Cynthia Armistead

Past

• Co-Owner / Corporate Secretary at Jill of All Trades
• Executive Vice President (volunteer) at Working to Halt Online Abuse
• Safety Coordinator (volunteer) at The Freecycle™ Network

• Freelance Consultant (Self-employed)
• Lead QA Analyst, DARTmail project at DoubleClick, Inc.
• QA Analyst / Documentation Specialist at GE Information Systems
• IT Specialist at DataScan Technologies, Inc.
• Manager, Information Technology at RelevantKnowledge, Inc
• Technical Writer/Technical Support Supervisor at MindSpring Enterprises, Inc.

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6 more...

Education

• DeVry University
• Southern Polytechnic State University
• Georgia Perimeter College

• Mercer University
• Agnes Scott College

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2 more...

Recommended

3 people have recommended Cynthia

Connections

79 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

• My Blog
• My Portfolio
• My Podcast

Cynthia Armistead’s Summary

I'm a business, technical, and general writer with a wealth of experience in diverse industries. My background, which includes insurance, medical, banking, retail, internet, telecom, accounting, networking, and musical knowledge as well as technical expertise, gives me an advantage in identifying business requirements and working with management and administrative personnel as an analyst or project manager. My technical background is much deeper than that of most technical writers, making me a good fit with your development team as a writer and QA analyst.

I am comfortable with presentations and training sessions for individuals, small groups, or very large audiences. I've been interviewed repeatedly by print and television news media regarding internet safety activism, appearing on CNN, 20/20, the BBC, Oprah, and other shows. I've also worked with law enforcement officers as a case consultant. Having worked well in companies ranging from start-ups with less than ten employees to a subsidiary of GE, in both the non-profit and for-profit sector, and in an international joint-venture as well as a foreign missions agency, I can fit into almost any organizational culture easily.

I'm currently finishing my bachelor's degree via online classes and seeking employment conducive to telecommuting in the greater Atlanta area. I have taken the last six years off to be a parent and do volunteer work, but have continued to develop my skills in that time.

Cynthia Armistead’s Specialties:

Project requirement gathering; software/system testing; test plan development; training; presentations; network administration; deskside, telephone, online and remote support; abuse/spam tracking; health insurance claims processing; medical transcription; web publishing; use of adaptive technology

Cynthia Armistead’s Experience

• Co-Owner / Corporate Secretary

  Jill of All Trades

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Individual & Family Services industry)

  November 2003 — November 2005 (2 years 1 month)

  We provided remodeling and repair services to homeowners and businesses.
  
  I incorporated the business and took care of all business functions that did not involve being on the job sites themselves.

• Executive Vice President (volunteer)

  Working to Halt Online Abuse

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Program Development industry)

  1998 — March 2005 (7 years)

  *Develop and maintain web site at http://www.haltabuse.org/ . I created the design and wrote much of the content on the site.
  *Press interviews with 20/20 Downtown, Oprah, The Net, WSB News, .Net, The Site, USA Today, US News & World Report, AP, and other televised and print media.
  *Serve on the Board of Directors. Help create policies and procedures for the organization.
  *Analyzed statistics collected from cases for 2000 and 2001 and create annual reports based on them.
  *Consult with law enforcement personnel on specific cases and do training with them so that they can trace messages themselves.
  *As an Internet Safety Advocate (1998 to 2000), I worked with people experiencing harassment, traced email and usenet messages and located the proper ISP, email provider and/or web host to whom to complain and contacted those parties on the victims' behalf when appropriate. I also helped the victims learn to avoid further harassment as much as possible.

• Safety Coordinator (volunteer)

  The Freecycle™ Network

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; International Trade and Development industry)

  2004 — 2005 (1 year)

  Freecycle is a network of local groups bringing people with "trash" to get rid of together with neighbors who need or want those items. The network keeps many tons of usable goods out of landfills all over the world.
  
  As Safety Coordinator, I developed safety policies and assisted Freecycle personnel with any problems that arose.
  
  I began volunteering with Freecycle as a local listowner in 2004, then became the first New Group Approver (NGA) for Georgia, before moving on to the Safety Coordinator position.

• Freelance Consultant

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

  1990 — 2003 (13 years)

  I was a full-time consultant for several years, then maintained my consulting practice at a reduced level when employed by other firms. I provided a range of services to individuals and small businesses including internet presence consulting and development, determination of software and hardware needs, building systems to specifications, and training on hardware and software.

• Lead QA Analyst, DARTmail project

  DoubleClick, Inc.

