JX Bell
(415) 462-0558
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jxbell
http://www.jxconsulting.com/resume
JX@jxconsulting.com
Mailing address: 2261 Market St. #500, San Francisco, CA 94114
SUMMARY
I create high-quality documentation on topics such as security, system architecture, big data, blockchain, programming languages, APIs, and more. I have over 25 years of experience in technical communication, and a full double major in Computer Science and Religion from Dartmouth College. I also have a master certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as well as training in compassionate communication (NVC), which helps empathize with different audiences, as well as work with my own colleagues.
My employers and clients say that I learn new complex technologies at a highly-technical level very quickly. Software engineering has been part of my world nearly all my life. Even when my main job was a writer, I've used software engineering to design and program doc build systems & internal productivity tools for my teams.
Projects included heavy cross-team collaboration with engineers, product managers, field engineering, and even the legal team. My goals include helping improve product quality and company growth, in addition to teaching customers how highly-technical features work.
The best evidence of my unique skillset is my recommendations at https://www.jxconsulting.com/rec
I'm open to new opportunities for technical writing but I'm also open to developer relations, internal communication, technical content marketing, or other jobs that involve communication.
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TECHNICAL SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning: LLM concepts like model fine tuning, several-shot learning, RAG. ML concepts like inference, classification, hyperparameter tuning with grid or Bayesian optimization, epochs, AutoML. Written Python code to create custom chat bots with prompt memory using the OpenAI API.
Operating Systems: Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, VMS, Newton OS, Palm OS.
Languages & Formats: Java, Scala, Python, C, C++, BASIC, Visual Basic (VB/VBA), Gosu, FrameScript, Perl, CFML (ColdFusion), AppleScript, NewtonScript, Pascal, FORTRAN, Prolog, Lisp, Scheme, 68000 Assembler, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Visual Basic (VB), JSP, ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, ADP, XML, XSLT, DITA.
Software: Git, Adobe FrameMaker, Quadralay WebWorks, Oxygen XML Editor, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Adobe Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, FileMaker Pro, ColdFusion, Perforce/P4, BBEdit, RoboHelp, Eclipse, IntelliJ, SQL, Docker, Hadoop/HDFS, RHEL, Amazon Web Services (AWS/EMR), Azure/HDInsight, Paxata, Jira, Confluence, and many more.
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EDUCATION
Dartmouth College
Bachelors degree, 1993. Full double major in Computer Science and Religion, Hanover, NH, with additional study at University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Awarded the Dartmouth Kemeny Computing Prize for coding style and design.
Marin NLP
Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), 2006
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
*** Senior API Technical Writer Consultant @ Databricks Inc
San Francisco, CA, 7/2019-present
Sole author of multiple books including highly-technical 100+ page books about security for the Databricks analytics platform on multiple clouds. Wrote many articles for main docs site on a broad range of topics for all three clouds (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). Took internal project lead role on internal initiatives like support for a new cloud. Has become subject matter expert on Enterprise Security and System architecture. As side project, wrote internal writer productivity tools in Python for the doc team that improved productivity on multi-cloud articles and reduced false warnings from 600+ to zero. Significant cross-team collaboration with engineering, legal, PM, and field security to help review APIs, review product changes, and deliver related Enterprise Security documentation.
*** Senior API Technical Writer Consultant @ Chronicled Inc
San Francisco, CA, 1/2019-12/2022
Wrote documentation for the MediLedger platform, a suite of blockchain-based pharmaceutical industry technology solutions. Provided detailed product technical design feedback.
*** Senior API Technical Writer Consultant and API Design Consultant @ Paxata Inc
Redwood City, CA, 12/2014-1/2020
Wrote API documentation for RESTful web service APIs that control data manipulation and data preparation at a massive distributed scale. The product uses Apache Hadoop, HDFS, REST/RESTful APIs, Cloud deployment, multi-tenant configuration, MongoDB, Git, Paxata Server, and more. Wrote technical Installation Guide, including Apache Spark, YARN, Kerberos authentication, symmetric key cryptography, and Hadoop/HDFS. Wrote two Administration books. Wrote an Upgrade Guide. Wrote significant amounts of online help text. Wrote two confidential API-level books for programmers which were available only to special strategic partners. Provided product feedback and consulted on API design.
