Résumé and Professional Biography
- Professional Résumé (PDF)
- Biography (PDF)
A web page version of the résumé appears below:
Profile
- Over 20 years of experience creating accurate yet engaging audience-focused technical documentation—user guides, technical specifications, web copy, press releases, award applications, and more.
- Collaborating with technical specialists, I bridge the worlds of subject matter experts and end-users.
- Known as go-to person for planning and designing documentation standards—I employ state-of-art software tools to build templates, writing style guides, and more.
- I produce training based on clear objectives, relevant lesson plans, and assessment tools in step with learning needs.
Experience
Technical Writer
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories 2021 – present
Technical Writer
- Developed assessment tool for reviewing policy and procedural documents in electronic document/records management system (EDRMS), which holds documents for diverse internal departments including waste management, health and safety, security, building decommissioning, and environmental remediation.
- Researched and wrote a series of articles designed to improve the quality of technical documents throughout the company.
- Project managed revisions across a large number of procedural documents to ensure consistency.
- Developed estimation tool enabling fast and accurate editorial reviews of technical documents.
- Note: Granted Government of Canada Enhanced Reliability Clearance for this position.
British Columbia Lottery Corporation 2021
Technical Writer
- Interviewed systems engineers, sysadmins, QA analysts on the Platform Enablement Cloud Automation (PECA) team to design an operations guide describing enterprise data centre operations/infrastructure, AWS cloud operations, Jenkins jobs, domains, high availability, ITIL frameworks, automation scripting/orchestration, and more.
- Provided audience-focused technical writing services aligned with corporate training initiatives.
- Wrote API procedural documentation for SAP Finance application.
- Verified user documentation against business logic.
Software: Confluence, Jira, SAP GUI, SAP Fiori, MS Teams, Snagit Editor
Insurance Corporation of British Columbia 2018 – 2020
Procedures Analyst
- Interviewed business policy analysts, legal specialists, freedom of information specialists, and other subject matter experts to write procedure and policy content for various new ICBC Claims implementations, including the new driver-based vehicle insurance model, car sharing/ride hailing, new collision and glass repair programs, rate affordability action plan, and health services business partners.
- Deliverables designed to ensure user readiness for province-wide rollouts to ICBC’s internal departments and over 900 independent insurance brokers.
Tools and technologies used: Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), Oxygen XML Editor, XML, Information Mapping methodology, Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, and Microsoft Office.
British Columbia Institute of Technology 2007–2019
Technical Writing Instructor
- Classroom experience as core instructor for the Technical Writing Certification Program.
- Employing learning objectives and ADDIE model to develop courseware.
- Analysing learner needs, designing lesson plans, developing learning assessments and evaluation tools according to criteria and rubrics.
- Implementing blended learning (instructor-led training (ILT) and computer-based training (CBT)), and evaluating effectiveness of learning against learning objectives and criteria.
- Courses taught: Technical Writing Style, Technical Editing and Grammar, Writing for the Web, Business Communications.
“I felt challenged in Jason’s class and I credit him with helping me to develop the level of organization and precision I needed to succeed as a technical writer. He is an inspiring educator, and I look forward to encountering him in future courses.”
— Helen Dudley, BCIT student
WorkSafeBC 2009 & 2018
Adult Education Consultant
- Wrote and revised enterprise Claims Management System manuals for province-wide software roll-out. Coordinated and prepared training document updates.
- Consulted with subject matter experts and tested training procedures to verify training data accuracy.
“Jason came in near the end of the project but quickly learned the software and was productive in a very short time. The material he produced was well thought out and explained the workflow logically and clearly. I’d recommend Jason for his exceptional teaching and writing skills, his ease with people, and his creativity. It’s rare to find all these strengths in one person. Jason has them all!”
— Maureen Kulak, Business Analyst
British Columbia Lottery Corporation 2016–2017
Technical Writer
- Engaged with project managers, developers, engineers, and training subject matter experts to identify audience and scope of documentation for process guides, SDKs, field technician guides, technical specifications, GUI review of user messages and more.
- Designed B2B documentation solution out of complex and technical internal source materials.
- Strategized partner documentation solution by developing new templates, style guides, and other tools to establish clear brand standards for all materials by diverse content developers.
