Experience
Freelance Technical Writer, Databrary Project, NYU — September 2013-present
Sole technical writer documenting Datavyu, an open source tool for video coding and data visualization, designed for behavioral psychology research. Responsible for writing the core software documentation, API documentation for a Ruby scripting API, FAQs, and a best practices guide for coding behavioral studies, as well as producing video walkthroughs of common tasks. Also responsible for configuring the documentation website and build using Sphinx.
Technical Writer, Documentation Specialist, MongoDB Inc. (formerly 10gen | The MongoDB Company) — May-September 2013
Responsible for writing and updating MongoDB’s documentation as part of a team of five technical writers. My projects primarily focus on organization and information architecture, ensuring that the documentation is structured in a logical and accessible way for users, and rewriting areas of confusion / that assume too much prior knowledge. Primary writer/editor for the MongoDB Management Service documentation. Also documented internal processes for new hires.
Bookkeeper / Administrative Assistant, WonderProxy Inc. — 2010-present
Developed documentation for internal use (database schemas, network visualizations), wrote some of the user documentation; currently responsible for content addition to the website. Also responsible for managing client communications and helping them resolve minor issues.
Communications and Development Assistant, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto — June 2012-March 2013
Writing news stories for the Faculty of Information website, producing promotional materials for iSchool events (graphic design), writing for and editing Informed, the Alumni Magazine.
Practicum Student, Fictive Kin, (remote) — May-June 2012
Project focussed on analyzing the existing architecture and design of the Gimme Bar application, as well as those of some of its competitors, and providing suggestions for how to better align the architecture of the application with its stated goals / to generally improve the use experience.
Database Assistant, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto — February-April 2012
Designed an implemented a database to store book reports students produce in the course of their Master of Science in Public Health. Populated the database, and reformatted the documents for consistency in layout and formatting. Provided instructions for the librarians to maintain the database.
Assistant Manager, Icebreaker, Montreal, QC — 2011; Sales Associate 2007-2011
Scheduling, payroll, shipping and receiving; daily / monthly cash reconciliation; training of new staff, event planning, and general retail responsibilities.
Administrative Assistant and Climate Services Intern, Environment Canada; Montreal, QC — 2008-2009
Primary responsibilities included responding to questions sent in from the general public, industry, and researchers (providing links to relevant data available online and extracting necessary datasets from Environment Canada’s various databases). Also responsible for coordinating distribution of monthly meteorological summaries (coordinating invoicing, creating the database, coordinating the mailings).
Education
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON — Master of Information Information Systems & Design path, April 2013
McGill University, Montreal, QC — Bachelor of Science in Environment Biodiversity & Conservation domain, May 2010
Skills
Programming: reStructuredText, LaTex, Sphinx, Python, PHP, XML, HTML & CSS; familiar with JAVA, Ruby. Databases: MongoDB, MySQL, MSAccess.
Version control: Git / Github
Issue tracking: Atlassian Jira and FogBugz
Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, InDesign.
IA: wireframes and rapid prototypes with Balsamiq Mockups, Lucid Chart, and Axure.
Comfortable leading participatory / human-centered design sessions, and familiar with user-centered design perspectives and usability testing.
Business analysis / documentation skills: requirement gathering, various modeling modeling notations (including BPMN, DFD, UML, and ERD). Experience writing RFPs.
Fluent in French.