*** Senior API Technical Writing Consultant @ Guidewire Software
Foster City, CA, 7/2005-2016
Wrote documentation that describes the leading software suite for the insurance industry. As part of this role, became a subject matter expert on many subsystems and APIs, and advised on API design. The Integration Guide includes detailed programmer-oriented API (SDK) documentation as well as extremely technical conceptual information. Topics include Java integration, web services (SOAP, WS-I, RPCE, and RESTful servlets), messaging, document management, Windows .NET, Apache Axis, database queries, data extraction, authentication, and inter-application integration. The Gosu Language Reference Guide is the authoritative book on the Gosu programming language. Gosu is an object-oriented statically-typed language based on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and used by multi-billion dollar companies around the world. JX also was a contributor for five additional books. Note JX's separate role as Documentation Tools Architect.
*** Senior Documentation Tools Architect & Engineer @ Guidewire Software
Foster City, CA, 7/2005-2016
In addition to programmer-level API technical writing, JX designed and implemented automation tools and a custom documentation publishing system using FrameScript, FrameMaker, WebWorks, and other tools. Dashboard visual monitoring tools written in JavaScript data processing and Google Chart APIs. The system outputs documentation for multiple products in multiple output formats (PDF and HTML) as a "single source" publishing solution. The system runs automated source file structural analysis, linguistic analysis, and tests for style/standards issues. For any issues, the server sends daily validation reports custom tailored for each writer on the team. As part of this role, performed significant analysis on team processes including integration with translation teams, and wrote code to support team objectives. Note JX's separate role as Senior API Technical Writing Consultant.
*** Technical Writing and Graphic Design Consultant @ Cisco Systems
San Jose, CA, 7/2006-8/2006
Designed and implemented twelve diagrams that document the Cisco Digital Media System (DMS) architecture. Cisco DMS is a highly-distributed video streaming and VOD (Video-on-demand) system consisting of various Cisco networking products that encode, publish, and distribute video over the Internet to a platform-independent consumer video portal. Cisco used the diagrams for internal engineers, sales team, marketing team, and white papers.
*** Senior Technical Writer Consultant and Project Lead @ Openwave Systems
Redwood City, CA, 8/2004-6/2005
Designed and wrote user interface flow documentation for an customizable mobile Web/WAP browser software used in a half billion phones worldwide. Wrote content for a customizable e-mail/SMS/MMS/SMIL messaging system based on OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) standards. Other topics included phone-desktop synchronization, multimedia content management, and memory management. Created a custom visual design language (including style guide) to support extremely varied audiences. Wrote code for Microsoft Visio using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA code) to support translation and show dynamic intra-document hyperlinks. Wrote PERL scripts to parse proprietary XML source code files to extract icon data. Delivered five documents in large format (17"x11") color printed documentation, as interactive PDFs, and as an interactive Web/HTML format. Supervised two external consultants on the project. Wrote custom scripts that searched strings from the Openwave source code and overrode diagram text with licensee-specific text changes and translated the documentation into supported foreign languages.
*** Senior Technical Writer @ MapQuest (an AOL Company)
Mountville, PA, 4/2003-8/2004
Wrote documentation for developer tools (APIs and SDKs) for Enterprise versions of MapQuest mapping, geocoding, driving directions, and proximity searching. Content included Installation, Configuration, API Programming Guide, and API Reference. Languages included Java, C++, Visual Basic (VB/VB.NET), ASP, ASP.NET (ASPX), COM, and ADP. Platforms included Solaris (UNIX), Linux, and Microsoft Windows. One of the API programming manuals was a REST/RESTful web service implemented with XML and XSLT. Each manual produced in separate versions for each language interface, for a total of 16 total variants of the books including related API Developer Guide.