  (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Internet industry)

  1999 — 2000 (1 year)

  DARTmail is an opt-in email marketing system which allows advertisers to manage their mailing lists, measure response to ads, and target messages to consumers based on their expressed preferences. Performed web-based testing of user interface, email-based testing of subscription and response systems, and load testing. Created and used SQL queries to create and test data.

• QA Analyst / Documentation Specialist

  GE Information Systems

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  1999 — 1999 (less than a year)

  Clearinghouse Project (Exchange Link) developed a system for processing ordering and provisioning transactions between Sprint and eight ILECs using EDI and various proprietary data formats on HP-UX servers as well as Oracle and GEIS' products Enterprise System (an electronic commerce gateway), EDI Application Integrator and EDI Express. Trained in use of Segue Silk Suite.
  * Most testing was done at Unix command prompt. Wrote .ksh scripts to automate testing. Performed some minor SQL queries. Some testing of web-based and Windows applications, as well
  * Created, documented and implemented testing procedures, plans and cases from customer requirement, technical specification and ILEC ordering guideline documents for integration, functional and regression tests. Approximately 60% of my time was spent on documentation.
  * Created project schedules, managed testing resources, trained and supervised testers.
  * Acted as liaison to Sprint, Telcordia, ILECs and several teams of developers.

• IT Specialist

  DataScan Technologies, Inc.

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

  1998 — 1998 (less than a year)

  Firm develops software for automotive dealerships and manufacturers.
  * Developed Lotus Notes database to document support and troubleshooting procedures.
  * Documented procedures and created training materials for staff members.
  * Installed, configured and maintained hardware (servers, workstations and related peripherals) and software. Provided internal support for 100 to 150 end users.
  * Backup administrator for NT 4, Citrix WinFrame, Netware 3.x and 4.x, Lotus Notes 4.6 servers and Fujitsu phone switch and voice mail system. Some administration of a BSDI web server.
  * Other duties included MIS purchasing and acting as primary contact for T1 and ISDN service providers.

• Manager, Information Technology

  RelevantKnowledge, Inc

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Market Research industry)

  1997 — 1997 (less than a year)

  (now MediaMetrix) Web demographics provider
  
  * Tested internet-related software in Windows environment and worked with software development team providing feedback on software design and quality control.
  * Documented software and wrote materials for end users and clients.
  * Provided all internal training and support for business operations personnel. Created training materials supplied via intranet.
  * Set standards and procured software and hardware.
  * Installed and configured workstation and LAN software and hardware (mixed Win95 and WinNT environment). Some work on Solaris servers as well.
  * Primary contact for T1 provider (BBNPlanet).

• Technical Writer/Technical Support Supervisor

  MindSpring Enterprises, Inc.

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

  1995 — 1996 (1 year)

  (now Earthlink)
  * Hired as a Telephone Support Representative in September 1995; promoted to Supervisor in October 1995; promoted to additional duties as Technical Writer in January 1996.
  * Developed written training and reference resources for customers and technicians, delivered in both traditional printed and online (email, newsgroup and web) formats.
  * Tested new releases of Windows software (front end, various TCP-IP stacks, various email, newsreader, browser, FTP and telnet programs), tracking defects and working with developers to resolve problems. Also tested web-based applications developed for use by support personnel.
  * Provided support for any issue on Macintosh or Windows computers that could impact use of the customer's MindSpring account via phone, email and newsgroups.
  * Supervised/mentored technicians and assisted in recruiting and training new technicians.

Cynthia Armistead’s Education

• DeVry University

  BS, Technical Communications & Technical Management, 2006 — 2008

  I am enrolled part-time in online classes. The focus of the Technical Management program is training non-traditional students who already have work experience to be effective managers in any type of organization. BSTM graduates are especially well-suited to working with technical staff.
  
  The Technical Communications concentration prepares students to work with information in any field, from software to engineering to medicine, gathering, organizing, and presenting material effectively for a wide variety of audiences in various formats.

• Southern Polytechnic State University

  Professional & Technical Communication 2002 — 2005

• Georgia Perimeter College

  General Studies 1986 — 1987

• Mercer University

  English/Communications 1985 — 1985

• Agnes Scott College

  English 1984 — 1984

Additional Information

Cynthia Armistead’s Websites:

• My Blog
• My Portfolio
• My Podcast

Cynthia Armistead’s Interests:

wellness, lifelong learning, networking, web publishing, media literacy, quality, community, cross-stitch, designing cross-stitch patterns, acoustic music, singing, reading, writing

Cynthia Armistead’s Groups:

Georgia Podcast Network, GALitCon, HUUH-L, Border Pagans

•    MindSpring Alumni
•    Tweeple

Cynthia Armistead’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch