Examples of Work

I am a Liberal Arts guy who has followed a technical career path, starting with end user (punched cards and mainframes), through end user trainer, then trainer of programmers, then programmer, then consultant, then entrepreneur, startup fan, and independent contractor. I may not have seen it all, but I've seen a lot.

These examples of work comprise my online portfolio, reflecting that part of my work product that is not subject to non disclosure constraints.

I have created a lot of content of various types, such as Wikis, videos, press releases, web pages, help files, various types of documentation, CMS data, magazine articles, and support material for courses, in addition to writing program code.

I pride myself on my ability to communicate to diverse audiences; I have spoken at seven vendor and user group conferences during my career, as an employee of Abbott Institute and Cogent Information Systems during the late 1980's and the 1990's, on end-user, administrator, and developer topics, using presentations I wrote.

As an instructor for many years, I developed proficiency in AREV, Powerbuilder, HTML, Sybase, Unix (AIX) and Oracle, for employer Cogent Information Systems, then later for various clients as a contractor, mainly Chubb and Data Quest. In addition, I did more end-user oriented courses like Multimate, Displaywrite, Lotus 1-2-3, Crosstalk, Multiplan, Harvard Graphics, dBase, Wang, 'Introduction to Computers', 'DOS', 'Creating web sites' and others, for Abbott Institute, Essex County College, Raritan Valley College, and others.  I long ago took to writing short notes and handouts for students, in order to reinforce a novel concept or powerful feature we had seen that class day. A representative selection of this content is provided here.

Having done lots of course material in my life, and having offered a slew of custom and customizable courses, I long ago recognized the usefulness of capturing an actual real life situation in a tutorial/slide show, since it has a coherence, a narrative backbone, and a built-in progression, as we document and explore the search for a solution to a system design requirement. Capturing what you are doing as you go through it, which I do when I build tutorials, also gives me as the author/instructor a lot of consolidation of learning in the early phases of addressing a new knowledge domain/requirement. Finally, the use of a narrative provides informative, isolatable reading material which can 'stand alone' as a training resource. I provide tips on CDEIS.COM about various topics, to give evidence of my written style, and depth of technical understanding.

Product Demonstration Videos
While working as a tech writer for savvy startup Bluenog, I had occasion to also help create videos that serve as demos. They are found here.

Technical Tip Examples
PowerBuilder tips
Oracle tips
Miscellaneous tips
Click here for (a few) examples of course materials and curricula I authored over the years

Twitter Content
I have an affinity for Twitter, and the 140 character limit does not constrain me, while I recognize that Twitter has its proper limited place in the Social Media milieu. See sample tweets here and here.

Technical Document Examples
I provide below links to sets of screen shots of some user documentation I have authored over the years, to give some sense of the detail and quality of the work, and its easy style. It is fragmentary, but representative; if interested in more examples, or more complete examples, by all means let me know. As you might have gathered, I have done a LOT of these type documents, but non-disclosure agreements have limited what I was able to retain and offer as examples.

Pharmaceutical Company Employee Training and Train-the-Trainer
Police Dispatch System User Guide

Technical Articles
These articles are from the early days, and are cited merely to document the assertion that I am a published writer of long standing, and to show some samples of my written work.  My liberal arts background has given me the ability to capitalize on my mature communications skills in service to my IT career, applied to the benefit of my clients and employers over the years.