Jim Snowden
14 Lydney, Hanworth, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7LQ
Mobile: 07896 301362
Tel: 01344 641334 (home, evenings only)
Email: jims@harmonyinformation.com
Work Samples: http://www.harmonyinformation.com
Key Skills
I am a skilled technical author with a wide experience of documenting complex software products
for various large and medium-sized organisations.
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Products. I have created complete documentation suites for many products (mainly databasedriven record archival, document management, financial, networking and workflow systems)
Documentation. I have written online help, quick reference cards, user, installation and
administration guides, complex programming reference and API manuals, XML scripting
reference guides, product release notes, marketing datasheets, internal IT employee
communications, knowledge base articles, tutorial videos, and detailed technical specifications
Audience. I have written documentation for a variety of readers, from occasional and novice
users through to sophisticated system administrators, implementers, and programmers
As part of my role, I have often been involved in the testing of new software releases, the design and
evaluation of user interfaces, and the development of style guides, templates, and tools to assist other
authors. I have some experience of team leading a small team of writers.
I have also designed and maintained a number of websites, both commercial sites for the companies
I have worked for and charity sites. This has required writing short ASP and SQL scripts.
Technical Expertise
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Writing tools: Adobe Technical Communications Suite 4, FrameMaker 11, FrameScript 5,
Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat 11, Arbortext ADEPTEditor (SGML) , Oxygen XML Editor 11.2
Online tools: Adobe RoboHelp 10, Help and Manual 5.3, Madcap Flare 3.1, WebWorks Publisher
Graphics tools: Paint Shop Pro, SnagIt, Adobe Captivate 6, FullShot, Camtasia, Visio
Web site tools: Microsoft Expression Web 4, Dreamweaver, SharePoint 2007, FrontPage 2003,
Microsoft IIS 5.0 to 7.0 (Windows 2000/2003/2008), Apache web server (under Linux) with SSL
Operating systems/platforms: All flavours of Windows (8/7/Vista/2000/2003/2008/XP/
NT 4,95/98/ME/3.11), OS/2, UNIX, DOS, UNICOS (Cray Research propriety UNIX), Linux
Databases: SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle
Languages: HTML, SGML, XML, JavaScript (ECMAScript), CGI scripting, ASP, Visual Basic/.NET,
COBOL, UNIX shell script, SQL, IBM’s APL
Education and Qualifications
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Elected Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Member British Computer Society (MBCS)
Elected Member - Institute of Scientific and Technical Writers (ISTC) and member of STC
Member of HTML Writers Guild
MSc - Information Systems Design (Kingston University)
BA (Hon’s) - Natural Sciences (Physics/Chemistry) - (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
‘O’ Level - 9 passes, ’A’ Level - 4 passes and ‘S’ Level - 2 passes
Jim Snowden CV (February 2015-1)
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Recent Experience
July 2010 onwards
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Release notes and installation guides (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
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System administration guide (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
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Database schema and API guides (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
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Simple tutorial videos (Adobe Captivate)
Used single sourcing to re-use information between FrameMaker and online help (RoboHelp)
Maintenance of internal Twiki pages and articles for customer support site
Part of Agile development team and involved in product testing and user interface design
Worked with teams based in USA, South America, and UK
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Senior Technical Author
Contract: 3 month extended to 7
Wrote a new documentation suite for a document management system based on SharePoint:
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Installation, Implementation, and User’s Guides (Microsoft Word 2007/PDF)
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Online Help single sourced from User's Guide (Adobe RoboHelp HTML (TCS 2))
Developed a Word user guide template/style
Worked with teams based in Belarus and Wales
Hewlett-Packard L.P.
Bracknell and Bristol
Documentation Specialist
Contract: 1 year
Responsible for all end-user communications for the following global IT projects
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End-user desktop tools (to help users migrate to a new PC)
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Migration of EDS client systems (90,000) through a software retrofit to HP IT Services
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PC Setup and Reimage improvement (to successfully reduce helpdesk calls by 33%)
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Implementation of client PC hard drive encryption (McAfee Endpoint Encryption)
Created and maintained intranet web sites and knowledge base articles for each project
Worked with teams based in USA and various UK locations
Microsoft Word 2007, Adobe Captivate 4 (TCS 2), Help and Manual 5.1, and SharePoint
August 2008 to
November 2008
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SWORD UK
Brentford, Middlesex
Wrote new Installation and Configuration guide for XML-based .NET application accessing IBM
FileNet P8 database (Microsoft Word 2007/PDF)
December 2008 to
November 2009
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Senior Technical Author
Permanent
Wrote the installation and administrator documentation for web-based sales incentive and
service performance applications (based on Java, Oracle, ActiveMQ, Mule, Liferay, Apache)
December 2009 to
June 2010
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NICE Systems Ltd
Bracknell, Berkshire
The National Archives (TNA)
Kew, Richmond
Technical Author
Contract: 3 month extended to 4
Wrote infrastructure documentation for a complex system developed to automate the archival,
preservation, and delivery of digital records. Technologies included Windows Server 2003, SQL
Server 2005, Active Directory, AzMan, AgilePoint Workflow, .NET 2.0/3.5, and web services
Wrote a technical overview describing how the various components integrate together
Obtained basic security clearance (TNA is a secure government organization)
Jim Snowden CV (February 2015-1)
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May 2008 to
November 2009
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SWORD Inc
Houston, TX USA
Senior Technical Author
Part-time contract: 70 hours
Updated manuals and online help for SWORD Inc’s document management systems
Maintenance of SWORD UK websites
FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp 7 (TCS 1), MadCap Flare
January 2008 to
Hewlett-Packard L.P.
Senior Technical Author
July 2008
Bracknell and Bristol
Contract: 6 months/sole author
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Wrote end-user documentation and intranet pages for several global IT projects:
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Desktop transformation from Windows XP/Office 2003 to Windows Vista/Office 2007
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Follow-Me Data business data protection software
April 1997 to
SWORD UK (formerly Cimage)
January 2008
Bracknell and Brentford
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Documentation Specialist
Permanent. Sole author
Wrote customer documentation for the Cimage Document Management and Workflow
products (.NET 2, Oracle, SharePoint, and Documentum systems):
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Installation, administration, customization, API, web services, and end-user guides
(FrameMaker/PDF/HTML Help)
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Used FrameMaker conditional features to create document variations from single source
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Context sensitive and standalone help files (winhelp, HTML Help, and webhelp)
Technologies included .NET 2, SQL Server, Oracle, SharePoint, and Documentum
Created and maintained SWORD UK’s web sites and some online demo systems
FrameMaker, Adobe Acrobat, ForeHTML Pro, RoboHelp, MadCap Flare, WebWorks Publisher
Worked with teams based in Belarus, USA, Chennai (India) and UK
Earlier Career History
September 1995 to
April 1997
July 1994 to
September 1995
November 1992 to
June 1994
Texcel (UK) Ltd
Documentation Specialist
Established first author unit. Permanent
Intelligent Environments, Ltd
Senior Technical Writer
Sole technical writer. Permanent
Perot Systems Europe, Ltd
Documentation Specialist/DBA
Initially contract, then permanent
February 1989 to
November 1992
Cray Research (UK) Ltd
Technical Writer
Sole UK technical writer reporting to US.
Permanent
October 1979 to
February 1989
International Computers
Limited (ICL)
Principal Author
First full-time job. Permanent
Personal Details and Interests
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Place of Birth: Perth, Scotland. British citizen
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Interests: gardening, reading, cycling and computers
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Lay pastor of local Baptist Church, treasurer/lettings officer at local community centre
Jim Snowden CV (February 2015-1)
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