Resume for Rob Hernlund

1405 East 18th Street, Georgetown, TX 78626

Home: (512) 869-1679

Cell:(512) 577-2112

Email:

Objective

I am a freelance technical writer, technical trainer, and web publisher serving the software development industry in Central Texas.

Summary of Skills

I have the following attributes and experiences in relation to the duties of a Technical Writer, Course Developer, Technical Trainer, and Web Publisher:

  • Seven years experience as a Technical Writer and Web Publisher for the software development teams at Tellabs, Tivoli, Broadwing, and General Bandwidth.
  • Five years experience as a Technical Trainer and Course Developer for Tellabs.
  • Five years experience as a Test Support Engineer for Tellabs.
  • Familiar with all aspects of document creation, maintenance, and control systems.
  • Excellent organizational skills. Able to quickly gather, organize, and publish complex information in well organized, user friendly formats.
  • Strong project management skills though direct experience at Tellabs, Tivoli, and Broadwing.
  • Able to remain calm, focused, productive, and friendly under deadline pressures through formal training in stress management.

Tools and Concepts

I have direct experience working with the following tools and concepts:

  • FrameMaker: 7 yrs.
  • RoboHelp: 2 yrs.
  • Madcap Flare: 6 mos.
  • Acrobat: 7 yrs.
  • Visio: 5 yrs.
  • Microsoft Office Suite: 10 yrs.
  • Windows NT, XP, Office 2000: 5 yrs.
  • Microsoft FrontPage: 7 yrs.
  • UNIX User: 7 yrs.
  • Lotus Notes: 2 yrs.
  • Digital Imaging Programs: 7 yrs.
  • FTP Programs: 10 yrs.

Recent Projects

This year I made a definite switch to freelance work as a contractor. The following projects are listed with the most recent project first. All the following projects were completed during the last six months.

Client / Description / Duration / Rate / Tools Used / Status
Mi8 Corporation / Develop Microsoft help files for Version 3.0 of Q Administrator. Provide on site training for MadCap Flare. / 120 hrs / $30 hr / Madcap Flare
Snagit
OpenOffice
WS_FTP / Completed project on-time and included onsite training.
Sapling Systems / Create help files for Instructors, Students, and Authors of Sapling Systems courseware. Create help portal for customer support operations. / 240 hrs / $30 hr / RoboHelp
Snagit
MS Word
WS_FTP / Project completed ahead of schedule with additional duties assigned and completed.
NewsStand / Create user documentation for the NewsStand Content Management tools for tagging, proofing, user administration, book acceptance, etc. Manage content of the Wiki online database used by NewsStand as help documentation. / 280 hrs / $30 hr / MS Word
Adobe Acrobat
WS_FTP / Completed all tasks assigned on-time. Still on-call occasionally for updates to guides.

Work History

Publisher: August 2002 to May 2006

The Inner Vision Foundation: Founder and President
Responsibilities: I am the founder and president of the Inner Vision Foundation. I designed, built, and published the Inner Vision Web Site. My duties included maintaining, updating, and advertising the web site. I also wrote, published, and marketed eBooks for the Inner Vision Foundation.

Reason for Leaving: I am still the president of the Inner Vision Foundation, and I do periodic work with it in my spare time. This is a spiritual organization that I do to help people with health problems. Money is not the objective.

Skills Obtained: The online publishing work I did for the Inner Vision Foundation allowed me to maintain current experience with the latest web publishing and marketing tools.

Technical Writer: January 2001 to August 2002

General Bandwidth: Permanent: $70K annual.

Reason for Leaving: General layoff. I was one of the last two technical writers let go after a series of layoffs.

Responsibilities: Created software installation guides, software administration guides, traffic management guides, and troubleshooting guides for General Bandwidth products. Maintained lab equipment for the Information Development team.

Skills Obtained: This job gave me direct experience in a fast-paced development environment, and gave me in-depth experience with advanced FrameMaker concepts. It also gave me 18 months additional experience producing technical documentation for a software support team.

Technical Writer / Project Manager: September 2000 to January 2001

Broadwing: Contract: $38 hr.

Reason for Leaving: Completed contract.

Responsibilities:

  • Served as project manager for development of the Broadwing project administration web site.
  • Developed deliverables for various stages of the Broadwing project management methodology including scope definition, functional design requirements, and training documentation.
  • Designed document templates needed to support the project management methodology at Broadwing.

Skills Obtained: This contract gave me six months experience as a project manager in a fast-paced development environment. This job enabled me to demonstrate a strong sense of project urgency, and to gain experience as a project manager.

