Adrian Doonan

ask me adrian {at} thehirdpoliceman.com adriandoonan Adrian Doonan Berlin, Germany

Profile

Product Owner turned Technical Writer with experience and enthusiasm for both the technical and the writing parts of the job. I have experience both spinning up docs from scratch using static site generators, web hosting providers, CDNs and creating the entire workflow & end to end processes as well as working in teams, onboarding new technical writers, proofing and editing, collaborating on style guides and implementing prose linting tools such as Vale.

Education

Web Dev bootcamp ~ 2024 ~ Ironhack, Berlin

  • Completed a three-month, full stack (MERN) bootcamp to level up my development skills

B.A. Modern Foreign Languages ~ 2001 - 2006 ~ University of Westminster, London

  • German, Arabic and Spanish language and culture with a shared focus on translation and interpreting

Experience

Technical Writer ~ 2019 – 2023 ~ Mambu, Berlin

  • Worked with PMs and engineering teams to deliver open, customer-facing documentation following our internal style guide and best practices
  • Transformed a manual and time-consuming API documentation process to an automated, docs-as-code approach using shell scripting, GNU text manipulation tools, jq and Widdershins/Shins
  • Built and launched a new documentation site for ecosystem-related products using git submodules to keep markdown content close to the code, GitLab CI/CD pipelines, Hugo SSG and Tailwind CSS

Product Owner ~ 2013 – 2018 ~ 360dialog, Berlin

  • Sole product owner for a mobile ad server and real-time bidding DSP serving millions of daily active users before working in a team of 12+ engineers and product owners on an omni-channel CRM, taking lead on the web messaging, authentication and reporting features
  • Authored comprehensive documentation, release notes, newsletters and UI snippets for internal and external customers
  • Worked closely with the CEO, CTO and other department heads to deliver rock-solid and feature rich software to meet tight client deadlines and enterprise-level expectations
  • Helped the team through a number of refactoring and technology migrations to come to our final version
  • Was involved in open sourcing the core technology as the standalone xorc.io real-time orchestration platform

Investor Relations Officer ~ 2012-2013 ~ Found Fair Ventures

  • Organised and hosted events for members of the Berlin Startup community, managing guest lists, reception and catering
  • Curated investor database and provided matching services to portfolio companies and internal fundraisers
  • Coordinated with founders and investors to prepare funding rounds, pitch decks and other collateral

Skills

Programming Languages: JavaScript, node.js, HTML / CSS, Bash, (Basic) Clojure

Tools and Frameworks: React, Express, MongoDB, Git, GitHub, GitLab, Open API, Tailwind, Sass, Hugo

Languages: English (native), German (advanced), Spanish (proficient)

Other stuff

  • Produced the webseries You Me We in collaboration with Rolling Eye Films, winning Best Comedy Cast at the 2016 Rome Web Awards.
  • Performing improv regularly at Comedy Cafe Berlin since summer 2022.
  • Semi-finalist at Berlin New Standup Awards 2024
  • Volunteer organiser for the annual Das Improv Festival in Berlin, chiefly involved with the technical implementation of the website and authoring newsletter content.