Maarit Alanko

I work with a small team of writers at customer's premises in Hyvinkää. In addition to the usual editing work, I have helped the customer to create a new documentation template for specific documentation purposes and I have been involved in testing their new CCMS tool.

• Edited customer documentation in cooperation with IT consultants in Helsinki office and cooperating with my colleagues in Ireland.
• Improved documentation templates to make them more accessible to users.
• Translated customer documents into Finnish.
• Increased awareness of the importance of good-quality customer documentation.

• Reviewed and edited customer and developer documentation to improve readability and make documents simpler for non-native speakers.
• Working language was English.
• Worked together with the engineering team and the marketing team in multi-site teams.
• Took part in developing customer documentation processes and instructions for other writers, and gathering terms for company term bank.

• Created documents in English ranging from data sheets and maintenance manuals to online helps.
• Took product photographs and created images for documents.
• Worked in cooperation with both hardware and software teams and with various other stakeholders, including UX team.
• Learnt about scrum and agile methods.
• Improved UI texts.
• Took part in field visits and monitored the customer in action to improve the instructions.
• Wrote internal instructions for other writers.
• Acted as translation coordinator.

• Created customer documentation in English and edited figures.
• Part of my work was also to act as a translation coordinator.

• I started my technical writing career at Kudos Information Finland in 2001 and worked at two other subcontracting companies (Citec and BGS) until 2007.
• Working as a subcontractor for a major customer was a real learning experience and a great start for my career.
• Wrote, edited and proofread customer documentation as part of a team and also independently using the customer's writing and versioning tools.