Information Designer, WeAreTeachers
(September 2007 – Present)
Multi-discipline professional in social network/e-commerce start-up that aims to harness the power of Web 2.0 and social media technologies for the benefit of teachers and learners. Responsible for gathering business requirements and user needs, conceptualizing user experience and interface, creating content and functional specifications, and performing user-acceptance testing. 

Writer/Designer, Pinion Software
(October 2004 – September 2007)
Conceptualized, designed, and built company website. Created messaging platform and wrote copy to promote the company’s software security solutions. Responsible for:

  • Marketing and collateral pieces
  • Online ad campaigns and corresponding website landing pages
  • User documentation, educational, and training materials
  • User interface for software suite

Assisted with planning, coordination, and execution of beta releases to gather user feedback and usability statistics. Coordinatee product releases with targeted web marketing (click-ads and landing pages). Wrote script for Flash product demonstration.

Freelance Web Designer/Writer
(Ongoing)
Design and write numerous websites, online and print ads, and newsletters for a variety of clients and industries. Create marketing collateral and messaging themes to gain market differentiation.

Web Designer/Writer, Peak Performers
(October 2003 - October 2004)
Redesigned various websites for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Responsible for helping the division of Participation and Success to achieve its communication goals by creating targeted websites. Duties consist of:

  • Planning and executing the sites' structure, organization, and  graphic design
  • Collaborating with program directors to collect and produce content
  • Interfacing with Web developers and IT personnel to coordinate
    technical aspects of Web development, deployment, and site-management
  • Gathering application requirements and testing Web applications
  • Designing user interfaces for Web applications

Content Manager, Rhyan Technologies, L.L.P.
(January 2003 - September 2003)
Managed a team of writers to document an adaptation of the Rational Unified Process software-development methodology and a set of complementary architectural frameworks. The methodology and frameworks aimed to help the Office of the Attorney General to realize the benefits of object-oriented application development and maintenance.

Responsible for ensuring content quality and developing the structure and organization of the documentation website. Position also involved research, analysis, and coordination with team members (business systems analysts, software developers, project managers, and client representatives) to produce useful and timely deliverables.

Freelance Writer, Rapport Technologies, Inc.
(September 2002 - December 2002)
Contracted to write, illustrate, and produce a streamlined online Help system to allow users to quickly and easily use the Rapport Management Software package to manage thin-client devices in networks that employ the thin-client/server computing model. Duties included application analysis, interviewing developers and marketing professionals, and distilling information from Engineering Functional Specification documents to develop and execute task-oriented materials.

Freelance Writer, Psionic Technologies, Inc.
(May 2002 - September 2002)
Wrote HTML-based user guide to support the company's entry into the network security space with ClearResponse, a software tool that enhances and supplements the effectiveness of intrusion-detection systems. Also participated in the creation of informative brochure, technical paper, and press release materials.

Internal Information Developer, BMC Software
(September 2001 - March 2002)
Researched and authored documentation for internal software developers to facilitate their assimilation and understanding of new infrastructure technologies. The documentation explained these technologies and provided examples to aid developers in the creation of commercial software products. The core of the infrastructure technology consisted of a "mid-level manager" system based on scalable, object-oriented components that enhance the management and consolidation of enterprise information systems and resources, including BMC's PATROL-branded products.

Information Developer, BMC Software
(May 1998 - September 2001)
Developed and created documentation to support enterprise
data-propagation software suite. Maintained the installation guide for the software's OS/390 components, the user guide for the software's monitoring tool, and the main user guide. The software allows organizations to transform and propagate, in near-real time, updates to their source corporate mainframe databases onto target databases that reside on distributed Unix and Windows systems. Interfaced with software architects, developers, quality assurance personnel, marketing professionals, project managers, and other writers. Distilled information from product and development specifications, researched interfacing technologies, and produced conceptual and procedural materials that synthesized, organized, and presented the information to assist end users in accomplishing their goals. Performed task analysis of the users' objectives to produce useful and timely documentation. Target audience included database, system, and network administrators, system engineers, and other technical audiences who deployed and administered BMC Software's Enterprise Data Propagation products.

Freelance Writer, Sybex Inc.
(Oct 1994 - Apr 1998)
Wrote best-selling computer game strategy books on a contractual basis for California-based publishing company. Titles included:

  • The Official Quake II Strategies and Secrets
  • The Official Die By The Sword Strategies and Secrets
  • The Official Doom Survivor's Strategies and Secrets
  • The Official Duke Nukem 3d Strategies & Secrets
  • ShadowWarrior: Official Strategies and Secrets
  • Space Bunnies Must Die