"A linguist? In this economy? You've got to be kidding!"

Someone recently told me that the economy sucks right now. Sure it does—if you're a 23-year-old marketing associate with a Liberal Arts degree. I have five years of experience developing formal grammars for Natural Language applications and ten years of artistic experience with graphic arts and design. I've been a product developer, a project manager, a 3D modeler and an asset librarian. I've developed and indexed databases, created CRM dictionaries, performed QA work, written tech specs and user interface documents, and built complex information architecture systems. I'm not worried about finding a job ... I just want to find the right job.

A slightly befuddled artist by nature, I nonetheless succeed in arriving at work every day fully dressed and on time. I work hard for eight to twelve hours, stumble home, bathe, and do it all again the next day. Sometimes I even find time to produce sculpture, homegrown vegetables and graphic design work. I'm smart, quick and crafty, but I refuse to boast about my unnaturally high standardized test scores.*

Positions Sought: Information Architect, Editor, Project Linguist or Technical Writer.
Industries of Interest: Web Design, Gaming, CRM, Technology, Internet, Software, Publishing.
Employment Status: Full-time or contract. US Citizen. Bay Area only. No relocation.

Staff Positions

Kana Communications
Lexicographer (2000–2001)

Product Development
Project linguist for natural-language query application development team. Used principles of linguistic theory to standardize grammar rule-writing format, organization and naming conventions. Created reusable and custom dictionaries. Built reusable sets of grammar rules covering content verticals. Wrote functional specifications for application. Helped programmers develop appropriate levels of parser power and features. Advised programmers during user interface design phase. Tracked bugs and wrote bug reports. Helped develop project plan for training support personnel in application usage.

Knowledgebase and Demo Production
Organized content into discrete query responses. Extracted project-specific vocabulary and incorporated it into custom dictionaries. Created website-specific grammars for application demos. Produced, maintained and updated a custom test-product application to handle queries for the Human Resources department. Wrote queries to test application performance. Analyzed user logs and adjusted grammars to better respond to user queries.

Ask Jeeves Inc.
Editor (1999–2000)

Custom Knowledgebase Creation
Reviewed client sites and estimated project hours for content development. Examined user behavior to determine content gaps on client sites. Developed user-interface recommendations and custom dictionary for each project. Improved linguistic representations. Wrote "Question Architecture Document" summarizing project structure for design team. Clients included Dell, HP, Compaq & Network Solutions.

Project Leadership
Supervised daily activities of three editors. Served as editorial team liaison to client. Created project timelines and routinely hit deadlines. Maintained and enforced editorial standards and best practices. Mentored and gave supplementary training as needed.

Quality Assurance
Worked with test leads to developed test plans. Created test cases for automated and non-automated testing of content. Identified content bugs with test lead and assigned bug severity levels. Fine-tuned question-matching architecture based on daily integrated test case behavior. Replicated bugs and wrote bug reports. Tested software and user interface for content tool suite shipped to corporate partners on CD.

Blue Planet Software
Production Assistant & Asset Librarian (1998–1999)

Managed and tracked assets for a CD-ROM adventure game, including concept art, 3D set and character files, sound and motion files. Maintained multiple assets databases for the project; held primary responsibility for archiving and retrieving assets. Assisted in project art production including lighting, setting cameras and set modeling.

Freelance Projects

Freelance 3D Modeler/Artist
Designed and built 3D computer models for games, and web-based projects for numerous companies, including Oak Technologies, Worlds, Inc. and Electric Communities (1996–1998).

Link Tank
Researched and reviewed websites for a special-topic web directory (1997).

Editor & Designer
With my coeditors, conceived, designed and produced seven issues of Fat Girl, a 2,000-circulation niche magazine that received national attention. Duties included page layout, writing editorials and soliciting, accepting, editing and/or rejecting content (1994–1997).

Artist & Business Owner
Started and maintained small art business selling my artwork and graphic designer services (1993–Present).

Skills

Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D Studio Max, Debabblizer, Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, Fontographer, JavaScript, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Filemaker. PC and Mac. General office skills. Strong knowledge of syntax, semantics and formal logic. Rigorous analytical abilities. Love of complex problem solving. Learn new tasks and skills easily. Stellar writing and communications skills. Excellent at sneaky Internet research.

Education

UC Santa Cruz, Bachelor of Arts: Linguistics (1990). Graduated with honors, Phi Beta Kappa.
Graduate coursework in syntax, semantics and phonology (thesis pending).

*But I will tell you what I scored on my SATs if you ask me very nicely

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