John Dempsey

(206) 395-8494

Seattle

As a technical writer, I cooperate with your experts to tell your technical story to developers or administrators using words, diagrams, and source code. I seek detailed, system-level, and novel projects in any software where my accurate, informative writing is needed. Good technical writing increases the value of existing engineering work. Reach your audiences worldwide with clear, helpful information and guidance.

Common scenarios

• You have constant Slack traffic of struggling users. You want to improve self-service options with written help.
• You've accumulated engineering, but the docs have fallen behind, preventing user success and raising support needs.

Examples of my work

• Guide to developing web client apps
• Logical diagram of enterprise software
• Novel USB simulation framework
• Conceptual description of a programming platform
• State diagram of leasing mechanism

Skills

Can produce content and tools, including programming guides, manuals, software development kits (SDK), sample code, API reference, process flow diagrams, and reporting / data analysis systems. Can aggregate documents, interview details, and source code into informative, functional content for technical and non-technical audiences. Have tools for recording, archiving, and authoring information with local and global groups. Can engage experts in the writing process. Can guide drafts through group production to maximize knowledge capture, even with weak publishing resources.

• Languages: C#, C++, C, Python, PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Markdown, reStructuredText, Swagger, XML, JSON, YAML, REST, HTTP, HTTPS, OAuth 2
• Tools: git, GitHub, Postman, Fiddler, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, bash, ssh, cURL, Visio, Office, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Confluence, Slack
• Platforms: Linux, Mac, Windows, Docker, electronics and microcontrollers like Arduino and Pico, AWS (EC2, S3)
• Plus: web services, encryption and authentication, social graph analysis and rendering, CI/CD, GIS, JIRA, Bugzilla, AuthorIT
• MSFT: Azure storage, Azure Speech service, LINQ, .NET Core, XAML
• Keywords: DevOps, technical English, information architecture, user experience (UX)

Experience

Technical Writer, Microsoft, Sep 2023
Helped Microsoft prepare for an industry conference by updating tutorials that introduce and describe major features of Windows and other products, such as Introduction to Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Developed a real-time data service for a global live music community. Using C# in ASP.NET Core, JavaScript, and Python, my code eases navigation of servers worldwide by easily tracking friends and listening in. At least 100 browsers show this website during a 24-hour period.

Software Developer, Jamulus.Live, Sep 2022 - Present
Developed a real-time data service for a global live music community. Using C# in ASP.NET Core, JavaScript, and Python, my code eases navigation of servers worldwide by easily tracking friends and listening in. At least 100 browsers show this website during a 24-hour period.

Technical Writer, Google via Zenith Talent, Nov 2021 - Sep 2022
Published monthly newsletter for Google VPs that reported on internal training developments, upcoming training opportunities, and internal developer feedback. Also created and improved internal developer training materials for CI/CD, web, mobile, and other proprietary platforms.

Programmer-Writer, Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services, Apr 2020 - Sep 2021
Made and improved how-to information for Azure Speech service, which interprets and creates human speech using machine learning models. Published complex HTML presentations to docs.microsoft.com using a mature Markdown platform within GitHub. Improved sample code in many software languages. Improved a large API reference. Monitored pull requests submitted to change Speech content, and joined and completed publication tasks as-needed.

"I appreciate all that you did for us." - Rob Chambers, Principal Architect

Technical Writer, Amazon Gift Cards, Sept 2019 - Mar 2020
Migrated 20,000 words from PDF to HTML in 5 languages using Markdown, Jekyll-Dex, and translation services. The REST API handles financial issuance events for all Amazon gift cards.

"John's determination and bias for action helped us launch on time. It has been an absolute pleasure working with him." - Swati Swaminathan

Technical Writer, Zillow Group, Dec 2017 - Jun 2019
Improved developer documentation of proprietary DevOps CI/CD testing and monitoring platform. Prepared introduction to real user metrics telemetry tools for developers, including Grafana and the tiered turnstile. Collaborated with experts to develop wiki-based guidance documenting a dozen internal development, deployment, and telemetry tools. Improved guidance based on frustrations expressed in Slack. My materials reduced reliance on engineer-led training classes.

"Thank you for this great documentation!! Very helpful, and explains things really clearly." - Reader feedback on 3,000+ word introduction to proprietary CI/CD tools

Technical Writer 4, Lead, Microsoft, June - Nov 2017
Produced developer documentation for Microsoft Bot Framework, a platform for conversational bots that interact with people through platforms like Facebook Messenger and Microsoft Cortana. Published quickstart for new release of Azure Bot Service and other topics.

Programmer-Writer, The Walt Disney Company, Mar - Jun 2017
Helped release phone verification features of a family-friendly authentication service based on OAuth 2. Made and improved reference and system documentation for REST APIs used by internal and external developer audiences in browser-based, Android, and iOS apps. Investigated enterprise GitHub commits and pull requests. Improved wiki quality using link tools, cURL, and file system techniques. Published Establishing a Guest's Trust State on a Business Unit Server and other advanced authentication topics.

Technical Writer, SonicWALL, June - Oct 2016 (shortened by Dell sale)
Published first SDK for REST APIs that authenticate mobile users of a virtual private network (VPN), with Swagger reference. Prepared sample source code for external developers. Examined networking scenarios on Android, PC, Mac, iPhone, and Chromebook hardware.

Technical Writer, EMC2, Aug - Dec 2015 (shortened by Dell purchase)
Investigated and reported the security profile of software that controls very large clusters of computer hardware in a datacenter.

Technical Writer, SpaceCurve, Sep 2014 - Jun 2015
Helped deliver a scalable, real-time geospatial database to prospective customers. I packaged virtual machines that let anyone try the database using sample data and sample applications. My instructions stepped prospective customers through simple use scenarios. I improved sample applications, and published on GitHub.

Hospice care-giver for partner, Jan 2014, 9 months

Technical Writer and Tool Developer, Marchex, Oct 2012 - Oct 2013
Imported 200 pages of legacy documentation for users and developers of a mobile advertising technology, and added 4 years of undocumented feature evolution. Clarified key features and re-discovered lost features. Created user guidance from interviews and engineering bugs. Built a documentation platform using Multimarkdown, Pandoc, PDFLatex, Kendo UI, Perl, and bash scripting. Published browsable HTML for help content, and PDFs for offline study, using Markdown.

"What you're doing for us is astonishing. In the one month you've been here, you've gotten us thinking about really critical things. You've made it clear how important it is that we have someone always focused on these issues." - Rob Morris, Technical Team Manager

Programmer-Writer, Microsoft, Aug 2011 - Aug 2012
Wrote REST and C# documentation for blobs, tables, and queues in Azure storage. Documented features of version 2012-02-12 of the Azure storage REST API. Found and fixed failures in information and publishing tools. Renamed concepts to ease customer confusion. Used tools to find and fix thousands of broken links. Found and fixed scenarios where our HTML rendering caused errors in hundreds of topics. Published:

• How to Use the Blob Storage Service, also queues and tables
• Setting Timeouts for Blob Service Operations

"Thanks for all of your excellent and hard work on all of this! This is quite a lot of work and we really appreciate it!" - Brad Calder, Distinguished Engineer
"we cannot thank you enough. extremely responsive." - Jai Haridas, Principal SDE Manager

Programmer-Writer, Microsoft, Feb - Jun 2011
Prepared Human Interface Guide, Developer's Guide, and API Reference for Bing toolbar application framework that lets developers build and deploy connected web apps in Internet Explorer using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Ajax.

"You did a great job, and I'm really happy with the work product. I would definitely hire you in the future for this kind of work." - Bryan Ressler, SDE

Technical Writer, Wiki Publisher, QL2.com, Aug 2009 - Aug 2010
Edited and added technical and operational details across 5 years of accumulated wiki content for an agile-based 130-employee internet DaaS company that discreetly gathers and sells large price datasets. Built logical maps of the production network, data, and code environment. Surveyed datasets and traffic for unused data and optimization opportunities. Co-authored technical topics with engineering staff. Published budget for million-dollar redundant datacenter and two-year engineering roadmap (blurred). Organized technical content into a browsable hierarchy. Established documentation tactics and standards. Wrote detailed job descriptions and hiring strategies. Chose wiki software improvements. Employed large-format printing for stakeholder negotiations and presentations to investors. Used video tools to analyze and archive. Used PostgreSQL, Dokuwiki, Excel, bash, Python, CentOS, Java, Subversion, & Apache.

Programmer-Writer 2, Microsoft, Oct 2007 - Nov 2008
Authored reference and conceptual descriptions of automation and other software topics for Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) using DocStudio. Published XAML API specification for European Union. Prepared reference and walkthroughs describing advanced features of ClickOnce deployment, a secure application deployment technology. Developed techniques to find and fix broken hyperlinks.

Education