Technical Writer Instructional Designer

Susan K. Sylvia 541-***-****

Sr. Technical Writer & Editor/Instructional Designer *******@*******.***

Los Gatos, CA

Professional Summary

Seasoned technical writer and editor with over 25 years’ experience

Extensive current experience in the Medical Device field as both a senior technical writer and a technical instructional designer for several companies creating User Manuals, Release Notes, Maintenance Manuals, and Customer Training PowerPoint presentations

Heavy enterprise software experience for companies large and small

Highly skilled in all phases of writing, editing, proofreading, and content strategy

Solid experience with end-user documentation for many diverse industries

Thorough understanding of SDLC process as well as Agile environments

Skilled at working with cross-functional teams both domestically and internationally

Proactive self-starter, enthusiastic team player, able to work well independently

Skilled at researching and synthesizing content from diverse sources

Solid experience producing and designing customer training documentation

Early foundation in consumer journalism, promotional, and feature writing for newspapers and magazines

Technical Skills:

Medical Devices/FDA

UX/UI Documentation Enterprise Software Virtualization and SaaS

Telecommunications

SAP and EtQ Experience

Semiconductor SW/HW

MS Office Suite

Adobe FrameMaker 7 thru 2019 Acrobat Professional DC PaintShopPro/SnagIt

SharePoint

Author-It CMS

Agile

Adobe InDesign

Education

San Diego State University.

Broadcast (Film/Video) Production (Senior Honors Student) with emphasis on writing for electronic media. (Degree incomplete: Program eliminated by the University during my Senior Year.)

West Valley College (A.A. Degree/Business Communications).

Additional editorial and communications coursework at DeAnza College, UC Davis, San Jose State, Sacramento State. Additional data networking and telecommunications courses at UCSC Extension, Santa Clara CA.

Currently enrolled in an online Certificate Program for Instructional Design and Adult Learning Theory.

Professional Experience

Imperative Care (Medical Device)

Sr. Technical Writer (Contract)

August 2023 to Present

Convert current manufacturing documentation to new templates and gather feedback from Operators, Supervisors, and Engineers to improve order, clarity, conciseness, style, and terminology.

Convert current equipment files to updated templates, organize electronic files in a network drive, and file the physical forms into equipment folders.

Ensure consistency of documentation within and between product lines

Meet with engineers and project managers to learn about specific products or processes.

Assesses the audience needs for whom the technical and procedural documentation is intended; adjusts tone and technical terms used to meet those needs and to ensure understanding.

Cepheid, Inc. (Medical Device)

Technical Instructional Designer

August 2021 to March 2023

Worked in the Training and Educational department of the Field Application Services division of Commercial Solutions at Cepheid, inc.

Primary role to create Customer Training PowerPoint presentations for doctors, nurses, clinicians and Point of Care personal administering PCR tests for CE-IVD, US-IVD and EUA

The audience for these presentations is comprised of clinicians and medical personnel in laboratory settings and/or patient Point of Care environments

All training materials are based on FDA approved IFU documentation (Package Inserts) which are included with each assay

The work is extremely detail oriented in a highly regulated environment with very controlled review and approval processes

Applications used include MS Word, Adobe InDesign, MS PowerPoint, and systems like SharePoint, Agile, Workfront, MS Teams and Zoom

PerkinElmer (Medical Device)

Sr. Technical Writer & Editor (Remote Consultant)

November 2020 to January 2021

Short-term C2C contract to assist the permanent Sr. Technical Writer with a backlog of work.

Work consisted of updating, editing, and re-writing of Service Bulletins, Work Instructions, IFUs, Assays, Service Manuals and User Manuals

Work was performed in both MS Word and Adobe FrameMaker 2019

Hologic, Inc. (Medical Device)

Sr. Technical Writer & Editor

March 2019 to September 2020

Within R&D, was the sole technical Medical Device writer in the Santa Clara office, reporting to the Sr. Divisional Manager of Tech Pubs at the Danbury CT office

Delivered critical documentation for several new diagnostic software products with an aggressive deadline to meet product launch dates simultaneously

Audience was all medical/clinical personnel involved with 3D Breast Imaging

Worked with internal style guides as well as simplified English in order to facilitate documentation translation into seven languages

Managed the labeling design review of all documents cross-functionally with reviewers from PMO, Regulatory, Legal, Manufacturing, SQA, and Tech Pubs and Sales

Produced IFUs, Release Notes, User Manuals, Service Manuals and Field Maintenance Instructions for several critical, and simultaneous, releases with multiple manuals.

Contributed to numerous revisions to existing product manuals to meet deadlines for updates and release notes for field service personnel and sales teams

Heavy proofreading of large multi-chapter documents and manuals

Heavily involved in the regulated FDA processes governing documentation for medical device production and distribution, especially related to documentation

Worked with team members on the East Coast and around the country to ensure streamlined and standardized tech pubs processes, workflows, and file management accountability

Worked cross-functionally with product software engineers, SQA, Marketing and Training

Varex Imaging (Medical Device)

Sr. Technical Writer & Editor January 2018 to December 2018

As a member of the Technical Pubs team and reporting to Quality, initial focus of work was on major rebranding of all documentation from PerkinElmer to Varex Imaging.

Updating of documentation included User Guides and Manuals, Service and Maintenance Guides, and various materials directed to clinical personnel in both medical and point of care facilities

Heavy editing and conversion of all technical documentation from Microsoft Word to Adobe FrameMaker 2017, including all figures and illustrations.

Underwent extensive training to ensure compliance with FDA and ISO regulations and Document Control conventions.

Worked with Doc Control to initiate Engineering change requests on EtQ Reliance platform.

