Work experience since 2000
Information Group Northwest (CDW), Portland, Oregon
Dates: October 2022 to January 2023
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Ulta Beauty, Network Services, Bolingbrook, Illinois
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Find, organize, cleanup, and store documentation for Network Services in Jira Confluence. This included creating the repository in Confluence, using HTML.
Tools: Microsoft Office 360 (Word, PowerPoint). Microsoft SharePoint. Atlassian Confluence. HTML.
Hi-Tech Talents, LLC, Bellevue, Washington
Dates: June 2022 to August 2022
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Microsoft Cloud Hardware and Infrastructure Engineering, NPI Infrastructure and Cloud Engineering, Redmond, Washington
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Collaborate with stakeholders and subject matter experts to define standard operating procedures for designing and building converged hardware platforms.
Tools: Microsoft Office 360 (Word, PowerPoint), Microsoft Visio.
Information Group Northwest (CDW), Portland, Oregon
Dates: November 2021 to Present
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Adelman Travel Group, Information Services, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Prepare technical documentation for a computer system security audit. This included creating graphics, including network diagrams. Topics included security protocols, using software as a service, HTTP, and web APIs.
Tools: Microsoft Office 360 (Word, PowerPoint), Microsoft Visio. Teamwork.
Hitachi Vantara, Santa Clara, California
Dates: December 2017 to December 2020
Worksite: Telecommute
Groups: Converged Solutions Engineering and Technical Publications
Job Title: Technical Editor (Senior Technical Writer)
Accomplishments: Publish technical papers describing converged solution implementation with Hitachi hardware and various software companies. Translated engineering to English. Enforced branding standards. Reworked content to be suitable for the audience. Kept document catalog information in Microsoft SharePoint, producing reports on documents by analyzing in Microsoft Excel.
Collaborative content editing with engineers and stakeholders located internationally. Coordinate publishing with Marketing Communications and other internal teams. Found creative solutions to successfully conquer problems, such as incomplete or unapproved branding. Solved issues with Word for colleagues. Participated in a committee determining technical writing style and usage. Coached engineers on how to create web-friendly content.
Tools: Microsoft Office 360 (Word, Excell, PowerPoint), Microsoft Visio, Microsoft SharePoint, Atlassian Jira, Adobe FrameMaker 2019, Salesforce Slack, Oxygen XML Author 20.0 (DITA), SDL Tridion Docs (version control), TechSmith SnagIt. Internal style guides with guidance from Microsoft Manual of Style and AP Stylebook.
netPolarity, Campbell, California
Dates: April 2011 to December 2017
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Hitachi Vantara, Solution and Cloud Engineering, Santa Clara, California
Job Title: Technical Editor
Accomplishments: Publish technical papers describing the implementation of solutions using products from Hitachi and partners. Translated engineering to English. Enforced branding standards. Reworked content to be suitable for the audience.
Work remotely with writers located internationally. Prepare documents for localization. Coordinate with Marketing Communications and other internal teams. Created Microsoft Word template file (.dotx) to simplify moving content from Word to FrameMaker. Moved document catalog information from Microsoft Excel to Microsoft SharePoint so others would have access to this information without going through me. Exported cataloging information from SharePoint to Excel to analysis (find documents on certain subjects, products, publication dates).
Awarded the “Wa” Spirit Award (for harmony, trust, respect) with an FTE employee for work eliminating a serious publishing backlog when I started. Given the Superhero award for contributions to internal social networking website. Solved issues using Word for colleagues. Coached engineers on how to create web-friendly content.
Tools: Microsoft Office 2010, Adobe FrameMaker 10 and 11. TechSmith SnagIt. Internal style guides, also using Microsoft Manual of Style, AP Stylebook, and Yahoo Style Guide.
iSoftStone, Kirkland, Washington
Dates: November 2010 to December 2010
Worksite: Telecommute as a 1099 contractor
Client: AT&T Mobility, Redmond, Washington, office
Job Title: Editor and Copywriter
Accomplishments: Because of the quality of my work on the AT&T Mobility developer web site (see Creative Circle, below), called to edit and write copy for the AT&T 2011 Developer Summit. Praised for team communication, quick turnaround, attitude, and general product quality.
Subjects included mobile development, web APIs, and web content development.
Tools: Microsoft Office 2010. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and AP Stylebook.
Volt Technical Resources, Kirkland, Washington
Dates: July 2010 to October 2010
Worksite: Microsoft, Bellevue, Washington (not Redmond)
Client: Microsoft Dynamics CRM UE team
Job Title: Technical Editor II
Accomplishments: Edit user assistance material, special interest articles, and SDK articles for Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 5. Content included information for programmers creating an interface with Dynamics CRM (API information).
Saved significant expense without cutting quality by quickly editing content mostly edited before I arrived for a localization handoff from 50,000 words to 33,000 words. Agile project management used when approaching delivery date.
Tools: Author-it 5.4, DxStudio 2007, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Product Studio 2.10. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
Creative Circle, Seattle, Washington
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: iSoftStone in Kirkland, Washington (for AT&T Mobility developer web site)
Job Title: Technical Editor
Accomplishments: Edit documentation for a mobile device developer audience for AT&T Mobility. Content included programming language information for programmers (including JavaScript), API information, software as a service, HTTP, mobile development, and web content development..
Quickly rescued at-danger project timelines while meeting AT&T quality standards.
