Resume of Bill Nigh Technical Writer, Copy Editor, Interviewer, SQL Tutor, Course Developer and Trainer Well-rounded and personable IT professional with exceptional communication and user acceptance-related skills. Content designer and creator. Author of user documentation, help features in various formats, training material, functional and technical specs. Contributor to Wikis. Creator of product videos. Quick study, eminently flexible, adept at building successful business relationships and meeting deliverables. bill(dash)nigh(at)cdeis(dot)com November 2007 - July 2009 Bluenog Corp, Piscataway NJ Technical Writer Created over 1600 pages of documentation, including programmer reference, user guides, quick start guides for evaluation; critical to success due to sparse nature of open source documentation Contributed to and proofread promotional literature; created sample data and CMS content types Did informal QA while learning apps for documentation, helping team catch errors in timely fashion Did training of new sales and technical employees Championed and maintained a corporate Glossary of buzzwords for sales and non technical staff Worked with Photoshop, Camtasia Studio, Google Docs, MediaWiki, Powerpoint, Confluence and Dreamweaver Created Youtube videos product demonstrations, with voiceover, zoom, transitions, and callouts November 2006 - October 2007 Policesoftware.com, Manalapan NJ Contract Technical Writer and Programmer Provided strategic and product guidance to Director Did QA and documentation of software products Enhanced business rules enforcement in non-visual objects Enhanced flexibility of applications with client-specific customization Provided candid feedback to client regarding user interface, design philosophy, and customer service practices Architected new version of company website and created content Worked with PowerBuilder 10 and 11, PFC, custom class library, SQL, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft Word, and Dreamweaver Took part in product demonstrations April 2004 - October 2006 PXRE Inc, Edison NJ Contract Technical Writer and Programmer Worked with 3 other developers and in-house project manager/product architect, created new reinsurance application from scratch to help client pursue competitive edge regarding pricing for new contracts for reinsurance Clarified initially sketchy design specs using interviewing skills, understanding of how organizations work, and persistent, diplomatic follow-up Architected and implemented HTML-based help system, weaving it into custom architecture; used named anchors and object ClassName to go to relevant parts of very large help pages Documented relevant project communications in support of Sarbanes-Oxley reporting Created hundreds of pages of technical and functional specs in HTML and Word format Derived FAQ section of user help while doing QA and documenting other developers' functionality Designed authentication/authorization system, grafting custom requirements onto existing PFC security module Architected Job Scheduler service component used by many modules, as huge data sets had to be imported, exported, and processed in Oracle DBMS Maintained a sizeable Oracle schema, synchronizing ER/Studio logical and physical models with database server instance; produced reports on changes from week to week in all database objects in schema Helped debug fellow developers’ code, e.g., a mutating tables problem in several triggers Produced detailed knowledge transfer documents of my areas of responsibility, for smoother handoff to my successor Took part in peer reviews of code, architecture, database objects Worked with PowerBuilder 9, Embarcadero DBArtisan 8.0 and ER/Studio 6.6, SQL*Plus, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe Image Ready July 2003 – Feb 2004   Cendant Mortgage Services,  Moorestown NJ Contract Support Programmer Able to 'plug in' to an existing project, with aggressive timelines, to enhance mission critical applications  Worked with business analysts, DBAs and developers to ascertain requirements and enforce business rules Utilized mature OO skills to modify application built using PowerBuilder, PFC, Cornerstone and corporate class layers Created a centralized routine to enforce multiple nested business rules related to recission logic across multiple parts of the UI , thus addressing long-standing, hard-to-isolate problems Developed and implemented a method of loosely coupling datasources with software components Maintained functions in Oracle packages for mortgage status and business partner communications Worked with PowerBuilder 7, TOAD, SQL*Plus, ERWin, and WebLogic, Oracle 8 RDBMS Dec 2001 - Feb 2003 Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P),  Montvale NJ Applications Specialist Using PowerBuilder, Oracle and SQL Server, maintained and extended applications for corporate brands tracking, store maintenance operations, construction project budgeting equipment acquisition and store manager compensation using complex business rules realized in stored procedures and PowerBuilder DataWindows Able to solve several long-standing complex application problems written in PowerBuilder related to two levels of class libraries and business rules, winning back allegiance and confidence of long-suffering end-users in multiple locations; was often able to solve end users problems within a day Created new modules for feeding data from one application/database to another using a scheduled Microsoft DTS job which successfully merged data from a single source into disparate data sets, using an update based on a join Helped define queries which interrogated tables in two Oracle application schemas to help Internal Audit  staff identify changes to authorization profiles of hundreds of end-users Migrated PowerBuilder 5 application based on Cornerstone class libraries which had not been migrated for years due to fatal errors during earlier attempted migrations.  I migrated the entire app painstakingly over several months, and made it work where others had not.  