SUMMARY | Technical writer with 10+ years of experience creating technical documentation (both internal and client-facing). I write for many different audiences, but my specialty is highly technical content for IT professionals, like developers, sysadmins, and database experts. |
I have planned, created, and managed documentation projects from scratch to completion, as well as developed further legacy documentation created by others. My experience also includes supervision of small teams of techwriters and working in international settings with remote team members (both subject matter experts and content contributors).
PROFILE | IT Documentation Specialist |
• | Extensive technical writing experience related to both software and hardware products |
• | 8 years of writing for specialized IT audiences (developers, admins) |
• | 6 years documenting APIs and SDKs |
• | 10+ years of experience as a member of international development teams |
• | Project management skills acquired as both team leader and freelancer |
• | Master of documentation development tools (RoboHELP, Help & Manual, and others) |
• | A good set of supporting skills: |
• | proposal, style guide, marketing, and correspondence writing |
• | basic HTML, XML, CMS, and Semantic Web knowledge |
• | some graphical and web design skills |
• | web management and administration skills |
• | network administration skills |
TECHNICAL SKILLS
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Professional use of the main job-specific (for compiled/browser-based online help, PDF, HTML) and the most common general business software.
• | Help development packages: RoboHELP, WebWorks Publisher, DocumentX, Doc-to-Help, Help & Manual, MS HTML Workshop, ProProfs |
• | Text Editors MS Word, FrameMaker |
• | Software development environments: MS Visual Studio, Java NetBean, VisiLab |
• | Web development languages: HTML, XML, CSS, Markdown |
• | Web 2.0 CMSs: Confluence, Contentful, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal |
• | Static web site generators: Jekyll, DocPad |
• | Source control software SVN, TFS, GitHub |
• | Process management platforms: JIRA, Office 365, SharePoint |
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writing skills
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Writing skills fundamentally based on an MD in Linguistics and extensive experience.
• | 20+ year background of using English as primary work language |
• | Expert in structured writing from formal training and practice |
• | Ability, gained from experience, to read and understand programming code |
• | Have written documentation for both US and EU markets, as well as for global audiences |
• | Job-specific interpersonal skills |
• | Appreciative of the managerial and commercial objectives through the perspective of an MD in Marketing and Management |
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Project Management skills
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Skills in managing documentation projects from concept to completion in both corporate and freelance environment including:
• | Audience research and user needs analysis |
• | Analysis and organization of existing documentation |
• | Project scheduling and implementation control |
• | Allocation of project resources for optimal teamwork |
• | Management and supervision of writing teams |
• | Content updates planning and implementation |
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TRaining Skills
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Three years of experience conducting in-house training for writing staff.
• | Introductory technical writing trainings |
• | Structured writing trainings |
• | One-on-one technical writing coachings |
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2006 to present
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FREELANCE DOCUMENTATION SPECIALIST
Representative clients:
Wiley Publishing, www.wiley.com
IRM, www.i-r-m.com
Verasoft, www.verasoft.com
MINA Inc., www.batm.com
Ontotext, www.ontotext.com
Authored a book of the "For Dummies" series – KORVUE for Dummies.
• | The main challenge was explaining the complex features and procedures of a business software in a colloquial, down-to-earth language. Wiley’s strict requirements for their authors were met successfully. |
Participated in a team localizing a German CAD system (C.A.T.S. - www.cats-software.com) to International English as English language editor of the user documentation. (Through IRM.)
• | Gained experience with localization issues |
Developed the online help system for a complex business suite, KORVUE (a client-server system) (www.korvue.com) and several print manuals (for Verasoft).
• | Became familiar with POS and CRM software concepts |
• | Documented a client-server application on both end-user’s (client) and administrator’s (server) ends. |
Migrated existing documentation to a single-source system (Doc-To-Help) (for MINA Inc). This reduced the amount of work needed to maintain and edit documentation by more than half.
Worked on the user documentation for OWLIM – the fastest large-scale semantic repository to date – and made a complete documentation overhaul.
• | Put my linguistics education to good use in the related area of the Semantic Web and semantic technologies |
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2016 to present
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Senior Technical Writer
PROS
US software developer (e-commerce solutions)
www.pros.com
(Originally Vayant, later acquired by PROS)
Bringing existing legacy content up to date.
Complete overhaul of the existing customer documentation.
Transitioning to topic-based authoring and controlled vocabulary.
Migrating user documentation to the web.
Scrum development environment.
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2014 to 2015
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Senior Technical Author
Miracl
UK software developer, formerly known as CertiVox
www.miracl.com
Writing technical content and managing the user documentation for the company’s products (secure authentication and cryptographic engineering products). Created a coherent and maintainable documentation library out of the internal developer documentation. Worked within team-based Scrum development environment.
Responsibilities:
• | Closely monitoring the development, release, and support activities and identifying documentation needs |
• | Defining and prioritizing documentation tasks |
• | Worked closely with QA and Development on identifying bugs, deficiencies, and UX issues |
• | Edited and integrated content created by occasional contributors |
Achievements:
• | Migrated user documentation from Confluence to ProProfs |
• | Established the documentation production process |
• | Introduced topic-based content structure |
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2011 to 2014
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Senior Technical Writer
Infragistics
American software developer
www.infragistics.com
Directed the Product Guidance (writing staff to produce clear, effective, and professional product documentation (mainly API documentation for .NET, XAML, and iOS platforms). Worked within team-based Scrum development environment.
