Beyond the docs: Kartik's journey to Brno and Red Hat

We recently caught up with Kartikeya Baid Dwivedi (known as Kartik), a longtime Red Hatter with a varied career path and a passion for shaping great user experiences.

Kartik currently leads the Core Platforms and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure documentation teams. Additionally, Kartik is a member of the Czech Leadership Council. 

Along with sharing about his work in technical documentation and what led him to Red Hat, Kartik gives us some insights into his relocation from India to the Czech Republic, the impact of his work in the Czech Leadership Council, and his hobbies as a hobby pilot and sous chef. Consider us intrigued!

Could you tell us about your current role and team? 

In my role in Customer Content Services (CCS), also known as the Docs team, I manage the Core Platforms and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure documentation teams, which create product documentation for many products including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System (RHIVOS), Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat OpenStack, and Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.

I also dedicate time to the Czech Leadership Council, which supports associate engagement, strategic alignment, and leadership development across our Czech Republic office sites.

Where are you currently based? Do you work remotely, in-person, or a bit of both?

I live in lovely Brno, having moved there specifically for Red Hat in 2016. My wife and I fell in love with it. When I’m not traveling for work to the U.S. or India, I work in the Brno office between 3 and 4 days a week. Also, I’ve had the opportunity to visit approximately 20+ Red Hat offices worldwide so far! 

How did you start your career, and how did your journey lead you to Red Hat? 

I started my 20+ career as a web developer. During that time, technical documentation was in its nascent stages in India (where I hail from). I had always fancied writing, and mixing my love for learning new tech with writing seemed like a great fit for me. I joined a startup that provided web development and technical documentation as a service, where I was exposed to a plethora of different roles, technologies, and business domains.

Through the startup, I developed the skills and experience to begin setting up turnkey technical documentation teams from scratch, which led me to build and run teams for several different product development companies. That’s when the IAEA, United Nations came calling. They wanted to build their tech pubs team of Technical Documentation, Training, and Support in Vienna, and I wanted to make my own dent in the world. I worked on projects like the IAEA’s Iran task force, as well as the migration and modernization of 10 products from mainframe to .NET and Java-based tech. 

While it was a good gig, my passion for cutting-edge technology and business led me to pursue a path more aligned with my authentic self. That’s when Red Hat approached me about opportunities in their Brno office. I was immediately interested and read The Open Organization. The tough but fair, incredibly exciting, motivating, and transparent interview process made me believe that not only would the company culture be a great fit for me, I’d also get to work with smart and passionate colleagues. 

While interviewing, I was able to learn a little something in every round. I could see that the interviewers genuinely wanted to share knowledge and promote the open source culture—along with the really cool tech stack that Red Hat has to offer. My wife and I then attended DevConf in Brno, met a few prospective colleagues, and walked around the city. She loved the vibe, I loved the fantastic DevConf, and we were sold. 

What have been some of the highlights and challenges of your journey so far?

My personal highlights include my work at the United Nations, as well as being awarded the Chairman's Award (now called the Paul Cormier Trailblazer Award) at Red Hat.

Relocating to a new country brings about great experiences, but also challenges. Being very family-oriented, it has been difficult living away from loved ones, especially during COVID when I missed significant family events, such as the birth of my godson. My wife has also faced the challenge of uprooting her life multiple times, and I greatly value her unwavering support, which has been crucial to my journey. I’m very glad to see her so happy in Brno. 

The language barrier has also been challenging. I am a juvenile diabetic in remission and had some difficulty sorting my medication (same applied to my ADHD) after moving to Brno. However, I only have great things to say about the Czech medical system. 

What makes your role and team unique?

I love my work at Red Hat—both my main role and my involvement with the CLC. This is primarily because of the people. I get to collaborate with and learn from intelligent, passionate, and supportive people every day.

CCS's primary output is technical content, specifically product documentation. Customer and user feedback shows that high-quality documentation is a strong motivator for why they choose Red Hat. Our team’s aspiration is to provide the right content, in the right place, at the right time. To do so, and to ensure our comprehensive digital experience supports our company and product strategy goals, we partner with many teams to enhance the digital experience, such as User Experience Engineering, Content Marketing, and others. Our shared goals enhance customer experience, increase customer adoption, and help our customers maximize their use of our products and services.

Currently, what's your favorite project to work on?

My favorite project is helping to shape the strategic vision for our Czech Republic site. My role involves collaborating with the leadership team to guide the site and acting as a conduit between our Czechia associates and leadership.

I thrive on change, embracing it as a source of opportunity. I particularly enjoy helping teams to navigate shifts in tools, roles, or team structures. I’ve also consciously started speaking at events like our New Hire Cultural Orientation and internship bootcamps—coaching and mentoring folks is very satisfying. One of my favourite things to do is to take the new hires for an office “ask me anything” tour where I discuss the benefits of working at Red Hat in Brno and Czechia.

What piece of advice would you give to someone looking to join Red Hat?

I’ve always maintained 2 things: Red Hat is a great place to build your career because of the culture, tech stack, opportunities, and the people, and Red Hat is, by far, the best place to begin your career as an intern or graduate. 

I’d encourage all of our early career teammates to be ready to learn a lot of new information, connect with senior associates and leaders, ask difficult questions (and feel safe in doing so), and focus on their development goals. 

To any prospective Red Hatter: Be open to being humbled by the intelligence around you, be aware that situational leadership is part of our DNA regardless of our rank, title or experience, and ask the difficult questions (respectfully). The latter is very much encouraged publicly and privately. 

As for someone wanting to join CCS or CLC, come find me. I’d love to talk more about how and why this is the best job of my life! 

What else are you interested in? Where would we usually find you when you’re not at work?

I have the privilege to plan my own day, with my coworkers and managers in different time zones. When I’m not working, I am planning what I should learn next, or what I should cook next. My wife teaches Indian and vegetarian cooking, and many times, I serve as sous chef and comic relief for her students. You’ll find me either singing in the kitchen, dancing and cooking terribly, listening to a podcast, or trying InstructLab, RamaLama, Ollama, Cursor, or the new LLM in the market. Plus, my department has a few AI offerings in the form of a release notes assistant, for instance, which satiates my desire to stay hands on.  Lately, I’m focusing on getting my private pilot’s license and prepping to climb Mt. Everest sometime late next year. 

Interested in career opportunities at Red Hat? Explore our open roles here.