Vicki Brown

Summary

Accomplished information technologist and problem solver with a passion for enhancing productivity through improvements in communication. Facilitator. Troubleshooter. Primary goal: helping other people to get their jobs done more effectively and efficiently. Specialties include:

Employment History

• Yahoo! — Technical Writer; Wiki Support Engineer (2006 - 2012) — Documented process and procedures for server configurations, release process, and operations-related tasks. Provided multi-level wiki support. Clients: internal service engineers, development engineers, program managers, and architects.

• Cisco IronPort Systems — Technical Content Manager (2004 - 2005) — Specified, researched, created, reviewed, and edited internal technical documents, including tutorials, web pages, and software design specs. Clients: internal engineers, managers, client services, and user publications teams.

• Contract Programmer — (2000 - 2003)
  • Ebay — Tools Programmer (2003) — Enhanced, documented, and tested utility scripts to check compliance of Windows desktop and server machines with current Microsoft security patches and anti-virus software. Clients: internal desktop system admin team.

  • Genentech — Utilities Programmer (2002) — Ported, built, modified, and tested Open Source software for installation onto intranet. Clients: internal software group.

  • Vantage Technologies — Web programmer (2001 - 2002) — Analyzed problems and addressed issues in company’s web-based product, Partnersmith. Clients: internal programming and testing staff.

  • Barclays Global Investors (BGI) — Programmer (2000 - 2001) — esigned, developed, and documented suite of configurable programs to parse flat data files from multiple streams, validate the results, and load data into a database. Clients: internal Active Data Group.

• Apple — Sr. Technical Writer (1999 - 2000) — Developed MacOS X conceptual developer technical documentation. Designed and wrote initial chapters and outline of I/O Kit Internals book; completed Kernel Environment book. Clients: internal and external software developers.

• Deltagen — Scientific Programmer; System Administrator (1998 - 1999) — Developed, documented and modified data analysis processes, tools, and data filters. Provided Linux system administration support and Mac OS desktop user support. Clients: internal scientists and lab technicians.

• Incyte Genomics — Scientific Programmer (1997 - 1998) — Documented and diagrammed data flow for sequencing projects. Debugged and enhanced processes and tools (Perl). Clients: internal data managers.

Selected Accomplishments

Information Architecture — Evaluated, analyzed, designed and organized web homes for project teams

• Organized web sites for improved navigation, resulting in positive feedback and reduced complaints
• Developed and added site maps, dynamic indexing, naming conventions, "portal" pages, topic hierarchies
• Developed re-usable page templates, improving efficiency in creating new pages
• Developed applications to add structure and consistency
• Created Best Practices documentation, sharing recommendations across organizations

Technical Documentation — Writing, editing, proofreading, and review

• Wrote more than 300 how-tos and tutorial topics for TWiki “Help web”
• Documented process and procedures for server configurations, release process, and operations-related tasks
• Proofed and reviewed internal documents on demand
• Co-authored MacPerl: Power and Ease, an introductory book on the Perl language (Prime Time Freeware; 1998)
• Authored Inside Mac OS X: Kernel Environment, a developer guide (Apple Developer Connection; 2000)
• Published more than 20 articles, online and in print technical journals

Product Support — Established my reputation as de-facto TWiki expert with many satisfied customers.

• Responded to over 2000 requests sent directly to me
• Handled over 500 questions in the wiki support mailing list
• Developed Help web, creating over 300 tutorial topics
• Developed over 100 TWiki applications
• Received 17 "Bravos" (unsolicited company-public feedback)
• Received many thank you notes and commendations by email

Training — Developed Wiki training classes. Presented classes quarterly for two years.

• Wiki Essentials (2 hrs)
• Wiki Variables and Plugins (2 hrs)
• Wiki Applications (4 hrs)

Data Filters and Tools — Demonstrated proficiency in *nix (BSD, Linux, Mac OS X), scripting languages (Perl, sh), and C. Customized Intranet web sites in TWiki, HTML, CSS, & JS. Created and enhanced internal tools and scripts, many written to custom requirements for short-term use.

Additional Information

• Primary site:: http://www.philtres.com/vlb/
• Samples & Examples: http://www.philtres.com/vlb/samplespage.shtml
• Feedback & Testimonials: http://www.philtres.com/vlb/testimonials.shtml

Social Media

• Weblog: http://vlb.typepad.com
• Weblog: http://cfcl.com/vlb/weblog
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/vlb
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vicki.vlb
• Google+: http://plusya.com/vickibrown

Education

University of Maryland — M.S. Microbiology
(Masters thesis project utilized awk, sed, sh, SunCore graphics, and troff)

Pennsylvania State University — B.S. Microbiology
Computer Science minor