Technical Writer / HTML Specialist: September 1999 to September 2000

Texas Rehabilitation Commission: Contract: $35 hr.

Reason for Leaving: Completed contract.

Responsibilities:

  • Served as an on-site consultant to help create a web site for the Texas Rehab policy manuals.
  • Provided solutions to problems with HTML files as they arose.
  • Created and maintained online help files using RoboHelp.
  • Revised and maintained online documents using FrontPage98.
  • Maintained revision history logs.

Skills Obtained: This position gave be direct experience creating heavily-illustrated, easy-to-follow, user-friendly, and easily-available online material. The policy manuals I created and maintained were all required to meet stringent state requirements for usability.

Technical Writer: May 1998 to August 1999

Tivoli Systems: Contract: $38 hr.

Reason for Leaving: Completed contract.

Responsibilities:

  • Served as web administrator for the Internationalization Department.
  • Served as publisher for a comprehensive web site on the subject of software internationalization using FrontPage98 and some PERL scripting.
  • Created a 50-page Project Handover Document for the Level 3 Support Team using Word97.
  • Updated and maintained the Tivoli International Glossary using FrameMaker (UNIX Version).

Skills Obtained: The Tivoli development environment gave me extensive experience with multimedia publishing for a development team. I received input from a wide variety of sources, and published it in a wide variety of formats, including Word, PDF, and HTML This opportunity also gave me valuable knowledge of the processes involving software internationalization and localization. Finally, this position gave me 18 months additional experience with source control systems.

Test Support Engineer: 1991 to Jan 1998
Tellabs: Permanent: $57K annual.

Reason for Leaving: Career transition from test engineering to technical writing.

Responsibilities:

  • Published functional test plans, hardware documents, and software conformance documents.
  • Assured proper performance and quality of the test software, hardware, firmware, and documentation used to test Tellabs data networking products.
  • Provided test engineering support for data networking products.
  • Used LabWindows to debug functional test procedures.
  • Served as ISO 9000 Internal Auditor.

Skills Obtained: My duties as a test support engineer gave me 7 years of experience creating user-friendly technical documentation to meet ISO 9000 requirements. This included illustrations of test sets, detailed technical information, and comprehensive, user-friendly procedures.

Senior Technical Trainer—1985 to 1991

Tellabs

Responsibilities:

  • Developed training programs for electronics technicians and engineers.
  • Used Ventura Publisher to create 12 core courses for technicians and engineers.
  • Served as editor for a team of 5 technical trainers.
  • Served as facilitator for the Process Perfection Teams at Tellabs (500 employees total).

Skills Obtained: This position gave me 5 years of experience using a wide variety of publishing tools to create user-friendly training manuals in a variety of formats, including laboratory, self-study, and lecture formats. This job gave me five years experience using Corel Draw, Ventura Publisher, FrameMaker, PageMaker, and Illustrator.

Quality Assurance Supervisor and Source Inspection Coordinator—1982 to 1985

Tellabs

Responsibilities:

  • Served as the Audit Coordinator for Tellabs customers. I greeted the Bellcore, ATT, and Department of Defense inspectors when they came to the facility to inspect Tellabs products. I assisted them in all technical aspects of their work. It was my duty to formally oversee troubleshooting actions in response to their audit reports, and to respond to their reports on behalf of Tellabs.
  • Developed tests to assure compliance to customer specifications.
  • Maintained and published customer documentation.
  • Supervised personnel and budget for the Final Audit Department.

Skills Obtained: While in this position, I received formal training as a supervisor through short courses at the University of Texas and Action Management Associates. This position also gave me experience as a customer representative between a manufacturing plant and regulatory auditors.

Electronics Technician--1977 to 1982
Texas Instruments: Permanent: $7.56 hr.

Reason for Leaving: Better job offer from Tellabs.

Responsibilities: Performed diagnostics test and repair of computer systems. Provided support to the engineering department as needed.
Skills Obtained: This position gave me experience interfacing with an engineering team. This position also deepened my knowledge of computer related concepts.

Completed Education

Durham's College, Austin TX: Digital Electronics Technology, Graduated 1977

(This is a two year technical degree)

Current Certifications

Hypnotherapy: American Board of Hypnotherapy, Certified March 2003

National Guild of Hypnotists, Certified July 2003

Regression Therapy:New England School of Hypnotherapy, Certified March 2003

Education in Progress

I am working on a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. With a strong technical education in my background, I am now focusing on human behavior studies.

References and Writing Samples

References will be provided upon request. Writing samples can be viewed at

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