Technical Expertise

20 years of experience in software support, design, development, and analysis.

Significant interface design input on productivity applications at Microsoft and Apple.

Specialization in identifying usability issues at the specification stage.

Professional Experience

Publicis in the West – User Experience Analyst, Seattle, WA (03/07—06/11)

Provide usability analysis and guidance regarding interaction design in digital ads and marketing websites for one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Provide detailed demographic analyses of site audiences to inform site content and functional strategy. Provide quality assurance for all web and mobile projects.

Provided detailed human factors and usability guidelines for design of touchscreen kiosks for use in T-Mobile retail stores.

Provided design specifications for standardized web site templates to improve SEO, site searchability and maintenance. Oversee SEO-related content strategy.

Apple Computer – Software Test Engineer, Cupertino, CA (11/05—02/06)

Contractor on the QA team testing Apple’s Keynote presentation, working under extreme time pressure to triage and test all areas to have product ready for release to manufacturing.

Successfully argued for improvements in Keynote image editing. These improvements have been adopted across all iWork and iLife apps.

T-Mobile Corporation – Technical Writer II, Bellevue, WA (2005)

Authored training and support documentation for the pilot phase of a new telephony project. Identified several product specification deficiencies, reducing adverse consequences for the project.

Microsoft Corporation – Software Test Engineer, Redmond, WA (12/00—02/04)

Designed and performed all test activities relating to key features of Office X and Office 2004 for Macintosh, including a compatibility reporting and repair feature, a completely updated document formatting palette, and a suite of lightweight project management tools for the entire Office application suite.

Responding to the threat of Apple’s Keynote presentation software, in concert with an Office product strategist, wrote and presented a detailed technical analysis of Keynote’s user interface and user experience innovations. Successfully argued for specific changes in the Office suite to meet Apple’s challenge.

Worked with product planners, project managers and Marketing, Usability and Test groups to define performance and compatibility standards for the Office product suite. Led QA teams for cross-platform and third-party compatibility and typography testing. Worked closely with Office PMs to develop and extend specifications for Office document formatting features, cross-platform compatibility, and Unicode support.

Successfully argued for significant changes in the proposed project and compatibility management interfaces in Mac Office.

Microsoft Corporation – Technical Writer II, Redmond, WA (12/99—12/00)

Created over 40% of new Core content for the Office Resource Kit for Mac Office 2001. Produced and edited help topics and end-user documentation for use in Mac Office X help system.

Edmark Corporation – Sr. Macintosh Support Engineer, Redmond, WA (1/96—12/99)

Provided Tier I through Tier III technical support and technical documentation for Edmark’s portfolio of K-12 educational software, including titles from IBM, Crayola, and WorldBook. Acted as customer advocate for usability and user interface issues during product design.

Coordinated all USB-related issues and specifications related to the introduction of USB connectivity in the Apple iMac. Assisted in the adaptation of Edmark’s popular touch-screen products to work with USB-equipped computers.

Technical liaison to external hardware vendors of USB adapter products. Led Edmark’s beta testing of third-party USB adapters. Wrote technical specs and installation manual for Edmark’s USB touch-screen bundle.

Created alternate site designs and architectures for the Edmark technical support web site to improve usability and to provide automated diagnostic and customer data capture.

Education & Associations

Seattle Central Community College, 2004—2006

A.A. in Computer Science. GPA over 3.66. Focus on user interface design, systems analysis and Web technologies. Study areas included Java, PHP/MySQL, XHTML/CSS, JavaScript, XML, and systems analysis Additional coursework in legal issues relating to software, copyright and Internet usage. Capstone project – design and implementation of an online technical bookstore using Amazon APIs.

Microsoft Technical Education, 2000—2004

Approximately 140 hours of class time aimed at fostering essential skills for software project managers, including: effective spec writing, communication & negotiation skills, resource prioritization in software development, cross-group management, critical thinking, product research methodologies, evaluation of software design for usability, and designing software for international market.

West Georgia College, 1976—1979

Over 100 quarter hours of coursework toward a degree in clinical psychology, including work in perceptual psychology, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, statistics, and psychological testing.

Member, Association for Computing Machinery SIGCHI

Prior Experience

12-year career as electro-mechanical and electro-optical technician, working for Silicon Valley companies including Spectra-Physics, Amdahl, IBM, and Fairchild Semiconductor.