Responsibilities:
• | Overseeing and participating in the planning of the help content |
• | Overseeing the API documentation process and the interaction with the Engineering department |
• | Upholding the writing style and content formatting standards |
• | Mentoring a largely ESL writing staff on writing and establishing best practices for documentation |
• | Copyediting and ensuring quality of written documents |
• | Helping crafting and instituting documentation creation and review process |
• | Recruiting, interviewing, and assessing applicants for the Product Guidance department |
• | Training the Product Guidance staff and the Technical Editors |
Achievements (The following has been introduced by me and adopted by company.):
• | An advanced methodology for structured writing |
• | Structured content templates |
• | Documentation planning process |
• | Editing process specific to the subject matter |
• | Periodical technical writing trainings for the PG developers |
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2004 to 2006
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TECHNICAL WRITER AND HELP SYSTEMS DEVELOPER
FrontLine Systems
American software developer
www.solver.com
Developed online help for APIs for mathematical optimization/simulation for the following languages: Visual Basic, VB.NET, C/C++, C#, Java, and MATLAB
• | Used and vastly improved my ability to obtain information from online communication as the project being documented had been developed entirely overseas |
• | Honed my skills for reading and understanding programming code |
• | Acquired knowledge about optimization programming and optimization of business processes |
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2003 to 2004
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SENIOR TECHNICAL WRITER
MINA Inc., BG office of BATM and Telco Systems
Israeli manufacturer of network devices
www.batm.com
Wrote end-user manuals, installation guides, and application notes targeted at system administrators. Co-planned documentation projects and supervised the local technical writing team (me and two subordinates) and coordinated work with the overseas team (located in Israel). (See also the recommendation from Itzik Ashkenazi.)
• | Gained project management experience in corporate environment |
• | Created a system for single-sourcing the company's huge documentation output using MS Word and WebWorks Publisher. This reduced the amount of work needed to maintain and edit documentation by more than 1/3. |
• | Acquired knowledge of network technologies |
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2002 to 2003
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CONTRACT TECHNICAL WRITER
Applicata Inc.
Bulgarian company, ISO9001 certified, specializing in computer telephony
www.applicata.bg
Developed online help for a custom programming environment in Tcl and for a commercial procurement system. (See also the recommendations from Daniele Indaco and Ivan Bakardzhiev.)
• | Gained project management experience |
• | Developed skills for quickly understanding new and complex technical subject matter |
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2000 to 2001
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TECHNICAL WRITER AND HELP SYSTEMS DEVELOPER
SoftFactory Belgium-Bulgaria Inc.
Joint-stock software developer,
now out of business
Developed end-user online documentation for several web-based projects targeted at the EU market, including one knowledge management system.
• | Gained hands-on experience with using English as the means of communication in an international environment of non-native English speakers – potentially beneficial for documenting international versions of a product and for writing in a “simple” manner with high readability scores |
• | Got expertise and functional knowledge of knowledge management concepts |
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1998 to 1999
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TECHNICAL WRITER AND HELP SYSTEMS DEVELOPER
Brolin Software
American corporate software developer with Sofia-based development team,
www.brolin.net
Developed end-user documentation for several software products targeted at the US corporate market.
The clients were mainly in the area of commercial real-estate management including some of the industry “top dogs” like CB – Richard Ellis, the world’s biggest real estate company. The documentation comprised both written manuals and online help systems.
• | Developed and mastered the interpersonal and interviewing skills necessary to retrieve the needed technical/end-user information from the programmers/managers in an efficient and time-saving manner |
• | Acquired skills for understanding the needs of highly specialized markets |
• | Got experience with the specific teamwork and communication aspects of outsourced teams |
• | Became accustomed to fitting the documenting process into urgent project schedules with tight deadlines |
• | Self-studied and mastered the main job-specific software tools (MS HTML Workshop, RoboHELP and a bunch of others) and some HTML |
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2015
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CRYPTOGRAPHY I
Stanford University
Six-week online course delivered by Coursera.org. Certificate…
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2014
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Model Thinking
University of Michigan
Ten-week online course delivered by Coursera.org. Certificate…
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2013
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Information Mapping Foundation
Information Mapping International
An online course in the IM structured writing methodology. Certificate…
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1994-1995
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MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING (Post-Graduate Degree)
Technical University - Sofia
• | Empowered me to consider every product and interaction from both business (management) and end-user (marketing) perspectives |
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1983-1989
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PHILOLOGY (Master Degree)
St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia
Majors in linguistics and English language. Specialization in computational linguistics. Graduation paper: “The PE-2 Text Editor and Its Programming Language. An Assessment From a Linguistic Viewpoint.”
• | Taught me efficient and effective use of language |
• | Gave me an early perspective on the problem of usability and effectiveness of computer software |
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technical writing, technical writer, documentation specialist, end-user documentation, online help, technical support, documentation management, information management, information design, information developer, information architect, technical communicator, technical communications, business analyst, user assistance, technical publications
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Other Languages
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Itallian (Livello B1), Russian, Bulgarian
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My LinkedIn Profile
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http://bg.linkedin.com/in/petkom/
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Interests
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philosophy, economics, political science
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Hobbies
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book editing, humanitarian studies:
• | editor of the Bulgarian language edition of For the New Intellectual and The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand |
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Favorite Quote
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“When I am king, anyone using the word ‘overqualified’ will be executed.”
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