“Yesterday in our working sessions with our inter-provincial customer, they complimented the product Document Suite. Not only are they starting to realise what a powerful set of documents it is for them, but they also said it presented a really professional image for our product – in fact, they asked if our actual product was as mature as we’re making it look. Great work!”
— Jon Chapman CEng PMP, Project Manager, BCLC
BC Renal Agency 2014–2016
Instructional Designer/Technical Writer
- Developed single-sourced knowledge base content to ensure consistent IT documentation.
- Implemented ADDIE training plans for instructor-led training (ILT) and computer-based training (CBT)
- Developed style guides, templates, branding guidelines, and standardized documentation tools.
- Develop strategic approach to increase effectiveness of communication between IT content and healthcare audience.
“Jason is able to bridge the worlds of IT and healthcare, crafting messaging about clinical information systems that is clear and easy-to-understand for a range of care providers, from administrators to front-line staff.”
—Gloria Freeborn, Director of Strategic Organizational Development, BC Renal Agency, 2016
Webtech Wireless 2011–2014
Technical Marketing Writer
- Developed marketing and web-based technical content, including hardware/software installation and end-user training guides for sales staff and on-site technicians.
- Researched and published marketing content on wireless GPS solutions for fleet management for diverse industries including transport, oil and gas, public works.
- Content editor responsible for proofreading, restructuring and adapting writing from subject matter experts (subject matter experts, Sales staff).
- Oversaw third-party service providers (translation, graphic design, printing, videography, SEO)
- Leveraged knowledge of HTML, CSS, and XML to create and measure SEO-friendly web content (keywords, landing pages, campaigns).
- Wrote the award application that won company its first-ever technology award.
“We have been making great software, but now with this award, we can call it award-winning software.”
— Scott Edmonds, CEO and President, 2012
Selected Work Experience Prior to 2011
- Technical Writer Clients included: Business Objects / SAP, Westech Information Technology, ACL Software, Alea Software, and Epic Data
- Instructor Clients included: Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Health Canada, and CDI Learning, Polar Bear Software Company, St. George’s School, Crofton House School
- Instructional Designer Clients included: Future Shop /Best Buy Canada, Fincentric Corporation
- Web Designer/Content Specialist Clients included: Turning Point Ensemble, Vancouver Men’s Chorus, Mop n’ Mow, and various individual professional sites
Selected Software Skills*
- Writing/Publishing Adobe Acrobat Pro, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, MS Word
- Graphic Design Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, MS Visio
- Web Content Design Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS Edit, WordPress
- LMS/eLearning Madcap Flare, Adobe Captivate, Desire2Learn, Doc-to-Help, Moodle
*For a complete list of software skills, please request my Software Skill Matrix
Professional Development and Education
- French Studies Alliance Française / Centre Culturel Francophone de Vancouver (2010–2018)
- Designing and Writing Online Help with Madcap Flare British Columbia Institute of Technology (2017)
- Grant and Proposal Writing British Columbia Institute of Technology (2016)
- Web Marketing British Columbia Institute of Technology (2014)
- Business Analysis and Systems Design British Columbia Institute of Technology (2013)
- Instructional Design (Provincial Instructor Diploma Certification) Vancouver Community College (2011)
- PHP Web Programming British Columbia Institute of Technology (2009)
- Agile Methodologies Langevin Learning (2008)
- Technical Writing Simon Fraser University (2001)
- Post-Graduate Music Studies Banff Centre for the Arts (1991)
- Bachelor of Music in Performance University of Toronto (1987)
Security Clearance
- Province of British Columbia – GPEB 2016
- Government of Canada – Public Works 2018
Writing Samples**
- Corporate Success Story Testing the Limits
- Fleet Logistics Cargo Temperature Monitoring Helps Reduce Hunger
- Technology Award Case Study Troyer Ventures: Wireless Technologies Help Fleets Stay Competitive
- Community & Environment Growing communities with community gardens
- Arts & Culture “11” Questions for Ghosts of Wars Past
- Just for Fun On the First Day: The Importance of Planning
**Due to the proprietary nature of most technical documents, I can provide printed samples of selected works in person only.