TechRepublic Editor-in-Chief Bill Detwiler bids farewell, introduces new Managing Editor, Tamara Scott

All good things, as they say, must come to an end, and that’s what this note is about: the end of one thing and the beginning of another. After nearly 22 years of Cracking Open the latest tech, teaching lessons in the TR Dojo, and talking with tons of Dynamic Developers, I’m hanging up my hat as Editor-in-Chief of TechRepublic.

Over 20 years ago, I left the IT industry to join a small dot-com based in Louisville, KY. A career move like that was a novel concept back then. TechRepublic would grow to become the leading site for enterprise IT professionals, and I am incredibly proud to have played a part in that story. I am also grateful to have worked with so many amazing people, and I owe them all a sincere thank you.

My more than two decades at TechRepublic would not have been possible without the support of my Editorial teammates, past and present. Lastly, let me say thank you to all the TechRepublic members who have supported the team and me for the past two decades. As we said at TR in the very beginning, you’re the rockstars and we’re the roadies. TechRepublic’s goal has always been to give you the information and resources you need to make great technology decisions.

SEE: Onboarding/Offboarding Checklist (TechRepublic Premium)

In my final video for TechRepublic, I say goodbye. And introduce you to Tamara Scott, previously Managing Editor of TechnologyAdvice.com and SmallBusinessComputing.com, who will be taking over in my stead. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I do. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Bill Detwiler: Tamara, thanks for joining us. Before I ask you about this really cool podcast you have, give me and everybody a little bit of information about your background.

Tamara Scott: My background is actually in English education. So, I studied to be a high school English teacher and taught for six and a half years.

Bill Detwiler: Had all the students you could handle?

Tamara Scott: Yeah, well, 150 students every six months, every semester, was a lot.

Bill Detwiler: Okay.

Tamara Scott: I loved teaching. I loved writing, in particular, and I knew that I could do it well, and that I could teach other people to do it well. So, after I left teaching, I started writing for the web, as everybody was doing back in the early 2000s.

I worked at a couple of different places. I ended up actually working for a SaaS company that did marketing reporting called Raven Tools. I worked there as a customer support rep, and customer support taught me so much about technology.

Then, I started working with TechnologyAdvice. I was called a technology analyst back then and was writing blog posts and giving readers unbiased information about the types of technology that they need for their business, figuring out what was the right and wrong thing for different types of companies. And so, over the years that has evolved into editing TechnologyAdvice.com and Small Business Computing. And now this.

Bill Detwiler: And when you and I have talked, and knowing what you all do at TechnologyAdvice.com, and knowing what you’re doing in small business, it’s so in-line with what TechRepublic has always been about. What’s the most exciting thing about the new role you’re taking on in taking the helm at TechRepublic?

Tamara Scott: First of all, the people – the staff of writers, freelancers and analysts that produce this amazing content that you guys have been producing for over 20 years. It’s just so exciting to be able to work with these incredible professionals. I’ve been in a few meetings directly about content so far, and the depth of knowledge and the insights that they’re all bringing to the table has blown me away. And I’m so excited about that.

The depth of business news that you all have been able to cover, that TechRepublic is doing on a daily basis, that really brings insight and analysis to business users of all stripes. At TechnologyAdvice.com, we had a couple of pretty high-level topics that we were really focused on – it was the same thing with Small Business Computing.

Bill Detwiler: I think a great place to wrap things up is, like me, you have a podcast. My podcast, Dynamic Developer, that I’ve been doing for a while for TechRepublic is tech focused, specifically around software development, but yours is not tech related at all, and I find that fascinating. So, tell me a little bit about this podcast.

Tamara Scott: Oh, goodness. My now former neighbor and I started a podcast called Dear Final Girl, which is a horror-related advice and horror-movie podcast. We are like the Dear Abby of the horror community. We read a letter from a listener, and we pair it with a horror movie. And then, we talk about the movie but also sort of life advice. We are not therapists. We should probably not be giving advice. But the context for me was that I have a deep love of literature, and a deep love of horror content from movies to books and everything in between, so it’s a really fun mix of the two.

Bill Detwiler: I couldn’t think of a better way to cap things off. So, thank you again for taking the time to do this. And I wish you nothing but the best.

Tamara Scott: Thank you, Bill. I’m so excited. And I feel like you’ve set us up for another 20 years of success.

Bill Detwiler: I certainly hope so.