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Work Background
Employed by Synergis, supporting GoogleTechnical Writer
Apr. 2024Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Haven TechnologiesTechnical Writer
Jan. 2019 - Aug. 2023Greater New York City AreaWhen I started at Haven in 2019, we were still Haven Life (HL), the direct-to-consumer life insurance agency backed and wholly owned by Mass Mutual. In the time I've been there, the company has transitioned to Haven Technologies (HT), a SaaS InsurTech company delivering unique insurance industry technology to other carriers. While we were Haven Life, my primary responsibilities were to work with the other technical writer to produce and maintain internal documentation for the benefit of our development teams, including product owners, developers, designers, and QA / QE. I also participated in a company innovation challenge, where my team made it to the final round. I acted as a product owner / project manager for our team. I also did many of our team's company wide presentations. As part of our transition to HT, I drove the transition for the documentation team to write external documentation, including: - Implementing a division in documentation responsibilities between me and the other writer for external SaaS documentation. - Creating and implementing a plan to discover and onboard a new authoring tool (Paligo). - Planning and project managing the creation of external user documentation for an actuarial product, our metadata, an application builder tool, our policy administration product builder, and our underwriting rules management tool. - Planning and partly implementing our new externally facing documentation publication and delivery. The rest of this project was moved to a product owner, but I remained one of the stakeholders.
- Interfacing with SaaS product owners, designers, and developers on documentation and timelines. - Working closely with a documentation and training team in our revenue organization. Our team was moved to the Revenue organization. We hired a new manager, and I participated in that process by creating hiring exercises. Participation in:
DEI Advocate Committee
Disability Resource Group - Creator and Leader
Prism - Member
1010dataTechnical Writer
Oct. 2016 - Dec. 2018NYC1010Data gave me great experience working with a team of incredible technical writers. This enabled me to learn a lot about the ways teams can function together, how projects can be managed between team members, and how to learn from my team to improve my own writing and help improve the writing of my team members through my experience. At 1010Data, my experience included:
- Owning (for updates and maintenance) ten guides, five of which I created. I refactored a number of the existing guides to align to our current style and tone. - Working on portions of two of the largest guides (1010data Insights Platform User's Guide and 1010data Reference Manual), to help with a fast approaching release and to finish a project from the backlog.
- Sharing ownership of writing and publishing the external changelogs based on content written by developers in the internal changelogs.
- Collaborating with other technical writers, SMEs, and stakeholders.
- Updating and maintaining our team confluence space.
- Creating and maintaining our internal team blog that announces new documentation, updates to documentation, and projects that are coming soon.
- Improving my proficiency with: Python, Java, and .NET, XML, DITA and Oxygen XML Author, command-line tools, Linux, and SDKs and APIs. - Working with these additional, connected technologies: Talend, Airflow, Stitch. One of my strengths as a writer, which is a something I've relied on heavily at 1010data, is my ability to produce quality work quickly. I was often tasked with creating a brand new guide in a short timeframe.
Bonsai AITechnical Writing Contractor
Aug. 2016 - Sep. 2016Berkeley, California, United StatesI was brought on to write their first formal set of documentation before their beta release. I worked with the developers remotely (for most of the contract) to complete the documentation in 2 months. Documentation for this role included learning about AI and machine learning, which I had no background in previously. Additionally, I researched options for documentation delivery and recommended a plan of action for them going forward.
- Tidemark -Technical Writer
Jan. 2014 - Jun. 2016Redwood Shores, CAAs a quick reference, I:
- was the sole writer at Tidemark.
- implemented Mindtouch.
- transferred all of our documentation from PDF (InDesign) to Online Help.
- maintained all existing documentation.
- wrote all new features, release notes, patch notes, and other documentation.
- created tutorial videos and feature videos.
- maintained some of our Confluence documentation.
- worked with other teams on internal and external documentation.
- worked closely with product management.
- worked remotely from NYC to Redwood Shores, CA. I was the sole writer at Tidemark. In 2015, I worked on a project to move all of our documentation to online help. I looked at several options and ended up implementing Mindtouch. After Mindtouch was established, I moved all of our documentation from InDesign onto that new platform. I have managed that project as well as continuing to write and maintain all of our release documentation; Tidemark releases once a quarter. All of our previous documentation was in InDesign. We published between 4 and 6 guides a release, with our release schedule changing from upwards of 6 months to every 2 weeks. These documents included User and Administrator guides, What's New (release notes), technical specifications, and product overview documentation, and other small, internal and external writing projects. I became the sole writer at Tidemark in April 2014. I've learned better time management, self-motivation for achieving deadlines, and project management. I've improved my writing and editing skills. I am focused on improving the documentation for growth and sustainability. My project roadmap included: contextual help, search documentation via in application search, and sidebar news feed.
OracleTechnical Writer II
Jan. 2012 - Dec. 2013Redwood ShoresAs technical writer at Oracle, I worked on the Oracle Business Intelligence documentation team. I worked on a range of writing and document quality projects. This required me to work with engineers, product managers, and other writers to complete projects on a deadline. The last project I was on was a fast moving, agile-style team working to improve the quality of a specific area. It was laser focused and highly visible internally. We were working to strict deadlines and doing new content and videos that were being streamlined and modernized. I was also in the LAMBDA: Oracle's LGBT Network Leadership group. I served as webmaster and SF Pride Planning Team member. I I was a committee lead for the Oracle College Hires committee 2012. This program seeks to create a community environment for recent graduates who are hired at Oracle under the product development organization. In this role, I've organized and managed events, worked with other organizations in the company, and acted in a leadership capability.
Management Science AssociatesIntern
Jan. 2011 - Dec. 2011Pittsburgh, PAWorked on editing and writing web content for MSA.com
Created a proposal for continued content development
Carnegie Mellon UniversityResearch Assistant
Aug. 2010 - Dec. 2011Web design for Dr. Jim Daniels http://www.mrpleasantmovie.com
Research and report for Suguru Ishizaki
FamilyWealth Management Group for Mark PerilmanOffice Assistant
Aug. 2010 - Nov. 2010This job was primarily standard office work. I helped with filing, paperwork, organization, and other tasks. Time management and task management were key at this job.
Best BuyMobile Phone Specialist
May. 2010 - Aug. 2010Pittsburgh - 585I sold phones and explained contracts in this position. More than anything, I think I was also building relationships with customers and solving problems.
Best BuyComputer Specialist/Apple Expert
Sep. 2008 - May. 2010I sold hardware and software to consumers. More than that, I built relationships with customers. I tried to understand customers' expectations and needs and fulfill them, while also helping them understand their purchases. I did a lot of talking and listening. I tried to teach as much as sell, and often times, I found myself demonstrating or expounding concepts as much as individual products. I was really proud that I had regulars who felt comfortable buying from me because they knew I would help them as much as I could and that I would give their needs time and attention while still getting all of my job responsibilities done.
Jon L. Myers and AssociatesBusiness Development Manager
Jan. 2007 - Dec. 2008This was a renaissance-man kind of position. I did everything from learning how to analyze portfolios to event planning and customer loyalty programming. I provided technical support for the office when it was needed. I also did a fair share of office mailing and other similar tasks.
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