SUMMARY:

• User Requirements Specifications · Work Instructions · Test Plans and Reports · Release Notes · Policies and Procedures
• Detail - oriented individual with 14 years of professional writing experience and over 12 years distinguished experience as a technical writer with the US Military, property insurance industry and three software development companies in the entertainment and financial industries, including over 5 years as Senior/Lead Technical Writer. Over my career, my efforts have resulted in a measurable reduction in writing, editing and publishing times of 15 to 40 percent and company savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Writing Operations Streamlining · Team Leadership · Documentation Scheduling and Tracking · Strategic Planning · Data Benchmarking · Procedure Development · Design Review Feedback Enforcement · HR Functions · SOP Writing · Documentation Quality Control · Editing · Metrics Analysis · Inter-Department Collaboration and Problem Solving · Proofreading · Safety Testing/Hazard Mitigation Analysis · Federal, State, Corporate Documentation Compliance · Desktop Publishing · Graphic Design · Legacy Technical Documentation Analysis · Documentation Maintenance · Understanding of Software Development Life Cycle · Content Delivery Network Market Knowledge · Gate Review Material Development · Computer/Web-Based and Multimedia Design · Process Flow Analysis · User Relations and Vendor Interactions · Computer Instruction Design · Cloud Computing and Relational Databases

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

IT KNOWLEDGE: Highly skilled in Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Project, Publisher and Visio; and Adobe Creative Suite, including Acrobat 8, 9 and 11 Professional; Photoshop CS3; RoboHelp 8, 9, 11 and 2015; FrameMaker 9 and 10; Dreamweaver CS3; InDesign; Illustrator; PageMaker; Premiere Pro; Flash; Fireworks CS3; Contribute; and GoLive. Also proficient reading/understanding/interpreting/using 3D CAD; C#; Arbortext Epic Editor; Snagit Editor; HTML; HTML5; WordPress; MadCap Flare; XML; XSLT; SQL; MySQL; SSIS; SDK Tools; .NET; Java; C++; JavaScript; RightAnswers; WebWorks; Microsoft SharePoint; HP OpenView Service Desk; Lotus Notes; CamStudio; AskIt; SDL Trisoft; IsoDraw; Visual Studio; Team Foundation Server; MindTouch; Microsoft Access; Microsoft Quick Parts; Oracle database; Confluence; Jira; SaaS; MySQL database; CSS; and Wiki.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential, Santa Ana, California

Technical Writer/Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Regularly interview subject matter experts to coordinate, write (often from scratch), format, edit, revise, maintain and publish—in PDF and HTML format using RoboHelp versions 9, 11 and 2015—policy and procedure manuals, guides, FAQs and troubleshooting guides for management, developers and clients. Also use most of the Microsoft Office suite, primarily Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Project, Publisher and Visio.
• Manage the company’s documentation using the service management solution platform, Cherwell, as well as Microsoft SharePoint.
• Wrote from scratch the technical writing team’s policies and procedures and best practices documentation for updating and publishing policies and procedure memos and manuals.
• Analyst Team Lead, responsible for publishing all of the company’s online documentation, troubleshooting and resolving publishing issues for the other technical writers and the technical writing staff in using publishing best practices. Efforts have led to a 15- to 20-percent decrease in publishing time.

Confidential, Irvine, California

Senior Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Created from scratch best practices and how-to articles for the Executive Office for United States Trustees (EOUST) pertaining to the protection of personally identifiable information and other sensitive data.
• Managed the company’s documentation using Microsoft SharePoint.
• Worked weekly with the marketing department to develop, write and publish to the Confidential website the monthly company newsletter, including composing articles on new software features, upcoming Confidential events, recaps of Confidential events, personal profiles of Confidential staff and client success stories.
• Interviewed subject matter experts (business analysts, developers and team) to coordinate, write, format, edit, revise, maintain and publish, in PDF and HTML format, how-to guides, release notes, APIs, help files and SAP manuals for management and clients using primarily FrameMaker 10, Acrobat 9 Professional, Photoshop CS3, InDesign, Illustrator and PageMaker.
• Built from scratch, maintained and managed the company’s new help file for its revolutionary new software product for bankruptcy attorneys, after which the company observed an approximate 10-percent sales increase.

Confidential, Irvine, California

Senior Technical Writer/Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for all aspects of project planning, validation, documentation and business analysis. Through liaison with support department, led project teams to implement information technologies for R&D.
• Worked closely with the product architect to draft the API using the standard Swagger/OpenAPI Specification. Strong understanding of REST API design, general programming design principles and micro services concepts, as well as a proficiency reading and translating programming languages including XML, Java, JavaScript and .NET.
• Reviewed all deliverables prepared by the team before passing them on to clients.
• Prepared for engagement reviews and complied with quality assurance procedures.
• Ensured project documents were complete, current and stored appropriately in Microsoft SharePoint.
• Challenged others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor.
• Regularly worked with program manager(s) to identify project resources needed and assign individual responsibilities and to create and execute project work plans, revising them as appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements.
• Coordinated, wrote (often from scratch), formatted, edited, revised, maintained and published, in Word, PDF and HTML format, functional specifications; user requirements specifications; APIs; business requirements; software development kit documentation; new drug applications; and chemistry, manufacturing and controls documentation for management, developers and clients using many of the Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Creative Suite products and XML. Software utilized included Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Project, Publisher, Visio, Acrobat 8 Professional, Photoshop CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, InDesign, Illustrator, PageMaker and Premiere Pro.
• Authored and edited content for the company’s Internet help file using FrameMaker 9.
• Identified opportunities for documentation improvement and made constructive suggestions for change, decreasing documentation preparation time by approximately 20 percent.