Only had to 'stub out' two inconsequential methods in the entire codebase Developed a number of reports for Eight O' Clock Coffee division using complex queries  custom views, scheduled server-level processes and Oracle Reports package to track  and report on performance of several product lines; reports were deployed to application  server and available over thin client interface; Java-based app server was invoked to support functionality; had to read and change HTML code to help implement Worked on development of JSP and servlets for reporting on corporate intranet, using Visual Age for Java, later  Websphere Studio; also used Struts (I was not involved in design of custom tags--just used them) Developed and led in-house classes on Java and PL/SQL; saved organization significant cost; designed training to be relevant to fellow developers, many of whom were making transition from mainframe 'legacy' mindset Using PL/SQL, Oracle UTL_FILE package, created a process which interrogated several tables on a production system then generated HTML output to report on exceptions in important database of store transactions Designed database, including triggers and stored procedures, for a generic survey application, which  permitted free-form sets of questions and default responses to each question; this was then turned into HTML forms  by a Java app; each respondent was given a unique ID and responses to the surveys stored for later querying Researched, for a staff of 20, XML, Web Services, J2EE;  published/summarized findings on Sharepoint server Worked with: PowerBuilder versions 5.0 and 6.5 Cornerstone, A&P corporate, and PFC class libraries Oracle SQL*Plus, TOAD, Query Builder, Schema Builder, Oracle Reports, Discoverer SQL Server Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, bcp, Data Transformation Services, ASP AIX vi, awk, chmod, basic commands Java/XML javac, javadoc, Magic Draw, XML Spy Suite, Cooktop, Textpad, Visual Age for Java, some Websphere Embarcadero Rapid SQL 5.7 Cornerstone Class Library PowerTOOL Class Library Sept 1997 - Dec 2001 Independent IT/Web Contractor, Course Developer and Trainer President and Founder CDEIS, Inc. (incorporated 1999)  (2001) Taught a semester at vocational-technical junior college (Gibbs College); taught database for their programmer's curriculum; customized the instructional sequence in conformance with students' interest and ability; mentored several of the students informally, even after they had graduated (2000) Lead programmer in PowerBuilder 7/ Sybase 11.5 / Jaguar n-tier  CORBA-compliant application development team for Telecomm infrastructure firm,  using DataWindow synchronization, Powersoft Foundation Classes framework (PFC); also did end-user tutorials,  windows-based help system with RoboHelp and helped present / sell new features  to end users in meetings (2000) In conjunction with local training company, offered several months of training on Oracle, PL/SQL, AIX, Oracle Forms and Reports to management and employees of A&P, who were undergoing mission-critical transition from mainframe environment to several Oracle-based applications such as Retek; very well received; was called a 'hero' for my efforts; many employees were long-time mainframers who had not thought in client/server mindset before (1999-2000) Designed several Web sites for small businesses, using NetObjects Fusion, Javascript, HTML, Net Studio, other tools ; created content  (verbiage, custom banners) as well as navigation and pages (1998) Lead programmer in migrating AREV-based HR system for Chase Mellon Shareholder Services to ADP HRizon application, on SQL Server database back-end; created a number of custom AREV scripts to automate, ease and document the migration (1997-1999) Designed and authored, using PowerBuilder 6.0 and Microsoft SQL  Server 6.5, a multi-lingual, object-oriented, modularized, and rules-based  prototype for facilities management Documented design with ERwin entity-relationship diagrams, UML sequence and interaction diagrams Architected application to enforce user-defined business rules for validation of input Created my own non-visual objects for services architecture, and complete class libraries for multi-lingual, rules-based, customer-responsive architecture Rich right-click functionality allowed administrator users to add to support tables while within the context of the application subject area, rather than having to constantly go to a separate 'maintenance' area of the app Solved how to provide multiple languages in all text objects, command buttons, DataWindow columns/labels (1997-1998) Authored and taught very successful Transact-SQL course, offered three times over two years, on Sybase  Adaptive Server 11.5 to analysts working for leading Financial house in Manhattan; users were acquainted with introductory and intermediate queries, as well as isql batches using queries and host variables (1997-2001)Working as contractor for Chubb Institute, Chubb CTD/PSD and Chubb's "Top Gun" taught Oracle, SQL, Sybase, Javascript, Dynamic HTML, HTML,  PowerBuilder, RDBMS, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, Distributed Application Development, others; provided approximately 3000 person-days of instruction in at least 10 locations Mar 1996 - Sept 1997 Modis at the time Actium, formerly ITI (HQ in Conshohocken PA),  Liberty Corner, NJ Senior Staff Consultant Worked on forecasting, sales and cost accounting apps for 3 large consumer products/pharmaceuticals companies Used stored procedures and custom Powerbuilder objects to address complex reporting needs Also did user and technical documentation, training material and technology transfer to client staff Designed and delivered internal classes on PowerBuilder and Object Orientation; while prepping for PowerBuilder Certification, 'paid it forward' by sharing with teammates what I was learning using short, efficient presentations to promote knowledge transfer Worked with PowerBuilder 4.0 and 5.0, Microsoft SQL Server 4.2 and 6.0, and Oracle 7.3 Sept 1987 - Mar 1996 Cogent Information Systems (later IDEAS International),  Livingston, NJ Programmer / Course Developer / Trainer Developed over 20 technical courses, of average 3 day duration (SQL, Revelation and AREV) Worked with users and programmers within an international client base representing almost all of the big Oil and Gas companies in the world, using an accounting package originally written by Price Waterhouse Created and customized flat file applications, typically at departmental  level, often HRIS apps Created and delivered several presentations at international conferences (AREV and IDEAS) Authored several articles for technical journals in AREV and PowerBuilder communities Education BA, History, Rutgers University MA, International Relations, University of Southern California (cum laude) Certificate, Systems Management, University of Maryland ( 9 credits )