Tom Witherspoon

Freelance Actor & Writer

Summary

I am a story teller. Whether onstage or in print, I have used a variety of skills to impart information across a wide range of settings. For over 20 years, I have been a Technical Writer who has worked in a wide variety of business environments, from education and federal government contracting, to healthcare and web development. I am interested in single-sourcing projects using FrameMaker, Flare, RoboHelp, and Microsoft Office applications. I enjoy presenting material to internal and external audiences both in person and on the phone. I am also interested in the "Getting Things Done" productivity methods created by David Allen. I've led several brown bag training sessions outlining my journey through adoption of this process.

Experience

Technical Writer at Intel Corporation June 2016 – December 2016

Working a contract job for Collaborative Vision. I am working with the Internet of Things (IoT) group on various documentation tasks, including release notes, troubleshooting guides, and other task-oriented documentation.

Patient Simulator at Oregon Health & Science University January 2016 – Present

As an actor, I portray various roles for simulations at the Western Oregon University School of Nursing.

Auditorium Manager at Vancouver Public Schools January 2016 - June 2016

I served as the Facilities Manager for the auditorium at Fort Vancouver High School. This entailed managing sound and lighting equipment, providing customer service for outside groups using the auditorium, and providing guidance for students and faculty using the auditorium.

Copywriter at 52 Limited April 2016 - May 2016

On a contract job for the NWEA, I reviewed a backlog of test items.

Technical Writer at Vesta Corporation February 2012 - October 2013

Leveraged my expertise in communications, documentation, and Confluence wiki usage to help Vesta collaborate more efficiently. I also lent a hand at softball.

Contractor at TEKsystems December 2011 - January 2012

I developed and produced training materials for an Oracle accounting system to be rolled out overseas.

Senior Technical Writer at REI Systems January 2010 - November 2011

Worked on a number of projects for the Office of Management and Budget. These included developing guidance documents and white papers, editing website text, putting together a style guide for internal and external communications, and assisting in project management through the corporate wiki (Confluence).

Assisted the development team with documenting the API and SDK for the www.performance.gov website. The API and SDK were used by Federal agencies to upload their performance data for public review. I also developed and delivered training for over 400 Federal employees on how to enter data into this site.

Technical Writer at Hi-Tec Systems November 2009 - December 2009

I supported Quality Management efforts within the office of Aviation Safety by providing editorial support for internal documentation, website reviews and recommendations, podcast development, and performing quality assurance tasks on several batches of randomly selected documents.

Technical Writer at Blackboard October 2006 - October 2009

Produced and maintained a wide variety of documents including technical manuals, specification documents, and quick start guides. Authored Online Help in HTML and XML formats using software packages such as Flare and RoboHelp. Led an analysis project to determine a replacement for an outdated Help authoring system. Managed the delivery of documentation both in print and online.

Developed and maintained the API and SDK documentation for schools who maintained their own Blackboard systems. These documents were created with a variety of audiences in mind, from IT professionals to student administrators.

Coordinated Localization efforts with translation vendors by ensuring timely delivery of content and answering queries from translators.

Technical Writer at Group 1 Software, A Pitney Bowes Company April 2002 - October 2006

Responsibilities included creating and updating end-user documentation, online help and technical specifications for a number of software products. Assisted in a company-wide effort to implement the full version of Adobe Acrobat. This resulted in better quality documentation commentary. Designed and taught classes on the use of Adobe Acrobat to Group 1 Software personnel. Trained documentation staff on the use of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe FrameMaker and PaintShopPro software.

Technical Writer at BNA May 2001 - April 2002

Generated deployment documentation for the BNA Web Delivery (BWD) effort. Created and updated internal documentation for use by BNA personnel.

Technical Writer at worldweb.net June 2000 - April 2001

Generated and updated documentation for Expressroom I/O content management software, Expressroom I/O online help, and training material for the Expressroom I/O Administration course.

Technical Writer at QuadraMed, Inc. July 1999 - June 2000

Generated and updated Reference Guides, Training Guides and Setup Guides.

Worked with the documentation group to use a single-source methodology in organizing and distributing documentation and online help.

Trained staff on the use of Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe Acrobat, and Microsoft Project software.

Senior Technical Writer at KBM Group January 1997 – June 1999

Provided software development life cycle documentation support to software development efforts (using Oracle, SQL and UNIX) sponsored by KBM, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and other contractors at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Examples of such documents include, but are not limited to, the following: Work Plans, Functional Requirements, Functional Specification, Test Plans, Training Plans, User Manuals, Quick Reference Guides and Program Maintenance Manuals. Trained staff on the use of Microsoft Project and Adobe FrameMaker software.

Skills & Expertise

Adobe Acrobat

Adobe InDesign

Adobe RoboHelp

Agile Methodologies

API

Camtasia

Confluence Wiki

Content Management

Databases

Document Management

Editing

FrameMaker

HTML

JIRA Issue Tracking

Information Architecture

Instructional Design

Linux

MadCap Flare

Manuals

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Project

Online Help

Quality Assurance

SDK

SharePoint Administration

Single Sourcing

SnagIt

Software Development

Style Guides

Technical Communication

Technical Documentation

Technical Writing

Training

User Experience

Visio

Web Development

Web Services

White Papers

Wikis

XML

Education

The Catholic University of America 1995

MFA, Theater: Acting

Kenyon College 1990

BA, Drama/English

Contact this candidate