A brief history of the projects I have done on contract:
- Virtual Helping Hands, July 2009 to present. Document Max Assistive Technology, a suite of tools that make Second Life universally accessible.
- Zuora, July 2008 to March 2009 and September through October 2009. Responsible for creating and maintaining API developer's guide in help file format. Also created documentation plans, release notes, and Web pages for the Zuora Sandbox and, later, the Developer Network. Using MadCap Software's Flare to create the API documentation and Adobe's Dreamweaver CS3 for all Web pages. Other tools included SVN (using a Tortoise client) and Bugzilla.
In addition, I documented their Z-Billing and Z-Payments applications using MediaWiki, which was a lot of fun. - KnowNow, Inc. (no longer in business), 2002-2008. Responsible for all aspects of KnowNow documentation. Created PDFs, help files, release notes, and other documents. Used FrameMaker, WebWorks 7, and Perforce, among other tools. KnowNow closed its doors in early May, 2008.
- Simply True Communications, 2004 to 2007. Designed and developmentally edited a book, What Is Your Honor Code?, by Ingrid Katal.
- Nanometrics, 2002. Indexed a large semiconductor manual.
- InfoDyne Software, 2002 (later acquired by IBM). Wrote a white paper on the technical publications process.
- CoSine Communications, 2001-2002 (no longer in business?). Several indexing and help template projects.
- Electron Economy (no longer in business; purchased by Viewlocity), 2000-2001. Wrote and managed developer’s guides, API documentation, deployment guides, system administration guides, and system integration guides.
- Bright Info/Annuncio (later acquired by PeopleSoft, which was in turn acquired by Oracle), 1999 to 2001. Wrote and managed a set of software manuals (user’s guide, administration guide, integration guide, and template guide).
- Progress Software, 1998 to 1999. Built and managed a cross-country group of writers documenting a Java-based integrated development environment and application server for creating client- and server-side Java and HTML applications.
- Next Level Communications (NLC) (later acquired by Motorola), 1996 (employed as staff from 1996 to 1998). Wrote and managed manuals for fiber-to-the-curb telephony system provisioning software.
- Hewlett-Packard (Santa Rosa), 1994 to 1996. Horizon project: Project lead and sole writer on a proprietary object-oriented firmware API; created FrameMaker templates for various purposes, including UNIX man pages; wrote document plans, user’s guide, reference guide, and tutorial; used FrameMaker and ClearCase. When on site, worked on UNIX workstations; at home, worked on Windows.
- Autodesk, 1993 to 1995. Multiple projects: ADI digitizer user’s guide and API, IGES, HOOPS, AutoCAD user’s guide, SQL reference manual, one or two others; logged in remotely to work on UNIX servers; also worked at home on Windows and Windows NT, using Microsoft C++ lightly.
- 1992 to 1993. Wrote a book and completed the following small contracts.
- Wrote Running Your Business with Quattro Pro for Windows. The book was published by TitleWave Press and involved the creation of a large set of sophisticated, financially-oriented workbooks and spreadsheets. The book explains the concepts behind the workbooks and spreadsheets and tells how to use them.
- Time Arts (no longer in business), 1993. Editing C++ source code directly, creating FrameMaker index entries to be filtered and output.
- Prudential Securities, 1993. Newsletter for one of their financial advisors.
- Geomorphic Creations, 1993. Brochure.
- Kedwell Software, 1992. Document plan.
- SPC (software company, no longer in business or possibly acquired), 1992. Kaleidoscope project: Project lead and only writer for eight months on a proprietary, in-house, object-oriented API; logged into UNIX servers remotely and locally to do work.
- Sybex, 1991. Edited a software manual.
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