Confidential, Westwood, California

Senior Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Designed, edited and updated content for the company Internet and Intranet websites using WordPress, HTML, Flash, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, InDesign, Photoshop CS3, CamStudio (for video content) and Illustrator. Used RoboHelp 8 to write and edit content on the Internet help file.
• Interviewed subject matter experts and reviewed and analyzed source materials supplied to coordinate, write, format, edit, revise, maintain and publish, primarily in PDF and HTML format, Android handset user guides, operations guides, white papers, APIs, SDKs, quick-start guides and coding style guides for management, developers and clients using mainly Word, Excel, Project, Publisher, FrameMaker 9, Visio and Acrobat 9 Professional.
• Facilitated development of Muve Music’s Android cellular phone software using SDK Tools, in conjunction with APIs.
• Consulted regularly with the engineering team to author documentation in the DITA dialect of XML, manage content in an engineering source control system, build the system with continual integration, and publish it to a cloud-based portal (created entirely from DITA) under automation.
• Utilized Confluence to write (and manage) technical documentation: primarily APIs and developer guides that needed to be up to date and accessible to the developers who had product release cycles they needed to meet.
• Tracked and managed software bugs using Jira.
• Analyzed current processes and procedures and presented recommendations for streamlining processes, slashing labor hours involved in producing all documentation by at least 25 percent while improving quality.
• Spearheaded a documentation project for Cricket Wireless’ Muve Music application, in which I either updated or created from scratch, via interviews with developers and other subject matter experts, 1½ years of backlogged documentation within a 4-month period. This allowed us to fast-track the application’s time to market and provided the company a substantial revenue boost.

Confidential, Sherman Oaks, California

Senior Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Interpreted schematics and other technical data and developed process flow diagrams using Visio.
• Designed, edited and updated content for the company Internet website using WordPress, HTML, Flash, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, InDesign, Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator; created frequently asked questions and used RightAnswers and AskIt for on-line helpdesk; and used RoboHelp 8 to maintain the Internet help file. Also designed, edited and updated content for the company Intranet website using HTML.
• Regularly interviewed subject matter experts and reviewed and analyzed source materials supplied to create documentation tailored for both technical and non-technical savvy end-users.
• Coordinated, wrote, formatted, edited, revised, maintained and published, mainly in PDF and HTML format, user guides, operations guides and test and use cases for management, developers and clients using primarily Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Visio, Acrobat 8 Professional and PageMaker.
• Worked closely with the engineering team to facilitate and implement, via clear and concise documentation derived from complex relational database concepts, a new, cloud-based data solution; to improve the user experience (design, user interface and help content); and to create visuals and diagrams for technical support content.
• Authored from scratch the inaugural operations and user guides (five total) for the user interfaces of a new, highly sophisticated, cutting-edge financial software program under an extremely tight deadline, allowing the product to be presented to investors and potential clients prior to our promised Go-Live date, saving the client tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue loss had we not met our obligation.

Confidential, Yuma, Arizona

Senior Technical/SOP/Proposal Writer

Responsibilities:

• Led department via a team-centered approach to analyze requirements, produce and edit test reports, test plans and SOPs, completing all projects within deadline for over 5 years and slashing SOP, test plan and report writing time by almost 40 percent through a continuous effort, using macros to automate certain data compilation and mathematical calculations and producing more efficient documentation schedules.
• Managed team of four technical writers and served as the final editor of all documentation generated by our department prior to review by executive officers and subsequent publication. Provided hands-on to ensure style guide and Data Item Description compliance, proper formatting and editing practices to ensure document quality.
• Used cutting edge multimedia - - including Adobe Director, Dreamweaver CS3 and Photoshop CS3 - - to plan, produce and distribute combat systems and platforms documents via CD-ROM, websites and interactive electronic technical manuals.
• Provided proficiency with animation and graphics design and creation as I contributed significantly to the design, development and maintenance of the proving ground’s Intranet and Internet websites using Adobe Creative Suite products such as InDesign, Photoshop CS3, Illustrator, Dreamweaver CS3, Premiere Pro, Flash, Fireworks CS3, Contribute and GoLive.
• Created, edited and integrated visual materials including photographs, screen captures, drawings, diagrams, charts, schematics, illustrations and graphs into technical documentation using various software applications including Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Quick Parts, IsoDraw and 3D CAD before converting content to HTML for publication on the Intranet.
• Coordinated, wrote, revised, edited, formatted, maintained and published, primarily in Word, PDF and HTML format, test reports, test plans, manuals, maintenance manuals, addendums, test procedures and SOPs for government and civilian personnel and clients using mainly Word, Excel, Visio and XML.