CAREER SUMMARY

Specialist in online documentation development and efficient publishing processes. 15+ years as a technical publications application developer, overlapping with 8 years as a technical writer of user and developer documentation. Extensive design experience gives me the ability to creatively solve unique problems on short notice. Specialties include custom web application development, online document interface design, and authoring productivity enhancements. Adept at creating innovative solutions that facilitate content localization into many languages.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

» Leximation, Inc. (formerly, Scott Prentice Consulting) - San Rafael, CA -- Feb. 2004 to present

Founder and President – Develop tools and solutions to increase the efficiency of authoring and publishing processes. For additional information and services, visit www.leximation.com, for partial list of clients see www.leximation.com/clients.php.

Developed numerous custom FrameMaker plugins to solve clients' needs. In particular, the core plugin bundled into the Adobe DITA Application Pack (related links: ad from STC's Telecom magazine, Adobe Labs site to download the DITA App Pack).

Developed processes and scripts to migrate unstructured FrameMaker content into XML, then into the WorldServer CMS environment (Idiom, Inc.). Provided input to XSLT developers to achieve correct output for HTML Help and PDF transformations. Modified Ant build scripts to work properly in the WorldServer environment. Developed custom FrameMaker plugins for easier conversion by client.

Developed clients' web sites and web applications.

» Autodesk, Inc. - San Rafael, CA -- Aug. 1991 to Feb. 2004

TechPubs Tools Developer (1993-2004) - Developed and maintained applications and processes that enabled employees to complete their tasks more efficiently. These applications are used throughout Autodesk publishing departments (in AutoCAD, AutoCAD Map, AutoCAD Civil, and others) for both content creation and localization into 19 languages (including, European, Eastern European, Nordic, and Asian languages). Developed the process to automatically generate AutoCAD's "3-Tab Help" (Concept, Procedure, and Reference) from FrameMaker files.

Technical Writer (1991-1999) - Worked on a wide range of user and developer documentation. Using my years of architectural and AutoCAD experience, I provided valuable, real-life examples in my documentation. To combine writing and application development, I researched and coded a number of interactive tutorials and embedded Help interfaces, some of which were used in shipping versions of AutoCAD.

» Architectural/Design Experience -- 1977 to 1991

John Falat Architect, Nahant, MA (1987-1991); CBT Architects, Inc., Boston, MA (1987-1990); Dept. of Architecture, W.S.U. (1987); Technical Services, Graphics, W.S.U. (1984-1987); Fazekas Assoc. Architects, Cupertino, CA (1984-1986); James Forgie Drafting, Lomita, CA (1982-1983); Edward Carson Beall & Assoc., Torrance, CA (1980-1981); Bergen Brunswig Corp., Carson, CA (1979-1980); Scott Allen Prentice, Design/Drafting Services (1977-1995).

COMPUTER SKILLS

» Operating Systems: Windows XP/2000/98/NT4.0/NT3.5/95, SunOS 8.5, Mac OS X, UNIX, DOS.

» Applications: AutoCAD, FrameMaker, HTML Help Workshop, MS Access, MS Excel, MS Help Workshop, MS Visual Basic, MS Visual C++, MS Visual Source Safe, MS Word, WebWorks Professional, (plus many others).

» Programming Languages/APIs: AJAX, AnswerWorks API (natural language query), AutoLISP, C, C++, Cocoa, CFM, CLucene, DITA, DHTML, DXF, FrameMaker API, Structured FrameMaker development (EDD, RW), HTML, HTML Help API, JavaScript, mSQL, MySQL, ObjectARX/ADS, Perl, PHP, PostScript, Procmail, SQL, UNIX shell scripting, Visual Basic, WebWorks macros, WinHelp API, Word Basic, XML, XSLT.

» Internet Servers/Applications/Protocols: Apache, AJAX, Cold Fusion, MS IIS, PHP/MySQL, web spiders, email (POP3), CGI, HTTP, FTP.

MEMBERSHIPS, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION

OASIS member, DITA.xml.org Editorial Board, OASIS DITA TC observer; Silicon Valley DITA Interest Group, coordinator; STC member; STC NorthBay, webmaster; Adobe FrameMaker Community Expert

STC conference (2004-2007), FrameMaker Chautauqua (2004-2006), DITA West (2007), WritersUA (WinWriters) conference, (1997-2007, presented a session in 2001); Cold Fusion class, Allaire; Advanced VB class; C, C++, and UNIX classes, U.C.Berkeley Extension; PostScript Level 1, Adobe, Inc.; UNIX System Administration, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Washington State University, Pullman, WA, Bachelor of Architecture degree
Washington State University, Pullman, WA, Architectural Science degree
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, semester abroad

SAMPLES AND REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST