Professional Skills Summary4 Elmhurst Drive Greenville, RI 02828 (401) 949-1764 jyoung.techwriter@verizon.net
Exceptional ability to grasp complex technical and business ideas and to convey them to diverse audiences through printed and online documentation and face-to-face training. Experience documenting software applications for the retail, lottery, manufacturing, development, and accounting industries as well as communications and liquid chromatography hardware. Proficient in a wide variety of computer hardware and software.
Professional ExperienceTechnical Writer - Hanover Insurance Group (Contract Position) November 2006 - January 2007
Updated user documentation for ACT, a software application used by insurance agents to initiate policy rating. Consulted on technical aspects of conditional text in FrameMaker documents. Created visual process workflow documents using Visio.
Technical Writer - Waters Corporation (Contract Position) June 1999 - December 2005 August 1998 - December 1998
Created and updated hardcopy and online documentation for various chromatography system components. Hardware projects included creating user guides for a mass spectrometer and a fraction collector, updating user guides for several detectors, and creating an option kit installation guide. Software projects included creating an installation guide and online help for a web-based application, updating user guides for the Millennium application, and creating online help for the Breeze application. Also created and updated qualification workbooks (used to certify the proper installation and operation of system components). All projects required extensive hands-on testing and discovery to verify the operation of the software/instruments. Reformatted and converted more than 3,400 pages to PDF format for publication on the company web site. Produced hard copy documents using FrameMaker; produced online documents using RoboHelp, HTML, and Adobe Acrobat.
Technical Writer - GTECH Corporation (Contract Position) December 1998 - May 1999 November 1996 - July 1998
Created user documentation for a variety of lottery software applications and a lottery communications hardware component. Gathered information through hands-on discovery and testing, interaction with product developers, and analysis of product specifications. Devised and implemented a context-sensitive online help system for lottery software applications. Served as the writing group's primary resource for loading lottery applications and supporting software and establishing communications with application database servers. Provided co-workers with individual training in FrameMaker, Robohelp, and various lottery applications as necessary. Produced hard copy documents using FrameMaker and Word; produced online documents using Robohelp and Adobe Acrobat.
Technical Writer - EMC Corporation (Contract Position) February 1999
Created network architecture diagrams for use as a sales tool. The diagrams depicted the customer's current network storage architecture as well as the proposed storage architecture. These visual representations were designed from spreadsheet data and from information obtained through interviews with subject matter experts. Produced the diagrams using Visio.
Technical Writer - IRI Software (Contract Position) August 1996 - October 1996
Updated a user manual for Targeter, an application that mines demographic and sales data to create product marketing strategies for retail stores. Gained product information by working with local and (primarily) off-site members of the product development team. Performed product testing and provided QA team with bug reports. Used Word to produce the document.
Technical Writer - Progress Software (Contract Position) May 1996 - June 1996
Created a user manual and online help system for SCOPE/VB, a development tool that organizes Visual Basic project components. Gathered product information through discovery and interaction with developers. Performed an integral role in product testing and bug identification. Worked at a remote site with little supervision; completed the project ahead of schedule and under budget. Used Word and Robohelp to produce the documentation.
Technical Writer - Marcam Corp. (Contract Position) October 1995 - April 1996
Updated user documentation for PRISM, a suite of AS/400 applications designed for the process manufacturing industry. Assessed changes to the existing documentation set by reviewing change specifications, interviewing developers, and experimenting with the applications. Created instructions for an installation program that allowed the documentation set to be viewed online using WorldView; this involved extensive testing and troubleshooting of the installation program. Used Interleaf and Word to produce the documents.
Technical Writer - MicroBilt Corp. April 1995 - August 1995
Produced user and reference documentation for Windows-based point-of-sale software. Performed usability and QA testing. Used Word and Doc-To-Help to produce the documentation.
Technical Writer - QCC, Inc. March 1993 - April 1995
Created hardcopy and online user and reference documentation for various AS/400 based accounting applications. Gathered information through discovery, interaction with developers, and code review. Performed testing functions and created databases for use in testing. Gained familiarity with the IBM AS/400 and the AS/SET case tool. Used Word and Robohelp to produce the documentation.
EducationRhode Island College January 1988 - May 1991
Bachelor of Arts in English.
WinWriters Conference February 2003 User and Task Analysis for Information Design Seminar October 2002Software Experience
Word Processing/Publishing
FrameMaker Microsoft Word Acrobat WebWorks Publisher WordPerfect InterleafHelp Authoring
Robohelp Doc-To-HelpGraphics
Visio Adobe Illustrator Paint Shop Pro Corel Draw Macromedia Freehand Microsoft PowerPointSpreadsheet
Microsoft ExcelOperating Systems
Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/XP/NT MS-DOS OS/400