Anne Works and Works and Works

I am a technical writer, usability specialist, and occasional web page creator who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

I'm currently working as an independent contractor on several projects, including writing documentation for eiVia.

My last job was at Cassatt Corporation, (formerly known as Unlimited Scale, Inc.), where I documented a Linux-based operating system for high-performance technical computing environments, as well as tools for autonomic computing (automated system administration) of clustered systems for the enterprise environment.

For fun, I design and implement web pages. My goal is simple, low-bandwidth web sites that are easy to navigate. (And, as I do this in my spare time, easy to implement as well.) Currently, I'm working on a web site for Craig Randal Johnson, a local musician.

I was also the editor and a co-author of The Web Server Handbook, published by Prentice Hall in August, 1996. The book has gotten good reviews and once sold quite well. A recent reviewer mentioned that it has aged especially gracefully compared to most Internet publications.

• e.Intelligence, Inc., a provider of business intelligence software and database analysis tools. I was the publications department in this exciting start-up company. A little too exciting, as it turned out – the high-tech recession caught up with us. But e.Intelligence has transformed itself into eiVia, which produces complex business performance management tools.
• Sterling Software (known as Information Advantage when I joined them, then as Computer Associates shortly after I left).
  As a senior technical writer, I wrote API documentation and online help with a small team of writers.
• Instrumental, Inc.
  I wrote documentation for a high-performance UNIX file system, performance monitoring software, and various performance-improvement projects (such as a tuning guide for RAID devices on a Sun system). I was the company's lone tech writer, with an occasional contractor to help out on time-critical manuals.
• Guidant
  I worked as a contractor to help develop content for their local Intranet. (My contract was through Sysdyne Corporation, a firm for professional technical contractors.)
• XOX Corporation
  As their only technical writer, I worked on documentation for their 3D geometrical modeling software, SHAPES.
• Unimax
  I worked on a short-term contract to update an administrator guide for telephony software.
• Cray Research/Silicon Graphics, Inc.
  As a technical writer and then a senior technical writer, I wrote administrator, tuning, and internals documentation for the UNICOS and UNICOS/mk operating systems.
• Digigraphic Systems
  As a junior technical writer, I documented their video conferencing software. (This company no longer exists, but a subsidiary, Digi Board, has since metamorphosed into Digi International.)

Want to learn more about technical writers? Take a look at these useful links:

• What does a technical author do? by Wise Words Information Solutions Ltd
• Finding the Right Technical Writer by Kendall V. Scott
• You Don't Need a Map If You Know Where You're Going by Allen Yale Harris
• useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website
• The Official TECHWR-L – Discussion group for technical writers

And finally, some humor for the weary job hunter or employer:

• The Strunkenwhite Pluperfect Virus
• Totally Useless Office Skills
• Fry's Employment Application