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Larry Hosken 330 Parnassus Ave Apt 203 San Francisco, CA 94117 |
Contact Info:
js07@lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us Resume: http://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/self/resume/ References: upon request |
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Availability: Give me a few weeks to wrap things up. Objective: Interesting technical writing or computer programming. Things I find interesting include operating systems and mobile phones. I find many things interesting. Heck, I enjoy programming in assembly language. Other people find that tedious. Position must be in San Francisco (not the San Francisco bay area; San Francisco proper) (not telecommuting somewhere far away). Experience summary: ten years technical writing; three years industry programming, CS degree Programming skills: C/C++, Python, embedded systems, small memories, slow processors. UnrealScript (long ago), OpenGL (a little), Java (a little), Perl (long ago), Lisp (long ago), SQL (long ago), x86 assembly (long ago), Engineering Group skills: Functional spec writing, code reviewing, mentoring, developer support Tool/Environment skills: gcc, MS Visual Studio (long ago), Perforce/p4, CVS (long ago), RCS (long ago), gdb (including tethered debugging), Swat (long ago), Unix (Solaris, Linux, BSD), Emacs, VMS (long ago) Tech writing skills: HTML, Python wrangling of HTML, FrameMaker (long ago), doxygen (a little), MS Word, Acrobat Distiller (a little), Robohelp (once), researching, writing, editing Work History | |
| Staff Technical Writer
Google Jan 2005 - current |
Documented internal tools. Wrote concepts, reference, and best practices for build/compile tools and source control. Wrote and edited docs for using Sawzall, an analysis tool for large data sets. (I didn't write that academic paper.) Wrote and maintained document-generating tools. Mentored writers. |
| Senior Technical Writer &
"App Dev Kit guy" Openwave Feb 2003-Nov 2004 |
Documented Mobile Device Software Platform:
Wrote how-to, conceptual, and API documentation for Openwave's
then-new software platform. Wrote sample code. Researched topics
by reading source code and interviewing engineers.
Supported Developers and Wrangled Development Kit: Took over the platform's software development kit. Automated the kit's creation process. Added features to the kit to help third party developers. Helped visiting manufacturer engineers with technical questions and debugging. |
| Programmer Infinite Machine Nov 2000-Nov 2001 |
Programmed on New Legends, an XBox 3-D Beat-em-up game: Set up scripted game events using UnrealScript (a game-engine-specific scripting language). Some AI programming, setting up strategy for computer-controlled critters. Wrote Perl script to extract information from Premiere files useful for creating cutscenes. |
| Software Engineer & Senior Technical Writer, Blue Mug Inc Oct 1999-Oct 2000 Project Engineer, (Blue Mug spun off from Geoworks to continue a project started there.) |
Programmed W-CDMA smartphone: UI programmer on OS for Mitsubishi D2101v, a Japanese smartphone. Designed, specified API for new UI features. (New features included a high-performance scrolling area.) Used logic analyzer for performance testing. Wrote implementation specs for application coders. Mentored Japanese engineers. Wrote WAP provisioning doc: Technical writing contract with Phone.com. Rewrote large part of chapter about over-the-air provisioning for device programmers porting Phone.com's browser to their phones. Drafted Palm platform overview doc: Technical writing contract with Palm. Wrote a system software overview for potential licensees of their OS, explaining how to tweak software to support hardware changes. Topics ranged from UI design to communications protocols to microcontroller support. |
| Senior Technical Writer, Geoworks 1990-1998 |
Doc Lead on Embedded OS: Worked with a group to write online SDK docs for GEOS-SC, the OS on the Toshiba Genio, Toshiba Dialo, and Mitsubishi Moem-D Japanese smartphones. (Excerpts at http://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/manual/sc/en/) Co-ordinated & scheduled three other writers. Wrote sample applications for SDK. Coordinated with remote Japanese translation contractors. Documented Visual Basic-like tool: Documented visual builder tool and BASIC language for Japanese engineers of Genio smartphone. Wrote sample code. Documented Embedded OS: Worked with a group to write printed and online SDK docs for PC/GEOS, an OS which ran on Intel desktop machines and, later, on handheld devices and smartphones. (Excerpts at http://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/manual/geos/) Read x86 assembly language. Wrote sample code. Wrote about graphics, printing, BSD sockets, other topics. Created FrameMaker templates for multiple volumes of docs. Supported Developers: Provided developer support for application developers on PC/GEOS. Answered technical questions in forums and via email. Lectured visiting developers. Assisted in training labs. Documented Hypercontent Editing Tool: Wrote user-level documentation for a WYSIWYG editor of proprietary-format hyperlinked documents. |
| Summer QA, Ingres Summer 1990 |
Converted test scripts for use with new tool: Learned SQL. Learned VMS. |
Education | |
| BA Computer Science, UC Berkeley 1987-1991 |
Studied: Learned about OS design, compiler design, digital circuit design, theory, and AI (including grad-level courses in vision and natural language processing). Helped students with homework as a lab assistant for introductory CS course. |