*** Asset Specification Writer / External Art Contributor @ Electronic Arts, Maxis division
Walnut Creek, CA, 5/2002-8/2002
Designed new buildings, power plants, heavy industrial, and skyscrapers for implementation by external 3D CAD artists. Researched, designed, and wrote 2-to-24 page specifications using architectural technical writing. In the official credits of the highly-acclaimed award-winning game SimCity 4 as External Art Contributor.
*** Sex Educator, Database Consultant, Web Designer @ San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI)
San Francisco, CA, 2000-2006
Wrote detailed, accurate, non-judgmental information about human sexuality, based on extensive training about medical and psychological research. Managed web site. Edited content from others for e-mail and web. Designed and implemented databases, including a call reporting database and a web content management system. Co-supervised a public phone switchboard, spending many hundreds of hours answering questions about safe healthy human sexuality from people with diverse age, education levels, and communication skills. As a supervisor, helped train new switchboard staff.
*** Platform Communications Consultant @ 3Com and Palm
Santa Clara, CA, 3/1999-8/2001
Wrote and edited programmer-level (API/SDK) information and business development copy for Palm OS mobile (PDA) platform developers.
*** Senior Web Engineering Consultant @ 3Com and Palm
Santa Clara, CA, 3/1999-8/2001
Programmed dynamic content (CGI, PERL, ColdFusion, JavaScript). Consulted on technical problems and company-wide web infrastructure integration issues. Used Dreamweaver UltraDev, Fireworks, TeamSite, ColdFusion, BBEdit on Mac OS, Windows, and implemented dynamic Web site scripts (CGIs) on Windows NT and Sun Solaris (UNIX) using ColdFusion, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server.
*** Senior Developer Technical Support (DTS) Engineer @ Apple Computer
Cupertino, CA, 6/1993-9/1998
Wrote programmer-level (API/SDK) documents, researched programmer API/SDK problems, performed code reviews for external API programmers, wrote API-level technical presentations, gave presentations to audiences of thousands of people, wrote interim documentation, and edited the team's 150-page API-level technical Q&A documentation. Used C++, NewtonScript, Windows, Mac OS, Newton OS, MPW, Metrowerks CodeWarrior, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Was a world expert in the NewtonScript language. Designed content management database and publishing system for output as web site, PDF files, and CD-ROM. Publishing system used FileMaker Pro, AppleScript, and C++. Also was an expert in the Apple Media Tool Programming Language, and wrote example code that shipped with the Apple Media Kit product. Related to Newton work, wrote 4 articles published in the Newton Technology Journal, a professional journal for Newton OS developers. Became a Technical Peer Review Board member for the journal.
*** Software Development Engineer @ Apple Computer
Cupertino, CA, 10/1997-6/1998
On "loan" from the Developer Support Engineer group, wrote Macintosh (Mac OS) and Windows code to exchange information between handheld (PDA) and desktop Windows and Macintosh computers via serial and network communications protocols. Assisted in code related to communications, scripting, and user interface. Used C++, Windows, Mac OS, Newton OS, AppleScript, MPW, Metrowerks CodeWarrior.
*** Shareware Programmer / Software Engineer @ JX Software
Hanover, NH, 1/1991-12/1996
Wrote the Macintosh software application Do It All! Calendar, using C++. MacUser gave it Four Mice rating. Shareware Magazine said "Definite A+ for user interface design and overall product usefulness."
*** Software Engineer @ Paradigm Technologies
San Jose, CA, 6/1991-9/1991
Wrote a product manufacturing process management tool for memory chip manufacturer. Wrote a Windows application to download and integrate data from offsite warehouses and detect invalid data from data sources. Written in C++ on Windows.
*** Software Development Engineering Consultant @ Active Systems
Lebanon, NH, 1/1991-6/1991
Wrote new programming modules and designed user interface for Macintosh educational software that interfaced with proprietary hardware. Implemented scripting language and graphical editor in object-oriented C, a variant of C++.
