Senior Technical Writer/Instructor/Editor

Objective
Challenging position in Software Developer Documentation for an Information Technology Leader

Qualifications
13 Years Experience in Technical Communication/Editing/Software Developer Documentation;  Web Help, online Help, User Guides in paper; Instructional Design; Usability Testing; User Interface Feedback

• Technical Knowledge:  Computer programming including Java programming and object-oriented concepts, Perl scripting, Visual Basic applications; project management including MS Project; Oracle application development tools and SQL; system analysis and design methods; UNIX usage (Solaris/Linux); basic system administration; ongoing study of C# and .NET
• Help Authoring: RoboHelp Office 6.0
• Paper Documentation: FrameMaker, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Information Engineering: Documentation design, authoring, editing, and indexing for information accessibility; concise explanations of concepts, procedures, and reference material including application programming interface (API) documentation; taught Information Architecture
• Web Design: FrontPage and HTML, including web-based Help systems and animated gifs; WebWorks Publisher conversions
• User Interface Design and Feedback: Visual Basic prototyping and constructive critique
• Editing: Extensive experience in providing editorial feedback to technical writers, students of technical communication, and students of written composition; Ph.D. in English; familiar with industry standards and style guides (Microsoft, Sun)
• Classroom Technical Communication: U.C. Berkeley Extension Instructor for First Course in Java (8 semesters)
  

Work Experience
Senior Technical Communicator
Symyx Technologies, also known as MDL, San Ramon, CA (MDL Information Systems of San Leandro became Elsevier MDL, then Symyx Technologies, San Ramon, CA)
4/00 to Present
· Write Application Programming Interface (API) documentation and sample code for Java, C#, and a JavaScript-like language (Cheshire)
· Facilitate the revamping of information architecture and accessibility, including HTML jumps in sample code
· Participate in usability studies of online user assistance for a programmer audience
· Convert a FrameMaker documentation set to web help using Quadralay WebWorks Professional 6.0 and ePublisher
· Provide user feedback and quality assurance feedback
· Research the usability of Application Programming Interfaces
· Maintain documentation source control
· Create screen captures using HyperSnap

Consultant
NexPrise, Santa Clara, CA
3/00 to 4/00
· Edited technical documentation and courseware for a web-based project management system

Consultant
LinuxOne, Mountain View, CA
3/00 to 4/00
· Edited a Linux manual
· Provided project management for localization/translation into German

Staff Technical Writer
Rational Software, Cupertino, CA
2/99 to 3/00
· Reorganized and updated Application Programming Interface (API) documentation
· Updated the Installation manual for a customizable database application (Windows 2000/Windows NT)
· Edited technical documentation and courseware
· Contributed to network-based administration documentation
· Edited and contributed to Windows Help for a Change Request Management module
· Researched and authored guidelines for Localization (translation-readiness)
· Contributed to information architecture planning
· Converted a documentation set from FrameMaker to HTML using Quadralay WebWorks Publisher 2000

Senior Technical Communicator
7/98 to 2/99
Digiray Corporation, San Ramon, CA
· Developed corporate web site on digital (filmless) radiography system
· Wrote technical marketing materials, system design documents, and grant proposals
· Demonstrated computerized systems and delivered scientific presentations
· Provided user interface feedback and project management for web-based Java applet: http://www.digiray.com/enhance

Senior Technical Writer
1/98 to 7/98
Hyperion Software, Foster City, CA
· Designed and authored context-sensitive Windows Help for a visual scripting tool for a budgeting application
· Mentored peers in the use of RoboHelp
· Provided user interface design input

Senior Technical Writer
11/97 to 1/98
Ericsson Fiber Access, Menlo Park, CA
· Telephony network management software

Senior Technical Writer
2/97 to 11/97
Cemax-Icon, a Kodak Company, Fremont, CA
· Designed and authored Windows 95 Help for medical image viewing application
· Updated Archive Manager Service Manual for hospital-wide, RAID-to-tape hierarchical medical image database
  management system and authored sections on workflow and configuration
· Revised, expanded, and improved information accessibility for User Guides and Administrator Manuals about products
  for teleradiology (image transfer via dial-up networking)
· Provided editorial feedback for courseware

