A nomad technical writer / translator born in Japan, living inTaiwan, communicating in English/Chinese/Japanese/Spanish
Social Networks
Floating and free-falling: Expat+Harem
An unsent letter: RedRoom Taipei
Articles
- Engineering background / Multi-lingual / Procedural expert
- From concept to completion – provide one-stop shopping for technical writing
Expertise (Click the “Documentation” tab first for correct view)
- Expertly synthesize, organize and standardize technical documentations, ensuring concept and outcome are valid and functional. Ensure all materials are well designed and easily accessible for end users.
- Demonstrate excellent interviewing, listening, organizational and writing skills, resulting in high-quality written products that address user concerns.
- Collaborate with development team and subject matter experts (SMEs) to document intricate information. Lead and coach team members to ensure document delivery on time and with high quality.
- Adapt to change and engage in evolving, culturally diverse environments.
- Information architecture
- User interaction
- Manuals and specifications
- Verification procedures
- Localization and requirements for international audiences
- Professional English
- Native Japanese
- Business Chinese
- Conversational Spanish
- Asian document expert translator
- Computer accessories
- Measurement instruments
- Semiconductors
- Audio devices
- safety standards
- MS Office
- Adobe Acrobat
- Microsoft Visio
- AutoCAD
- Graduate Certificate: Technical Communications, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2010
- Bachelor of Science: Electronic Engineering, Nagoya University, 1995
Experience
Technical Writing Manager June 2010 - present
- Lead the technical writing team to manage documentation projects for storage systems. The team has designed, drafted and laid out more than 50 manuals and quick start guides in its first year.
- Reduced documentation time 30% by standardizing style and specifications. Eliminated need for engineering and marketing divisions to manage documentation, which saved 1⁄4 man- month for each subsequent manual.
- Proactively communicate with other divisions to join the development process early-on and to ensure quality documentations on time.
- Synthesize user experience and all elements of document (graphics, formatting and text), resulting in high-level documentation for end users.
- Actively consult user-interface texts to ensure user-friendly software experience and consistency of terminology among various products.
Document Manager August 2008 - May 2010
- Independently manage technical writing activities and documentation projects for computer hardware and software. Designed, drafted and laid out 5 manuals, 6 quick start guides and 4 product specifications.
- Used engineering background and strong technical skills to proactively communicate with SMEs. Suggest changes in early development stages, resulting in well-coordinated design and quality, client- friendly documentation.
- Constructed first comprehensive FAQ database, which improved customer confidence and reduced customer support overhead by 15%.
- Hired and trained three support professionals for U.S. customers, which established real-time interaction and local presence in U.S. market.
Sr. Tech Writer/User Interface Designer 2005 –2008
- Designed, drafted and edited user interfaces (menu tree, labels, etc.) with development team. Created 14 user manuals, 8 verification procedures and 7 service manuals from scratch, which reduced engineering overhead by 1⁄3 man-month.
- Supervised 4 user interface designs for new measurement instruments and software and produced or arranged for illustrations, charts and photographs.
- Identified as top performing employee of 2006 for freeing engineers of documenting tasks, revamping documents for user-centered design and systematizing documentation process.
Sr. Field Application Engineer 2002 –2005
- Displayed organizational, communication and teaching skills by hosting week-long product trainings and demonstrations at customer sites, which reduced engineer’s flying budget by 20% and contributed to over 100% sales increase in Taiwan (2003-2004).
- Honed well-developed technical writing skills by editing application notes, authoring competitive analyses and devising product specifications, which resulted in 15% reduction in customer service calls in Japan region.
- Handled pre-sales technical review and post-sales technical troubleshoots. Mentored and grew technical support team from one-man operation to five-person group.
Field Application Engineer 2001 –2002
- Efficiently and quickly learned pre-sales data presentation and post-sales follow-up. Provided technical support for discrete semiconductors.
- Navigated multicultural environment while coordinating customization, logistics and quality issues with factories and R&D in Ireland, Taiwan, Singapore, USA and Germany, resulting in 2 joint-force projects between Japan and overseas production facilities.
- Identified and solved communication gaps by creating and distributing competitive component database and newsletters.
Freelance Translator 2000 –2001
Identified highly specialized word usage and business context and translated automotive/electronic business documents from English to Japanese and vice verse for Japanese auto parts companies.
Staff Engineer 1995 –2000
- Designed audio conversion circuits, digital equalizer and analog audio mixer and ran all EMC/Safety standard activities. Successfully conducted 7 testing projects, which were all completed without shipment delay.
- Wrote 3 safety regulation guides and maintained compliance database, ensuring accurate, unambiguous and concise documentation for engineers. As a result, post-development modification rate of products decreased by 20%.