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TRAININGS AND CERTIFICATIONS
Certified Master Practioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Marin NLP, 2005-2006
Scrum Training
DITA Training
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CREATIVITY
Photographer
Professional photographer, with portraits and fine art photography on the Internet at http://www.jxphotography.com
Designer, Artist, Painter
Download art on the Internet at http://www.doitall.com
Musician
Tenor sax, keyboard, drums, electronics, flute, guitar. Some downloadable at http://www.doitall.com
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RECOMMENDATIONS
*** Ihor Leshko -- Director of Engineering at Databricks
In my entire career I've never worked with a more talented and more meticulous technical writer as JX Bell. I strongly believe that the quality of JX's work has a large part to play in the success of our company and its platforms. I am continuously impressed by JX's attention to detail and ability to spot problems, disagreements, or holes in our designs. We know JX will bring full exceptional effort for technical product feedback and collaboration on major initiatives with dozens of people across teams. And for Enterprise Security and System Architecture, JX has become a key resource at the company who knows how it works in general as well as cloud differences. What sets him apart is he actually understands at a technical level how things work, the problem it's trying to solve, the problems the customer needs to solve, and how these things meet. Hire JX!
*** Neal Hannan -- Privacy, Product, and IP Lawyer at Databricks
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend JX Bell as a technical writer. He has an incredible memory and cross-referencing attention to detail. He'll live and breathe your technical documentation so readers have a clear understanding of how things work. And he'll do it without requiring a lot of direction. I lead the product legal function (as Assistant General Counsel) and JX works closely with my team on highly technical issues relating to security and data processing. For a non-lawyer, JX has a lawyerly sense of edge cases, nuances, risks, careful wording, and good judgement focused on accurately representing how our products work. When I review his work product, his precision saves me time and effort — when it feels easy, it's a sign of things working well! I also like that he's proactive to keep my team informed on stuff we care about. My whole team likes working with him. He'd be a valuable addition to your team too!
*** David Veuve -- Head of Security Field Engineering at Databricks
JX is by far the most detail-oriented and most technical of any technical writer I've met! He keeps up with our best engineers, architects, and security professionals and produces professional docs on even complex topics. Separate from producing docs, his ability to track myriad tasks on complex projects and deliverables (and follow up on all the loose ends) has built substantial trust across teams, and he does it with surprising patience. JX tracks down key knowledge, verifies it, identifies gaps or inconsistencies, and bridges the knowledge silos. This collaboration makes him special — it's hard to get large cross-functional teams on the same page. JX also helps my team as we build white papers & presentations. We have accepted thousands of suggestions, and use him as a sanity check for content before we publish. On major public-facing materials, one of the first questions that we've been asked by our legal team is “has JX signed-off this?” Overall, JX is a key source of knowledge on security and system architecture here. We count on him to make our products, docs, and company better. JX is fantastic!
*** Gerardo Saca -- Senior Staff Technical Lead at Databricks
I strongly recommend JX Bell as someone who has been critical to launching many high-business-impact launches of highly technical Enterprise Security features for our largest and highest-paying customers! Some launches involved unplanned last minute requests like a change in our implementation recommendations right before launch -- JX jumped with both feet into intense working sessions with our engineers, field folks, and external strategic partners to write highly technical documentation. He got our documentation out the door, on time, and with high quality and customer-first content. We all know that without good documentation, a feature is pretty much useless and JX has been essential in ensuring that our features can be adopted by customers.
*** Will Harrison -- Principal Product Manager at Chronicled
JX Bell will be a great asset to your team. JX worked with us for years as a Documentation Consultant as we grew Chronicled from our early days to having multiple complex products with hundreds of pages of documentation! JX is 100% by far the most technical tech writer I've met, in fact, JX is on par with the software engineering team! His deep technical knowledge benefitted us many times over, as well as his industry and "best practices" experience for engineering and docs. JX has even respectfully called out gaps in product design or engineering best practices that proved right as time passed! From my experience JX is always available, always willing to collaborate, and always available to dive deep in discussions. He has a fantastic sense of what should be happening, not just between a tech writer and the team, but also between engineering and QA, and between engineering and the support/field team. Our whole team appreciates his commitment, persistence, and due diligence across the board. Hire him!
