Nathan Barbarick

Portland, OR

👋 Hello!

Portrait of the site creator, who has brown wavy hair and glasses.

I'm a creative and analytical writer and editor helping to build the bridge between people and technology.

My professional background in technical publications and as an educator allows me to bring a love of reading, writing, teaching, and learning to complex software documentation projects.

Take a look around this site for some samples of my work. Check out my resume and email me if you're interested in talking about how I can help with a documentation or UX writing project.

Tools

I love learning new tools for technical work. Here are some that I especially enjoy.

  • Content: Git, Markdown, docs-as-code, AI RAG, ChatGPT, Copilot, Drupal, Jekyll, Docusaurus, Jira, MkDocs, Netlify, Confluence, Heretto, GitHub, GitLab, wikis, Flare, Pandoc, Swagger, Stoplight, API documentation
  • Code: JavaScript, Node.js, Python, HTML, CSS, DITA, XML, YAML
  • Sight: Figma, Miro, Draw.io, OBS, Photoshop, GIMP, InDesign, Adobe Suite
  • Sound: GarageBand, Audition, Reaper, Audacity
  • Server: RaspberryPi, Proxmox, Docker, OpenMediaVault, Syncthing, Tailscale

Technical Writing

REST API documentation

For an independent project to document a REST API, I researched the design and best practices of APIs, then documented the endpoints, methods, and parameters of an application called Syllabus.

In the course of this project, I created a record of my research to help others learn about APIs. You can view it here.

Technologies

  • Stoplight
  • Swagger
  • Postman
  • OpenAPI
  • MERN
  • Markdown

Competencies

  • Research
  • Domain knowledge
  • Project planning
  • Independent work
A diagram explains users making requests and the server responding. The user wants to create bullet points, create a syllabus, and add a book to a list.

Open source information architecture

Because I wanted to contribute to an open source project, I volunteered to audit and revise the information architecture for Canonical's Launchpad, a collaborative platform for open source projects.

This work involved learning about the product, sorting categories into topics, writing introductory content, and updating the Sphinx documentation.

See my GitHub profile for more on my open source contributions.

Technologies

  • Launchpad
  • Sphinx
  • RST
  • Git
  • GitHub

Competencies

  • Information architecture
  • Collaboration
  • Research
  • Troubleshoot
Product documentation shows multiple sections with introductory text and multiple subsections.

Map of hardware maintenance for an IT organization

As part of my leadership and documentation work for the IT department at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, I created a map of supported spaces by consulting with SMEs and following best practices for wayfinding design.

Technologies

  • Figma
  • Miro
  • Mediawiki
  • ssh

Competencies

  • Gap identification
  • Wayfinding
  • Community engagement
A colorful map displays numberous locations on multiple floors of a large building.

Documentation and content migration for vehicle telematics software

Writing for a dashcam and fleet management software company, I worked with product owners, engineers, and other subject matter experts to support urgent feature documentation requests.

This support also included rewriting and rearchitecting hundreds of help topics, requiring an immersion in the software, an understanding of the industry and different use cases, and managing the migration of content into a new knowledge base.

Technologies

  • Agile/SaaS development
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Salesforce

Competencies

  • SME interviews
  • Project planning
  • Collaboration
Screenshots show a map of a vehicle's route, a list of vehicles, and a list of videos.

Feature documentation for enterprise resource planning software

Documenting enterprise resource planning software required me to attend standup meetings, to organize and respond to tickets, and to test the functionality of an application under development.

Technologies

  • Heretto
  • Oxygen
  • DITA
  • Azure DevOps

Competencies

  • Content development
  • Style guides
  • Information architecture
  • Software testing
Image

Hardware and software documentation for a tech-focused arts lab

In the course of supporting a public engagement program at an art studio and technology lab, I documented the process of setting up and managing the livestream using multiple platforms.

Technologies

  • Git
  • Open Broadcaster Software
  • StreamYard
  • Youtube Studio
  • Various lab hardware

Competencies

  • Teamwork
  • SME interviews
  • Event support
A wiki page shows instructions on how to perform video streaming activities.

About this website

Despite the many available options for a turnkey personal website, I took the opportunity of my graduate portfolio requirement to deepen my engagement with the fundamental tools of web design by building out this website from a simple HTML template.

In addition to taking courses in and independently studying web design, I used artificial intelligence chatbots to develop and troubleshoot responsive and accessible site functionality.

Check out the original site I adapted to make this one.

Technologies

  • Visual Studio Code
  • GitHub
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Netlify
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Wave + Lighthouse

Competencies

  • Independent work
  • Content development
  • Research
  • Troubleshooting
Portrait of the site creator, who has brown wavy hair and glasses.