About
He doesn’t know how to talk about himself. He finds that trying to answer the question, “who are you?” is a bit of a loaded question. Because how is one supposed to tell a life story in a forty-five-minute interview. When all that is wanted is a three-minute response to the question. It makes him chuckle because he feels like he is trying out for a dating show and all he can think about is the piña colada song. He is serious about making his deadlines. He also knows he can’t take himself too seriously and yes, he can be a goofball.
Current Work
In his current role at Bristol Myers Squibb, he manages laboratory safety documentation. He also leads strategy sessions with teams to develop comprehensive documentation to boost operational efficiency. He has audited and organized the technical documentation to reduce redundant files, which directly enhanced staff productivity and reduced customer inquiries.
As the sole Technical Writer, Ray has to manage his time between meetings with stakeholders, SMEs, and documentation management. But that is what he enjoys: collaborating with his teammates to ensure all the documentation captures all the needed information. Ray strives to have his documentation clear and concise. He is not a fan of a “TL:DR” response.
Time at Lawrence Berkeley Lab
As a Technical Writer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , part of the Advance Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) team, and I managed the safety systems documentation. I works closely with the safety systems engineers to ensure the documentation reflected all safety standards.
Although my contract was short I learned a lot about radiation safety protocols. When I had time to walk around the Laboratory campus I enjoyed watching the gangs of turkeys running around.
Time at Meta
As a Technical Writer at Meta, one would think that he is on a team with other Tech Writers. When in reality he is a one-man show in charge of four teams. His day starts with emails but revolves around staying on top of his Task list and constant communication with Stakeholders from the four teams. He has to handle all the authoring, editing, updating, and interviewing. It’s a good thing that Ray has some journalist experience from his time at San José State.
Talking to SMEs, SNOEs, and Engineers is something that Ray enjoys. It’s during those interviews that he gets to step away from his desk and dive into the exploration of how things work. During one of those many interviews, he learned how a cluster relays your favorite meme, the cat with its head in a slice of bread, and stores them because we need to be able to view that at lightning speed.
His Stakeholders appreciate his hard work and quick turnaround. They no longer have to wait on the documentation before the information becomes obsolete and deprecated. He takes great pride in his work and strives to produce the highest quality documentation.
Documentation
Here are some examples of the documentation layouts that I created for my teams at Meta.
User Guide Design
A class project that teamed up five students and tasked them with creating a user guide for an existing app. I created the look and layout of the user guide and turned it into a mini booklet. I was trying to make something that looked like it came from within an actual product package.
Logo Design
The Hammer Theatre asked for a logo for an event. This was the process of making that logo.
Copy
A spoof advert that I designed and wrote the copy for. This was a solo project for a student-run magazine at San José State University.
San José State University College of Humanities and the Arts Expressions Newsletter. As part of the editorial team for the H&A, I contributed articles to volumes 30, 31, 32, and 33.
Creative
I write poetry and short stories. I am trying out a new way of putting my works out there at things i write.
Social media graphics
Ray Barrientes Jr. 