*** Bhavin Kukadi -- Field Engineer at Databricks
JX Bell is fantastic. He's smart, takes initiative, and gets the job done. Very few technical writers try things out, and our product is super technical so it's great having someone who can do really pretty advanced stuff on his own as well as write about it. We know that JX's work is very thorough in terms of not just documentation but product knowledge and technical experience. I frequently look up and borrow from his doc because of its clarity and accuracy, which saves me time and effort. He is also super responsive — if something is wrong and we let JX know, he's prompt at following up with people and fixing things as needed. On a personal level, I've always had a great experience: he's no nonsense, has a friendly personality, and you want to work with someone who is friendly or fun if you're gonna spend hours at work and learn from each other. And yet he's a straight shooter who's NOT afraid to give direct and honest feedback to help the team solve problems, which helps builds trust across teams. I strongly recommend JX for your team!
*** Filippo Seracini -- Product Manager at Databricks
As a Product Manager, I worked with JX for almost two years at Databricks. JX Bell can get into the technical weeds, understand it all, be super independent, and drive end-to-end completion with professionalism. JX's knowledge, judgment, and people skills help him work across the company to pull legal, product security, and the right engineers. One of the main qualities of JX's work that I'd like to call out is his ability to drive the documentation to the end with great autonomy. In fact, it's the first time in my career that I've had the pleasure of a doc kickoff meeting followed by technical documentation delivered with high quality and minimal intervention. We rely on JX to ask great questions, write what we need, and do the right things by the right dates. It takes burden off my shoulders for peace of mind! A big thank you to JX for his work and I strongly recommend him for any team!
*** Victor Tso -- Senior Staff Software Engineer at Paxata Inc.
You'd be super lucky to have JX on your team. JX delivers excellent organization, attention to detail, consistent voice, and professional presentation. I love that he takes something minimally specced, dives deep, asks good questions, and at the end delivers complete professional docs. But JX offers way more than putting what I've coded into words. We welcome his wisdom into how to improve what we deliver. JX contributes insights that we usually could get only from Senior level Product Managers, API designers, and QA engineers. It's a dance that he plays where he respects his charter to deliver super technical docs and yet offers a unique skillset that brings the entire product together. We value JX's perspective about how something would land with the customer, such as calling out gaps and stuff that needs clarification. He can take any technical and abstract info or process that you throw at him... and his agility with information lowers my OWN anxiety because I know he keep tabs on everything. :-) At multiple companies, I've seen firsthand JX's independent & flexible process in fast-moving engineering teams. I strongly recommend JX Bell for any team.
*** Jay Lillie -- Director Paxata Federal Solutions at Paxata Inc.
JX has become the "go to" guy for our technical documentation. His approach to his work is very organized and strongly systematic. He brings a special talent for precision and clarity of thought. He learns things deeply enough that he can synthesize and explain in a structured way; he helps take disorganized concepts, inputs, and thoughts and make them understandable to others. There has been a marked improvement in the quantity, quality, and thoroughness of the documentation that we're producing for our customer since JX has taken over. I highly recommend him for teams needing professional documentation in the technology marketplace.
*** Paul D'Albora -- Software Engineer at Guidewire Software
JX is the most technical tech writer I've ever worked with in my career. He's sufficiently technical for very complex, technical, abstract docs. And JX knows how to explain things well, which requires deep understanding of the tech but also how real people learn and communicate. He makes valuable early project feedback that turns out to be important to our designs, and the company. He's good at understanding and empathizing with end-users of a design, and what their needs are. He's unafraid to speak his mind if a proposal doesn't make sense, and he does it tactfully in a professional way. I've worked with JX for many years now, and on a personal note he's a pleasure to work with. I strongly recommend JX Bell as a top-notch technical writer with a deep grasp of API design and software architecture.
