Summary

A deeply-technical writer with extensive experience in creating and maintaining top-quality copy. Excels at transforming raw data into clear, accurate, reader-friendly content. Comfortable writing for a wide range of audiences. Works well in teams or alone, to the tightest of deadlines.

Recent Experience

Freelance Documentation Specialist, Madrona Labs

Seattle, WA 2010-2014

Wrote and maintained the user guides for Kaivo and Aalto, two modular software synthesizers by Seattle’s Madrona Labs. Created stylized, friendly, educational user guides that boosted engagement with the company's user base and garnered rave reviews.

Freelance Web UX Writer, Favarger Consulting

San Francisco, CA 2013-2014

Developed and structured new copy for the client's website. Found creative ways to organize and present content that had been missing or otherwise hard to find, creating a pleasing user experience and increased customer engagement for my client's business.

Freelance Technical/Marketing Writer - Harman International

Los Angeles, CA 2012-2013

Served as a technical and marketing copywriter for a variety of top home audio brands, such as Harman/Kardon, JBL, Mark Levinson, and Revel. Quickly acquired extensive knowledge in home audio tech. Wrote, edited, and proofed user documentation and marketing copy for many new products. Acted as a technical information resource for the marketing and design departments.

Freelance Technical Writer - Numark

Cumberland, RI 2012

Served as the tech writer for a line of MIDI controller products. Wrote, edited, and produced an extensive guide set from scratch. Worked closely with a bicoastal dev team, using a fast, fluid remote collaboration workflow.

Freelance Technical Writer - Avid Technology

Daly City, CA 2012

Served in a remote consulting capacity, developing documentation for the world’s top creator of A/V media production systems. Worked in Agile methodology with teams around the world, employing a fast, fluid remote collaboration workflow.

Technical Writer - Avid Technology

Daly City, CA 2008-2011

Served as the video post-production and guitar products writer for the world’s top creator of A/V media production systems. Created, updated, and expanded a large set of well-received user docs. Worked fluently in Agile methodology with teams around the world, shipping award-winning products at an accelerated pace. Decades of audio production experience helped me see the issues at hand with a user’s eye.

OTHER CREATIVE WORK

• Created and wrote two special-interest blogs: creativity and tech, gourmet cooking
• Created a highly-produced radio-play-style podcast, now available on iTunes and Stitcher.
• Founded and led two music production and distribution companies in San Francisco, CA
• Released music in a variety of genres, owning many projects from start to finish
• Produced, engineered, and co-wrote for a variety of innovative artists in Los Angeles, CA
• Created scores and sound design for several cutting-edge video production teams
• Cultivated the ability to develop and manage complex projects over a lifetime of creative work

Education

Studied in music, audio, and computer science at Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA — 1993-1997

Skills

Workplace: Adobe FrameMaker, Illustrator, and Photoshop, Atlassian Jira, Dropbox, Microsoft Excel, Sharepoint, Word, and Visio, Markdown, TeX/LaTeX development, data architecture, most blogging software. Social media veteran. Mac OS, iOS, and Windows power user.

Media Production: Ableton Live, Apple Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, Avid Pro Tools and Media Composer, Cockos Reaper, Soundcloud, YouTube, music composition, recording, mixing, mastering, scoring and sound design for video, podcast production.

Download: George Cochrane Resume (Word)
Download: George Cochrane Resume (PDF)