Sales Technical Writer

Professional Summary

Senior Technical Writer with over 15 years of experience. Primary experience

developing various technical materials for new products (software, firmware,

connectivity, electrical components, et cetera). Passionate about developing high

quality, usable technical materials. Excellent project management skills. Thorough

interviewer of subject matter experts. Superior communication skills with all

levels of an organization. Team player with strong leadership skills.

Experience

Convia, Inc., Buffalo Grove, Illinois

Independent Contractor/Senior Technical Writer 08/08 to Present

Responsibilities

Develop various engineering documents, such as Web-based applications, UL

operations guide, data sheets, user guides, driver guides, application notes, etc.

Design templates for engineering documents.

Gather information for content development by interviewing engineers and other

subject matter experts.

Rebrand documents upon request.

Coordinate usability testing of procedures.

Create technical illustrations to clearly communicate how products work.

Develop internal documents for staff and contractors.

Zebra Technologies, Vernon Hills, Illinois

Senior Technical Writer 09/02 to 12/08

Technical Writer II 12/00 to 09/02

Responsibilities

Developed programming guides, software guides, reference guides, user guides,

hardware procedures, Web- and windows-based help systems, and other documents upon

request.

Managed large, single-sourced documents (up to 1,000 pages and 800 files per book).

Researched products by reading engineering specifications and other documentation,

interviewing subject matter experts (SMEs), and investigating product prototypes.

Developed illustrations independently.

Participated with project team(s) and provided feedback about usability of product

design and/or processes.

Managed the Engineering Change Order process for manuals.

Lead roundtable documentation reviews with SMEs to receive approval on requested

technical changes.

Established departmental standards by creating a process document and template.

Mentored contractors, interns, and new writers.

Lead writer for new products (from preliminary stage to final release).

Authored departmental ISO procedures to enforce best practices.

Conducted documentation usability tests to ensure the procedures were accurate and

easy to use.

Coordinated translations for software GUI and documentation.

Initiated and lead a focus group to determine the usability of a beta product.

Developed and managed the Engineering Yearbook.

Open Port Technology, Chicago, Illinois

Technical Writer 07/99 to 11/00

Responsibilities

Wrote end-user and reference guides, branding guides, quick reference cards, Web

help and online help, and application notes.

Initiated and drove the implementation of a department style guide and template to

establish standards.

Researched and wrote documents for translation.

Managed and coordinated the translations (five languages).

Performed peer reviews, technical edits, and usability tests.

Provided feedback to software engineers to improve GUI usability.

Campbell Software, Inc., Chicago, Illinois (purchased by SAP Labs, LLC)

Technical Writer 09/96 to 07/99

Responsibilities

Wrote end-user and administrator guides, installation and configuration guides,

online help, readme files, release highlights, and custom documentation upon

request for Windows and DOS-based products.

Conducted document usability test to ensure ease-of-use.

Performed peer reviews and technical edits.

Cooper Lighting, Division of Cooper Industries, Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Help Desk Coordinator 06/92 to 09/96

Personnel/Benefits Administrator 04/87 to 06/92

Responsibilities

Troubleshot and resolved user problems on an in-house agent sales system.

Worked with developers to determine changes based on customer feedback.

Tested beta builds of product and provided the developer with a bug list.

Trained new users on the in-house sales system.

Wrote training materials for the in-house sales system and an in-house quotation

system.

Supported the Employee Relations Manager.

Administered benefits division-wide.

Kemper Group, Long Grove Illinois

Corporate Relations Coordinator 07/85 to 04/87

PCL Processor 11/84 to 07/85

Marketing Assistant 08/83 to 11/84

Skills

Platforms Windows, DOS, UNIX, IBM 390 mainframe, OS/2 Warp, Oracle.

Software Adobe FrameMaker, Acrobat and Illustrator, HTML, Wiki, Visio, CorelDRAW,

PaintShopPro, Mif2Go, Wiki, SharePoint, ProductView, MS Visio, WebWorks ePublisher

Pro, MadCap Flash, RoboHelp, Doc-to-Help, ForeHelp, and all Microsoft products.

Professional Agile Development Process, single-sourcing, conditional text, User

Experience (UX).

Education

DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois

Awards / Associations

Society for Technical Communicators (STC) Competition Judge (2006 to Present)

STC Award of Merit - Help System (2008)

STC Award of Excellence - Programming Guide (2007)

STC Award of Merit - Template Design (2005)

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