*** Trevor Morris -- Software Engineer at Guidewire Software
JX Bell is the best out there for what he does: he's extremely technical and really good at communication. He learns quickly, and I'm impressed by how much he knows about different systems. Plus all that knowledge is at his fingertips, so he can tie it all together. He contributes as a peer in a working group that's basically our Senior Architects plus JX. He's eager to help both personally and with anything that will help the company and our customers. I'm always impressed by his leadership in making sure the right things get discussed and solved. At a personal level, I enjoy working with JX, he's easy to talk to and makes collaboration a pleasure. His combination of enthusiasm, deep technical knowledge and top notch communication skills (both in writing and in person) make him somebody that any organization would be lucky to have.
*** Robert Geiwitz -- Senior Technical Writer at Guidewire Software
I have worked with JX for over seven years. In that time, Guidewire Software has grown from a small tech start-up to a post-IPO company with multibillion-dollar worldwide customers. During this time, JX had a dual role as skilled technical writer and as automation/process guy in our documentation team. JX's programming and writing efforts have helped the Guidewire documentation group achieve a very high level of sophistication in the doc that we deliver. I'm grateful for the things, both large and small, that JX does to make us and our customer community a success. JX is a very proficient programmer with expertise in API design. Over the course of his tenure at Guidewire, JX his written thousands of lines of code to automate our documentation tools. The GW doc team now has an automated nightly doc build process with auto-generated emails that highlight validations and warnings about our language usage and doc structure, all designed and implemented by JX. On a personal note, JX is extremely helpful, and also most gracious about it. I really appreciate the effort he makes when something important suddenly comes up, which, in the world of software release cycles, is often. I have noticed that JX puts attention into good interpersonal communication. He makes an effort in meetings, both public and private, to listen carefully to what the current speaker is saying, and respond in a positive diplomatic manner. Without a doubt, I believe JX to be a valuable technical asset for any company.
*** Peter Rexer -- Platform Product Manager at Guidewire Software
JX is one of the rare technical writers that I've met that actually could be a coder on many of the high-octane teams that he's writing documentation for. His love of writing craft and explaining technology and coding standards shows through in his work. Having someone that can turn my whiteboard scribbles and ten minute explanation of an arcane topic into top notch doc truly makes JX stand out. Not only does he *get* how compilers and garbage collectors work, he helps find potential holes in a complex design as you explain it to him. Those are some damn pesky good questions JX asks... and he makes me think a little harder about how to make our software better. JX also brings a sensitivity to how difficult it is to translate vague terms or ideas into other languages, and pushed me to come up with concrete recommendations for our users that would translate what we *really* mean. Guidewire customers probably don't know it, but their project success is thanks to JX's technical skills and keen eye for language.
*** Regina Bustamante -- Director of International Product Management at Guidewire Software
When a co-worker goes above and beyond expectations in their interaction with me or my team I like to call it out. I am talking about JX Bell and the many ways in which he contributes to the success of the company. The Globalization team's background is in software localization rather than document translation and publishing, and JX helps us succeed in our larger mission. In addition to his technical writing for Guidewire in the Documentation team, JX developed globalization-friendly features in Guidewire's documentation publishing system. His most long lasting contribution, we hope, was advice on process improvements to help our translation vendors deliver higher quality documents for all our future projects. JX's technical expertise, good will, and cross-team coordination allow us to offer high quality documentation to large multi-billion-dollar customers around the world.