Technical Writer
6/94 to 2/97
Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, CA
· Designed and drafted Replication Manager online Help
· Updated Oracle7 Server Replication paper manual
· Managed documentation project for the  first Personal Oracle User's Guide for OS/2 and inaugurated the inclusion of
  Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
· Consolidated Oracle Network Products into a single manual
· Updated Oracle Precompiler Installation and User's guides for desktop platforms
· Provided user interface feedback for SQL*Net Easy Configure
· Provided editorial feedback for the first edition of Oracle Enterprise Manager User's Guide

Technical Communicator
7/91 to 6/94
Digiray Corporation, San Ramon, CA
· Authored and published technical articles
· Demonstrated products and delivered presentations to audiences of engineers
· Wrote grant proposals and won two Small Business Innovation Research Grants for $1 million

Assistant Professor of English and Written Composition
7/90 to 6/91
Erie County Community College, Buffalo, NY
· Taught the principles and practice of organizing written information
· Corrected and edited written documents

Education
Certificate in Computer Information Systems (awarded "with Distinction")
July 1999
University of California at Berkeley Extension

• Concepts of Relational Database Management: Oracle, MS Access, database design and normalization
• Data Communications: Telecommunications, LAN/WAN, TCP/IP
• Visual Basic: Application prototyping, arrays, counters, loops
• Project Management: Critical Path Method (CPM), Gantt chart scheduling, MS Project 98
• Oracle Application Development: Developer 2000 interface, PL/SQL concepts
• System Analysis and Design: Feasibility studies, entity relationship (ER) diagrams, data dictionary
• Unix: Shell commands, vi editing for Solaris and Linux

UCSC Extension Classes

• Technical Editing (October, 1999)
• Perl Scripting for Novice Programmers (August, 1999)
• Documenting Java for Technical Writers (February, 1999)

Additional UC Berkeley Extension Class

• Introduction to Perl Programming (November, 1999)
• First Course in Java (Summer, 2000)
• Introduction to Data Structures in Java (Fall, 2000)
• Scientific Data Mining (Fall, 2000)

Ph.D.    English
1989
State University of New York at Buffalo

B.A.    Political Science (with High Honors)
1978
University of California at Berkeley

Additional Achievements

• Instructor for 13 classes of First Course in Java
  • Fall 2008 (EDP 318402)
  • Summer 2008 (EDP 314088)
  • Fall 2007 (EDP 311720)
  • Spring 2007 (EDP 306969)
  • Summer 2006 (EDP 304758)
  • Fall 2005 (EDP 321299)
  • Summer 2005 (EDP 305789)
  • Spring 2005 (EDP 126581)
  • Fall 2004 (EDP 128645)
  • Summer 2004(EDP 124115)
  • Spring 2004 (EDP 123158)
  • Summer 2003 (EDP 135277)
  • Spring 2003 (EDP 306704)
• Co-instructor for 2 classes of First Course in Java - Summer 2001 (EDP 305805) and Spring 2002 (EDP 333930)
• Instructor of Technical Communication (6th terms) for University of California at Berkeley Extension; instructor of Information Architecture at San Jose State University Professional Development (Fall, 2000)
• Co-instructor and Instructor of Technical Documentation in the Unix Environment
• Co-author of a paper on a Java tool for visualization in pharmaceutical data mining that was presented to the American Chemical Society (April 2001)
• Leader in the Society of Technical Communication (numerous awards including the 1999 Distinguished Chapter Service Award, speaker for career night, online Help judge (2000, 1998), assistant newsletter editor, frequent author of newsletter articles, chapter database manager, Senior Member since July 1999, co-presenter on operating systems)
• Fluent in French, German, and Spanish; able to speak and read Italian and Portuguese