Andrew Levitt 284 Diamond Street / San Francisco, CA / 94114 267.210.2895 levitt.andrew@gmail.com http://alevitt.freeshell.org Contract Technical Writer Producing smart technical documentation - print, graphic, online, and interactive content for reference materials, online help, training materials, and reports, especially for the IT industry. Specializing in complex and short-deadline projects. Summary of Qualifications Accomplished technical writer, combining exceptional writing skills, project management abilities, and eight years of work in diverse analytical fields, including physics, engineering, and software. Known for intelligence and geniality; passionate about integrity and quality. • Researched, designed, and wrote 22,000-word training document under sixty-day deadline • Burgeoning portfolio of training manuals, reference documents, whitepapers, and technical and scientific articles published in renowned sources such as Science Magazine, Applied Optics, and Plant Engineering Magazine (http://alevitt.freeshell.org/portfolio.html) • Led ten month, nearly $400,000 management consulting project for Fortune 500 company, delivered on time and under budget Relevant Computer Skills Publishing: Microsoft Word – advanced; Adobe Framemaker, Pagemaker, Acrobat, and Captivate (formerly RoboDemo); XML; Quark XPress; LaTeX Graphics: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator – advanced; Microsoft Visio; Autodesk 3ds Max and AutoCAD Web: Macromedia Dreamweaver; JavaScipt, CGI, HTML, CSS, and MySQL; Web administration Technical: Microsoft Excel, Project, Access – advanced; Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and IDL programming; UNIX; Microsoft Windows, workgroup networking, and PC hardware – advanced Professional Experience 2/2006 – Present New Standard Institute Milford, CT Training Developer Working independently and in a small team to plan and create all aspects of live software training seminar, including course scope, written and graphic content, Adobe Captivate tutorials, and PowerPoint slides. • Managed project under own initiative – training subject was unfamiliar to client, expertise was entirely self-generated • Met sixty-day deadline for the research, planning, and writing of a 22,000-word education manual • Wrote a whitepaper and two accompanying technical articles on the subject of the training, one to be published in September issue of Plant Engineering and Maintenance magazine 03/2005 – 12/2005 New Standard Institute Milford, CT Project Lead Leading a management consulting project at a Fortune 500 company affecting 50 facilities housing more than 10,000 employees. Hiring and directly managing six employees. Liaising with Management and staff to restructure business methods. Solely responsible for operating budget of nearly $400,000, including nearly $100,000 in up-sale client services. • Project completed on-time and under budget • Created 7,800-word Standard Operating Procedures document used to direct future management decisions and employee training within department of 300 • Developed labor performance and usage metrics documents • Launched program documenting detailed information on over 12,000 pieces of equipment • Developed database in Access and SQL including external bar-code functionality 01/2004 – 03/2005 MXT, Inc. Montreal, Canada Engineer Developing web site and meeting documentation needs, including manufacturing operations manuals and production reports. Using Autodesk’s AutoCAD to design and build novel mechanical prototypes and update automation equipment; programming quality-control GPIB, interface software, logging database, and PLCs. • Learned and re-programmed software between other tasks to meet two-week deadline • Initiated first equipment documentation program at the company • Engineering efforts improved manufacturing throughput by 25% 06/1998 – 09/2002 Univ. of Pennsylvania, Emory Univ., Univ. of Toronto Various, North America Physics Research Assistant Designing and building automated experiments, including programming, running, interpreting, and presenting data analyses. Using Photoshop, Illustrator and PowerPoint to present findings at team meetings and academic conferences. Advising and tutoring undergraduate students. • Co-authored four articles, including those published in Science Magazine (2000), Applied Optics (2001), and Europhysics Letters (2004) • Created explanatory web-based science tutorials (now defunct) • Recipient of the University of Pennsylvania E. Ward Plummer Award for outstanding research paper • Highlighted research presentation at the American Physical Society’s annual meeting 06/1996 – 09/1996 MegaMedia, Inc Philadelphia, PA Intern Using 3D Studio (now 3ds MAX) and Photoshop to create graphics for web and multimedia marketing. Editing HTML. Language Skills Excellent written and oral Spanish, very good oral and written Portuguese. Academic Background 1999-2003 University of Toronto Toronto, Canada Honor’s Bachelor of Science Major in physics and a double minor in chemistry and philosophy. • Recipient of the University of Toronto Scholar Award for Academic Excellence • One year abroad at the Universidad de Granada, Spain; translated abstracts for the Gazeta de Antropología from Spanish to English • Writer and Photographer for The Varsity, the University of Toronto’s most highly distributed newspaper