*** Gerry Kane -- Documentation Manager at Openwave Systems
JX has a rare ability to discover very creative solutions while staying incredibly focused on delivering solid and accurate documentation on schedule. He moves easily from quickly grasping the 'big picture' to drilling down to the detailed level to fill in that picture. JX combines a depth of technical knowledge and skills with an artist's eye for presentation and design. History: I first worked with JX Bell at Apple in the mid '90s when I was the Technical Publications Manager for the Newton Group and JX was an engineer in the closely-linked developer support (Developer Support Engineer) organization. His contributions to the Newton developer community were widely acknowledged and his interactions with the technical publications group were invaluable as we all worked to build and invigorate the Newton OS platform. More recently, I worked with JX while I was at Openwave, which was developing and deploying a cellphone-based browser and application framework. I was tasked with defining and producing a comprehensive user interface (UI) flow document for external partners (and internal engineers) that completely specified the behavior of the extremely customizable underlying framework. There were tremendous time and detail pressures to deliver a robust document under highly severe contract penalties. I hired JX in to help. He quickly did much more than 'help'. He defined Visio-based templates that were invaluable and unique in illustrating how the framework operated. He worked under great pressure and delivered comprehensive documents that became the standard for Openwave and were used as sales tools when dealing with vendors.
*** Craig Barton -- Director of Products at MapQuest Enterprise API Solutions
As Product Director of MapQuest Solutions, a division of America Online (AOL), I worked closely with J. Christopher “JX” Bell as a Technical Writer and a Technical Communication Consultant. MapQuest and AOL were extremely happy with his work. In addition to developing deep knowledge of complex programmer-level (API) tools and creating several suites of documentation, JX advised us on our product line, improved our API interface, and dramatically improved product deliverables across the board. JX contributed both low-level technical knowledge and high-level perspectives to us to help make our products easier to use and easier to understand. JX translates technology details for a variety of audiences. He keeps his audience in mind, whether it is in person, on the phone, in e-mail, in writing, or in design. He translates complex information into what would be useful for each audience, and even knows how to talk to varied audiences all at once with elegance and clarity. JX's work was readily and openly accepted and praised across the organization, including Quality Assurance, Engineering/Development, Pre-Sales/Sales teams, and our paying customers. They all appreciated that JX's work was well-designed, detailed, and thorough. JX balances an attention to detail with thoughtful elegant introductions, explanations for less technical people, detail for very technical people, and the key information for decision makers. It's also worth noting that JX demonstrated great skill for collaboration and diplomacy with a wide range of people and personalities, even when people are in crisis mode. And yet when we needed it, he's courageous enough to respectfully ask tough questions with integrity when appropriate, and this process improved our teamwork and our products. In addition to his technical skills and people skills, JX is an excellent graphic designer and marketing communication consultant who created very professional diagrams, graphics, and marketing materials. I strongly recommend JX Bell for any technical communication or marketing communication projects.
*** Sidney Griffin -- Manager of Platform Communications at Palm, Inc
It has been a pleasure having Christopher (JX) as part of the Platform Communications Team. Christopher (JX) is a professional web developer of the highest caliber, who meticulously developed, formatted, edited, and managed critical user documentation and content for one of Palm's premier internet properties, PalmOS.com. Our internal customers -- management, and personnel in tech support, engineering, training/education, and other departments all praised his work. Christopher (JX) is an innovative self-starter, who excels in a high-level of autonomy and accountability. He is punctual and typically exceeds expectations. Of his many skills, his ability to foster relationships cross-functionally in an ever changing, fast-paced environment has proven to be extremely beneficial to our team. He handles pressure well and is adept at problem identification and resolution. Whether the situation calls for rollout of a site redesign, data migration, server monitoring, or the creation of content on our PalmOS.com site, Christopher (JX) not only met these extremely tight deadlines, but also often beat them. At the same time, he continued to produce a stellar user experience to support our more than 150,000+ developer community who look tot he site as the primary support resource to aid in their development efforts for the Palm OS platform. These are just a few examples which highlight Christopher's [JX's] superior skills and admirable work ethics. Christopher (JX) is an invaluable asset to any technical communications department, and I highly recommend hiring him."