Heavy updating and editing of critical documentation on the SAP platform.

Contributed to the Varex Imaging style guide and technical editorial processes.

Fiction Writing Sabbatical (Self Directed) February 2016 to August 2017

Focused work on a manuscript for a Middle Grade children’s book.

Attended several writer’s conferences and retreats to work on manuscript.

Enrolled in two long-term online workshops to perfect various aspects of fiction writing.

TeachScape, Inc.

January 2015 to January 2016 Technical Writer and Editor

Worked as a member of the Professional Learning Team for this SaaS educational software company to support K-12 educators across the country.

Took ownership of all Online Help articles and knowledge base documentation for new and existing releases and created, updated and copy edited over 100 of these articles directed at non-tech end users. Used SharePoint for content management systems.

Converted all Word documents into ProProfs online help formatting.

Worked with remote team members across the country as well as in San Francisco in an Agile environment.

Oracle Cloud Operations March through May 2014

Technical Editorial Associate (short term 3-month contract)

Contract to edit, rewrite, and update FAQs and other Customer Support information on the Oracle Confluence platform.

Sourced material from several acquired cloud and SaaS companies to conform to the Oracle Cloud standards and SOPs.

Heavy editing of documentation to produce a clear and consistent corporate voice.

Oracle/PeopleSoft

December 2012 to September 2013 Technical Writer and Editor

Wrote and edited a comprehensive set of web-based guideline documents for UX developer customers to support the use and customization of PeopleSoft applications.

Work included gathering, analyzing, and filtering of dispersed data from numerous online sources and synthesizing that into easily understandable UX/UI documentation for the web.

Heavy editing and use of content strategy to maintain consistent presentation of information and cross- references within the application.

Virtual collaboration with remotely dispersed teams in the U.S. and India.

All work 100% remote from my home office.

Scobre Educational Publications and Book Buddy Digital Media 2010 to 2013

Editorial Production and Copyediting

Copyediting, proofing, and audio mapping of book-length PDFs for a whole series of books from HMH Publishers for young adult readers and educational reading programs.

Copy edited an entire series of books profiling basketball teams for the NBA. All work done remotely on an as-needed basis.

Cisco Training 2009 to 2010

Technical Editorial Associate (Short term Contract)

Edited and updated several substantive internetworking training modules for both online/virtual and Instructor-led courses.

Collaborated virtually with remote teams worldwide, with all work 100% remote.

Miasole, Inc.

August 2008 to December 2008 Senior Technical Writer and Editor

As the sole Technical Writer and Editor at this Solar panel manufacturing start-up, produced all of the writing and editing of documentation across the board.

Created manual sets for six major tools, requiring frequent visits to the factory floor to photograph and document the specific processes and manufacturing procedures.

Manuals included operations, facilities, installation, maintenance, factory acceptance tests, equipment specifications, software user guides, and procedural training information.

Documented very technical and specific scientific formulas and procedures.

Documentation was also used for hands-on training of manufacturing personnel.

Created a corporate glossary and initiated a style-guide for technical publications.

VNUS Medical Technologies Inc. July 2008 to January 2009

Technical Editorial Associate (Contract Onsite and Offsite)

Performed a major conversion of contract agreements from MS Word into Adobe Acrobat Professional using LiveCycle Designer.

Focus was to create an interactive format which enabled domestic sales engineers to leverage strategic sales, and to deliver a clear and consistent corporate message.

Created several training docs for staff to enable staff members to update documentation using LiveCycle Designer with Adobe Acrobat Professional.

Heavy and detailed editing for submission to the field personnel.

Cisco Systems, Global Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Initiative Core Team November 2006 to October 2007

Technical Writer and Editor

Wrote and edited documentation for the Cisco Systems Global PLM initiative.

Heavy editing of documentation from engineering groups, project management groups, and marketing groups.

Wrote and edited PLM Product Requirement Doc, System Design Solution, and the ECAD Integration Specification for Hardware Technical Operations.

Created PowerPoint training presentations, which were both IBT and WBT driven.

Applied Materials,

April 2003 to June 2006 Technical Writer and Editor

Performed all editing, re-writing, updating, and final formatting of critical manuals: Safety, Operations & Programming, Maintenance, User Guides, and CAD generated Schematics for the ECP Tools Division.

Updated eight document sets for five systems, all compliant with NEC and SEMI S2.

Heavy conversion from MS Word into Adobe FrameMaker book format.

Performed all editorial/graphical and design changes, additions and corrections before final submissions in PDF and FrameMaker.

Project managed an extensive online Visual Spare Parts Identification project which involved photographing, cataloguing, and the creation of flow charts and BOM illustrations.

3Com Corporation Wireless Division July 2002 to January 2003

Technical Writer and Editor

Took over the existing documentation efforts from a departing technical writer.

As the sole writer and editor, produced several full-length user guides, quick-start guides, and extensive online help contact for a wireless hub, editing and updating all docs.

Mineta Transportation Institute December 2000 to December 2001

Senior Editorial Associate (Position administered through San Jose State University)

Edited, copyedited, proofread, rewrote, and formatted book-length documents in the field of international surface transportation.

Responsibilities included editorial preparation of documents for peer review and compliance with both MTI style guide and Chicago Manual of Style.

Extensive conversion of Word documentation into Adobe FrameMaker.

Cisco Systems Enterprise Division May 1999 to August 2000

Technical Writer

Took ownership of a 900-page ATM Switch/Router Command Reference as a primary project.

Updated all Unix CLI entries as needed, working with SMEs

Produced release notes, contributed to various publications for internal and customer use.

Acted as Style Guide Representative for the team and championed the FrameMaker template conversion.

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