year.
Trimboli is also a member of the international English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta, and the Department of English Student Advisory Committee, which is comprised of faculty-selected undergraduates who promote communication within the department, organize student-centered events, and provide feedback on academic issues.
Learn more about the technical writing and communication major.
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By Amanda King
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