*** Gabriel Acosta-Lopez -- Developer Support Manager at Apple Computer, Inc.
Christopher (JX) was a great asset, both professionally and personally, to the Developer Support team. Christopher (JX) showed excellent technical skills as a software engineer, problem solver, code debugger, and researcher. He used these skills in his own work, and also in cooperation with peers, other Apple engineers, and our developers. In addition to his primary duties helping developers with their applications and collaborating with our engineering teams, he had other responsibilities that he handled well. For instance, he took responsibility for the management, editing, and publishing of hundreds of "Q&A" documents, creating a database and a process that satisfied the team and cross-functional teams. He also helped the engineering teams and software quality teams who requested his time in order to meet their deadlines, arrangements that I worked out with the other teams. On a personal note, he has been a great asset to the group because of his good spirits, sense of humor, and passion to help and teach others. For these reasons, I've appreciated my time working with him. Overall, he was a valuable part of my team, and I recommend him as a very well rounded and solid professional.
*** Michael Buckland - Project Manager at Newton System Group (Apple Inc.)
In his role as an engineer in the Newton Systems Group, J Christopher (JX) Bell did an excellent job during the 7 months or so we worked together. During this time, he was a developer support engineer, and I was project manager for a critical software project. For example, J. Christopher's (JX's) team skills in assisting fellow engineers was invaluable in staffing an under-resourced but critical project. To do that, he and his manager agreed to transfer J. Christopher (JX) to my team for 7 months, where he provided extensive support to my project in writing code, bug fixing, and documenting bugs. J. Christopher (JX) contributed a great deal to the technical effort in getting the code written for this schedule-driven project. He demonstrated to me that he could write code with the best of the software engineers on the project. Another example of the value J. Christopher (JX) added can be seen in his technical communication skills. I have rarely seen the attention to detail and concise description of technical details that J. Christopher (JX) displayed in a the way he documented bugs in our tracking database. J. Christopher (JX) has always displayed the personal characteristics required to get the job done. He is pleasant to work with, always ready to pitch in and help, and has a sense of humor that helped when things got tense, as they always do in aggressively goaled projects. Finally, J. Christopher (JX) will be an asset to any manager requiring great technical skills, commitment to the team, and the ability to communicate technical information clearly and concisely.
*** John Bouvier -- President at San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI)
I am the President of San Francisco Sex Information. SFSI is a 30 year old not-for-profit that runs a large educational department, web site, and most importantly a free national phone switchboard offering Free, Accurate, Anonymous Non-judgmental Sex Information and Referral to the United States and ever increasingly the rest of the world via phone, email, and our web site. I am writing in behalf of one of SFSI's more valued staff members, Mr. JX Bell. I have been both his supervisor over the years and also a collaborator on a number of projects here at SFSI. JX has worked for SFSI in various roles since his sex educator training courses in year 2000: writing detailed technical answers to our clients, writing new detailed copy for our web site, writing marketing copy, and now as Web Editor and webmaster of SFSI. All of his technical writing about sex is accurate and consistent with the latest books, journal articles, medical research, and other sources of information about human sexuality, reproduction, birth control, diseases, risk prevention, practices, and sexual and gender identity. He shows the constant desire to learn and improve, which helps others grow and contribute. He has fostered and nurtured cross-functional work at SFSI in arenas that had challenged SFSI for a few years before JX arrived on the scene to provide insight and solutions. JX understands the big picture yet with a great attention to detail as well as demonstrating excellent communication skills in person, in writing, and on the phone. He is calm, considerate, articulate, and deals with stress well both on the phone with clients and with Staff. JX is one of the best writers in 1-to-1 email answers to our clients as well. He is capable of explaining complex things to a variety of audiences, including educated older adults, inexperienced teenagers, and even other sex educators within SFSI when collaborating on answers and continuing education. In his technical role as Web Editor, he has significantly improved our web site, expanded services, and created a content management database to facilitate content management, supervisor approvals, and even translation teams for Spanish content. On a personal note I find JX to be an extremely focused person that I enjoy working with and learn from as well. I like it when some one can show me another side to a situation and/or problem that I might not see like he does. When JX sinks his teeth into a project/problem, it gets done! Based on his training, knowledge, experience, and communication skills, I recommend JX as a significant value to any technical communication team.
Full set of recommendations:
www.jxconsulting.com/rec