Mark
Metcalfe
76 Groton Street
Pepperell, MA 01463
(978) 877-9419 • [email protected]
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Objective |
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Technical publications consultant,
or a hands-on writing manager, delivering high-value, quality documentation. |
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Skills Summary |
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§
Degree
in computer science; experience in the electronic design automation and
commercial software industries on Windows/Linux/UNIX and a variety authoring
tools. § Consistent track record of generating
award-winning best-in-class documentation. |
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Education |
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Bachelor
of Arts, Computer Science, Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, Massachusetts. Concentration in business
administration; liberal arts. |
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Software tools |
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Skilled with…
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Writing Experience and Achievements |
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Cadence Design Systems, Inc., Chelmsford, MA Technical
Writing Manager 1995-2008 § Coordinated
the planning of documentation deliverables for the PCB division, and more
recently for the Custom IC division, using HTML, SharePoint, and Wiki pages
for multiple asynchronous release schedules. §
Instituted multimedia content development at Cadence
using Adobe Captivate to animate demonstrations of software; trained staff;
developed quality standards. § Reviewed
and edited writers’ content for quality with hands-on assistance with the
writing assignments. Developed best practices and standards for content. § Created
cutting-edge technical documentation by writing initiative proposals,
strategy proposals, and white papers and obtaining agreement from senior
management. § Co-designed a
tabbed HTML online help interface with cascading style sheets (.css) to
organize better access to product information. § Co-designed
and maintained the centralized Cadence Technical Publications web site. §
Kept project teams informed by replacing static specifications
with dynamic, wiki-based project plans, resulting in concurrent communication. § Worked towards
implementing an XML/DITA/topic-based
solution for our enterprise documentation at Cadence. Developed and
standardized content types. |
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Senior Technical Writer, Cadence Printed Circuit Board
Division 1997-1999 § Developed
an interactive design flow chart enabling customers to navigate content based
on their place in the design cycle. § Created
help files with RoboHelp and FrameMaker for Cadence’s integrated circuit
package designer on Windows, UNIX, and Linux. § Selected
for time-critical assignments because of my reputation for ease with
technology, can-do attitude, and writing skills. Promoted to manager in 1999.
Senior Technical Writer, Cadence Functional Verification
Division 1995-1997 § Co-designed
and maintained the Cadence Technical Publications web site using HTML. § Structured
and updated 2000 pages of industry-leading Verilog-XL documentation. § Designed
from scratch marketing brochures, online manuals, online tutorials, references,
and context-sensitive help, resulting in customers easily accessing
information at the point of need. |
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Digital
Equipment Corporation, Nashua, NH Senior Technical Writer, Operating Systems 1992-1995 § Designed
a maintainable project from a complex 1200-page mess of conditional mark-up
code by simplifying and standardizing the organization of the content. § Reorganized
and reduced a system resource monitoring manual from 175 pages to 80,
significantly reducing production costs. § Analyzed
and recommended changes to user interface design by testing the software, resulting
in more intuitive software products. |
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Senior Technical Writer, CASE Tools 1988-1992 § Innovated
a graphic overview of software menus, saving pages and production costs. The
menu map became the standard at Digital. § Award of Distinction, Society
of Technical Communicators, Guide to
DEC/Test Manager. Senior Technical Writer, Mark-up Languages 1986-1988 § Created
the Standard Digital Mark-up Language
Tag Designer’s Guide – for developers to create HTML-like tags that
format content – employed low-level programming concepts about syntax and
string parsing, flow-charting, and graphic design. §
Created new documentation in 4 weeks (8 weeks
allotted) for the Digital Programmer’s
Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System, a library of functions to
create three-dimensional graphic images. Wang
Laboratories Inc., Lowell, MA Technical Writer, VS Operating System 1984-1986 §
Automated and facilitated many online editing tasks,
including a set of indexing tools by writing screen macros resulting in
increased productivity and operating efficiency. § Invented an online procedure for automatically merging screen images with text resulting in streamlined documentation delivery and production. |
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Employment History |
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Cadence Design Systems, Inc., 1995-2008 Director
of Publications, Custom IC Division, 2006-2008 Senior
Tech Pubs Manager, Printed Circuit Board Division, 2002-2006 Tech
Pubs Manager, Printed Circuit Board Division, 1999-2002 Senior Writer, Printed Circuit Board Division,
1997-1999 Senior Writer, Functional Verification
Division, 1995-1997 Digital Equipment Corporation, 1986-1995 Senior Writer, VMS Operating System, 1992-1995 Senior Writer, Computer-Aided Software
Engineering (CASE) Tools, 1988-1992 Technical Writer, Standard Digital
Mark-up Language (SDML), 1986-1988 Wang Laboratories, Inc., 1984-1986 Technical Writer, Wang VS Operating
System |
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