LANE NELSON COPLEY

lcopley@gmail.com (415) 279-4193

GMP Chemist, Technical Writer and Software QA Engineer

 

Looking for an interesting hardware and software processes and procedures documentation or QA project which fully uses my knowledge, experience, resilience, initiative, optimism, adaptability and energy in a way which is technically challenging and demands constant educational growth.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

 

      API documentation and “normalization”

      Full experience with the complete SDLC (several projects)

      Experience with full Agile and mixed Agile development schemes

      Programming Languages: Java/Android, C#/.NET

      Operating Systems: Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS (did the coursework for UNIX sysadmin through UC Extension, but never used it).

      Development environments: emacs, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Android Studio, VS Code

      Defect tracking software: Jira, TestTrackPro, Microsoft Test Manager

      Requirements management: Microsoft Team Foundation Server, IBM DOORS

      Automation scripting: Microsoft Test Manager, custom test scripts in WSH

      Version control systems: SVN, GitHub Enterprise (and Git proper), Team Foundation Server, SharePoint

      Enterprise software technical writing experience for both on-prem and cloud (AWS and GCP—no Azure)

      Semiconductor technical writing experience

      Consumer product technical writing experience

      Regulatory experience (FDA-regulated GLP methods development and validation, GMP process and equipment validation, and GCP device software testing)

EXPERIENCE

INTUIT

Contract Technical Writer  May 2024 – present

      Creating internal user guides for Intuit's Application Mangement Tool and for Intuit's Open Calendar group of software modules.

FISERV

Contract Technical Writer  Jan. 2024 – Mar. 2024

      New document portal creation for financial institution card-processing company involving API documentation editing, formatting from/to Swagger

      Some SOP editing for their new Developer Studio project, a developer-friendly credit/debit card processing system

YAHOO! (formerly OATH, AOL and/or Verizon Media—it’s complicated)

Senior Technical Writer  Sept. 2018 – July 2023

      Established authoritative document portal in this enterprise environment, creating or editing SOPs for developers new to the Yahoo!-AOL-Oath-Verizon Media environment in both AWS and GCP cloud systems

      Extensive work within GitHub Enterprise, Jira, Confluence

      Lots of nifty tools and information to document including:

1.     security docs,

2.     CI/CD using Screwdriver,

3.     iOS and Android developer tools,

4.     REST APIs,

5.     web apps,

6.     A.I. (general docs and operating docs), and

7.     Yahoo’s supporting electronic publishing software infrastructure, all being migrated to either GCP or AWS.

      Created or edited technical papers, user guides, quick start guides, reference guides, FAQs, and general security and secure software lifecycle white papers

KAISER PERMANENTE  Remote

Contract Technical Writer  Sept. 2016 – Dec. 2016

      Assembled, edited, reformatted, proofread and wrote disaster recovery runbook documents for Kaiser Permanente in Pleasanton

KILOPASS  SAN JOSE, CA   

Contract Technical Writer  May 2016 – July 2016

      Edited, proofread and reformatted Test Methodology Design Guide and Data Sheets for a provider of non-volatile memory circuitry designs to improve usability and branding consistency

BIO-RAD LABORATORIES HERCULES, CA

Software QA Engineer Jan. 2005 – May 2015

      Quickly found major defect sources in blocks of code by ad hoc testing in a session-testing environment

      Responsible for writing technical documentation of entire test plans from software requirements specifications for several projects at a time

      Responsible for writing technical documentation of test cases from test plans which trace to software requirements specifications

      Responsible for writing technical documentation for release recommendation reports

      Executed tests from test cases, providing timely feedback through prompt, complete defect recording and tracking in an Agile environment

      Test lead on two robot projects (one firmware-based, one Windows-based); wrote test plans, test cases, test reports and release recommendations

      Test lead on firmware-based PCR instrument; wrote test plan, test case, test report and release recommendation.

      Provided direction to software developers creating automated testing software from a SQA point of view

      Created test harness (not related to the above test software) for execution of scripted UAT and BVT with excellent notification features (distributed e-mail if all passed, SMSed operator only if any test failed)

      Prevented enormous loss of time and money by calculating the expense of fully validating existing product line in a mixed environment (approximately two man-years saved)

      Instituted virtual machine testing using VMware images; later automated testing using these images

      Verified data integrity over command-line interfaces through rigorous test planning and execution.  The command-line interface was later replaced with a full API.