Tools: Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
COMSYS, Inc., Bellevue, Washington
Dates: April 2010 to May 2010
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Microsoft
Job Title: Editor
Accomplishments: Edit documents for Microsoft Services Offerings. Primary edit was for LCA (Legal) standards, although included all aspects of copyediting. Material included sales and technical material in various formats (documents, spreadsheets, presentations). While COMSYS was a vendor to Microsoft, I was not a “v-dash” contractor (vendor).
Tools: Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
COMSYS, Inc., Bellevue, Washington
Dates: February 2010 to March 2010
Worksite: Telecommute
Client: Microsoft
Job Title: Editor
Accomplishments: Edited documents as part of a team for Microsoft Services Offerings. Same as April 2010 to May 2010.
Tools: Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
Aquent, Seattle, Washington
Date: January 2010
Worksite: Microsoft, Redmond, Washington
Client: Microsoft Windows Server UA Team
Job Title: Technical Editor
Accomplishments: Create system help for a tool used by an IT audience. Copyedit documentation written by subject matter experts, with some content writing. Content included programming and hardware information.
Tools: DxStudio 2007, Microsoft Word 2010, and Microsoft SharePoint. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
Robert Half Technology, Seattle, Washington
Dates: November 2008 to December 2008
Worksite: Casey Family Programs, Seattle, Washington
Client: Casey Family Programs
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Created and documented system tests used for in-house and commercial applications to verify operations after applying system patches. Created templates to create tests, over objections of the developers who thought it was unnecessary. Performed tests using command line and GUI. Found problems the developers had missed, including an error in production (not development).
Tools: Microsoft Office 2007, TechSmith SnagIt, and Microsoft SharePoint. Based style on Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.
COMSYS, Inc., Bellevue, Washington
Dates: August 2008 to September 2008
Worksite: Washington Mutual Tower, Seattle, Washington
Client: Washington Mutual
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Write content for a revised project management life cycle. Create macros for Word templates and customizations for Excel templates.
Tools: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, TechSmith SnagIt, and Microsoft SharePoint. AP Stylebook and Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.
AT&T Mobility (Cingular Wireless, LLC), Atlanta, Georgia
Dates: January 2008 to July 2008
Worksite: Bothell, Washington
Group: Business customer accounts
Job Title: Senior Copy Writer (Senior Marketing Manager in HR system)
Accomplishments: Create user interface text for on-line applications. Write copy for web demonstrations, including marketing communications. Produced Adobe Flash presentations using Adobe Captivate. Edit the work of others.
Tools: Adobe Captivate, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Office. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, AP Stylebook, and internal style and use guidelines.
MediaPro, Bothell, Washington
Dates: February 2007 to December 2007
Worksite: Verizon Wireless, Bellevue, Washington
Client: Verizon Wireless Training
Job Title: Instructional Designer
Accomplishments: Design and produce web-based training, primarily for in-store staff. Trained to work as an administrator in both learning content management systems (CMS) in use at the time at Verizon Wireless. Content developed from subject matter expert interviews and review of existing documentation. Courses created to follow WCAG standards.
Tools: Adobe Captivate, Adobe Flash, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Adobe RoboHelp, Oracle PeopleSoft, and Microsoft Office products. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications and internal style guides.
Intrepid Learning Solutions, Seattle, Washington
Dates: March 2005 to January 2007
Worksite: Intrepid Learning Solutions, Seattle, Washington, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Everett, Washington
Job Title: Technical Writer
Accomplishments: Create web-based training, including text, storyboards, graphics, HTML, and cascading style sheets (CSS) for use in courses. While hired initially to only write the course modules, they soon discovered I could produce courses from beginning to end. Courses were primarily on how to use internal software product implementations (such as SLATE [System Level Automation Tools for Engineers] at Boeing), but work included other topics (such as occupational health and safety). Content developed by interviewing subject matter experts and reviewing documentation. Courses created to comply with WCAG web accessibility requirements, as a customer requirement (alt text, text size, title text on controls, and so forth.)
Tools: Adobe Captivate, Adobe Flash, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe RoboHelp, and Microsoft Office products. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Various Boeing style manuals, Gregg manual (Boeing), and the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.
Physicians Micro Systems Incorporated, Seattle, Washington
Dates: October 2004 to March 2005
Worksite: Seattle, Washington
Job Title: Technical Writer (temporary)
Accomplishments: Produce user manuals and on-line help for an electronic medical records system.
Tools: Adobe RoboHelp and Microsoft Office. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.
Iron Mountain Incorporated, Boston, Massachusetts
Dates: March 2000 to May 2004
Worksite: Iron Mountain Off Site Data Protection, Renton, Washington
Group: Training and software development
Job Title: Documentation Specialist (final title)
Accomplishments: Create manuals and help for Secure Base, SecureSync, and an internal time management system, using developer documentation (with code samples) and subject matter experts. Perform quality assurance work, including SQL tests using a command line interface (CLI) written by others but modified by me for the test. Repurpose existing documentation and prepared new material for call center use. Provide content for instructional designers. Worked with the team designing the user interface to make it easier for me to document.
Tools: Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks, and Microsoft Office products and Microsoft Project. Information Mapping techniques, Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications. Limited work with Adobe FrameMaker.
In the 1990s
During the 1990s, I worked for a variety of companies as a contractor or employee, including these:
- IBM Global Services (contractor)
- Washington Mutual (contractor, continued with IBM Global services after outsourcing)
- Kenworth Trucks (contractor)
- Boeing Commercial Airplanes (multiple contract roles)
