Skills & Background
Very Potted History of 'Pon My Word
We are Alistair and Maria Rattray, and have established our own Writing Services web presence – namely this Site https://ponmyword.com.
Our motto is “Bringing Writing To Life”, and we seek to use our combined, diverse and complementary professional experiences to good advantage, by delivering quality outcomes, designed to ‘put a smile on the face’ of every client.
Please see the following notes regarding our relevant skills:
Résumé Summary for Maria A. Rattray
- Author and Editorial Team Member – “Illumination” and other Publications on The Medium Platform
- – see Maria’s Medium Profile Page. (Lots of differing Article/Post examples, spanning the human condition – parenting, children, environment, sustainability, health, self-improvement, relationships…)
- Writer – Fiction
- – see Maria’s Author Page.
- Career School Teacher – Australia, Scotland (Notre Dame)
- International School – Teacher Bovo (Bougainville PNG)
- BEd – University of Canberra
- TESL Qualified – English as a Second Language
- Australian Journalist Association – Journalistic Writing (Certificate)
Résumé Summary for Alistair T. Rattray
With writing-related observations…
Principal Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Mathematics – University of Adelaide
- Hons thesis; Teaching material development and publication.
- (Hons) Computing Science – University of Sydney
- Hons thesis; Teaching material development and publication.
- PhD – Artificial Intelligence – University of Sydney
- PhD thesis; Teaching material development and publication.
- American Writers and Artists Institute Verified (Copywriting)
- AWAI flagship Copywriting course; Fully integrated, critically assessed exercises and examples drawn from real life; sales and marketing copy; landing pages; persuasive writing. AWAI Verified.
Concise Work Experience
- Research Scientist – Defence Science and Technology Organization – Weapons Research – Computing/Computer Architecture
- Technical writing; system documentation; user manuals; adherence to the Australian Government Style Manual.
- Lecturer – University of South Australia – Computing Science – All years
- Multi/Cross-Year course development, publication and delivery; research papers; management reporting; Teaching material development and documentation suitable for delivery by tutors.
- Communications Engineer – Bougainville Copper Ltd (PNG) – Mine Planning – Enterprise Systems Integration
- Complete system documentation for a short-term Mine Planning System (software system developed and implemented by the author); Fully costed design, implementation, integration and operational business proposal (seeking executive management approval) for a site-wide computer and voice communications network.
- Enterprise Application Integration – Computer Sciences of Australia – Wide Area Enterprise Networking
- Comprehensive subsystem documentation for a fundamental component of a multi-million dollar mainframe-based national wide-area network.
- Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering – R J Nairn & Partners – Subdivision Design – Traffic Signals Architecture
- Engineering documentation; User documentation for existing, undocumented, old-technology traffic light system (Manila).
- Senior Consultant – DMR Consulting – Various IT Business Assignments – Commercial and Technical
- Business bid proposals for client project briefs; Client assignment reporting.
- Senior Member of Consulting Staff – Computer Sciences Corporation – Various Assignments – Commercial and Technical
- Responses to several multi-million dollar Federal Government RFTs (Requests For Tender) – accuracy, completeness, suitability for contract inclusion essential; Also, business bid proposals for client project briefs; Client assignment reporting.
- Senior Project Manager – IBM GSA – IT Outsourcing Services
- Project bid proposals; Project Management Plans; Post Implementation Reviews; Quality Assurance Reviews; (Microsoft Project).
- Independent Consultant – Federal Government – IT Service Management
- Major RFT production; Tender evaluation; Formal correspondence with prospective Tenderers; Formal evaluation reports for senior management; Contract negotiations; Final contract documentation; Team member mentoring.