      Provided meaningful feedback for UI development from the customer POV

      Installed, tested, verified and validated firmware components of several complex instrument controls, including heating/cooling controls, robotic stepper systems, heated lid and motor systems, I2C communication devices, USB hubs and cameras in the context of providing end-to-end verification of instrumentation systems

      Verified microscope camera data integrity in Android kiosk-mode touchscreen-controlled fluorescent cell imaging device

      Helped validate 21 CFR Part 11-compliant software revision

TriCN SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Contract Technical Writer  2004

      Revised and edited datasheets and application notes for a small telecommunications semiconductor design company as part of their re-branding effort (they wanted to be bought out)

      Created document tracking system and specified new technical documentation software (FrameMaker and Visio)

STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INTERNATIONAL  MENLO PARK, CA  

Contract Technical Writer  2004

      Reformatted, revised and edited Pathways Tools genome navigator software manuals

BIO-RAD LABORATORIES HERCULES, CA

Contract Technical Writer  2003-2004

      Wrote and edited software APIs, software design specifications, software life cycle documents, software release specifications and procedures, user guides and ISO 9001 compliance documents (SOPs and work instructions)

EMANTRAS SAN JOSE, CA

Contract Technical Writer  2002-2003

      Wrote and edited product bulletins, software specifications and user guides for a line of personal media devices

NUCORE TECHNOLOGY SUNNYVALE JOSE, CA

Contract Technical Writer  2002

      Wrote and edited data sheets and hardware reference manuals for the analog front end and digital back end of digital imaging products

EQUATOR TECHNOLOGIES CAMPBELL JOSE, CA

Contract Technical Writer  2001

      Wrote marketing copy and product bulletins

      Edited data sheets and application notes

      Documented the software APIs of a whole family of video processors

SAGE SAN JOSE, CA

Technical Documentation Director  2000-2001

      Managed deadlines for firmware and register specifications

      Wrote product bulletins

      Edited application notes and data sheets for display processors

SILICON MAGIC SANTA CLARA, CA

Technical Writer  1998-2000

      Researched and wrote documentation suites for families of graphics processors and memory chips, including design and engineering specifications, technical reference manuals, programmer's reference guide, product brochures and bulletins, data sheets and application notes in FrameMaker

      Instituted firm's first document tracking

INTEL SAN JOSE, CA

Technical Writer  1997-1998

      Updated data- and application books for the entire family of graphics processors, as part of Intel's Portable Graphics Group in FrameMaker

      Worked with supervisor to reorganize entire documentation format, structure and system

      Wrote test procedure documentation, edited software release notes and produced ancillary training materials

      Represented Intel at VESA standards meetings

BRESSLER COMPUTING OAKLAND, CA

Contract Technical Writer  1997

      Authored and maintained web site on Sun Solaris system in Notepad, emacs and pico

      Produced more than half the design, writing, editing and illustration in both the on-line help

      Produced more than half the printed user's guide for EZaccess

      Shared in the generous bonus for meeting an extremely aggressive deadline

BAYER BIOTECHNOLOGY EMERYVILLE, CA

Validation Consultant  1996-1997

      Tested, documented and validated the software implementation of Building Automation System and Distributed Control System for cGMP/cGLP compliance (both the clean-room air-handling system and the manufacturing control system)

      Wrote batch production records, standard operating procedures and training records

SYNERGYSTIC COMMUNICATIONS SAN MATEO, CA

Contract Technical Writer  1995

      FrameMaker editor on the 100,000-page set of end-user training manuals for the State of Florida

SIMPLY INTERNET SAN JOSE, CA

Contract Technical Writer  1995

      Wrote and edited substantial portions of the first Internet Yellow Book (shovelware, to be honest)

      One of two writers promoted from the team of 140 technical writers

      Received cash awards for both volume and quality of contributions

 

EDUCATION

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Chico and Hayward--Bachelor's in Chemistry

Additional classwork in UNIX system administration, Java for Android development, C#/.NET and
software QA for 21CFR Part8xx, Medical Devices

 

Rev. 2024A5-web-short