Esther Schindler

13632 N. 58th Place
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
esther@bitranch.com
(602) 441-3013

Qualifications

• Editor: Assigned and edited business and technology stories on weekly and daily deadlines.
• Content provider: Wrote 600+ magazine articles, covering a huge range of subjects: software and hardware reviews, computer industry news, Internet tips and tricks, industry analysis.
• Online guru: Nineteen years experience in every online community role: establishing forums and roundtables, managing participation, developing and implementing marketing strategy.

Professional Experience

Senior Online Editor, CXO Media (IDG). November 2006-present

Generate, oversee and manage key content areas for http://www.cio.com, expanding its audience outside of just IT managers. Responsible for user-contributed content, including the blogs and online community. Write articles, work with staff and freelance writers, engage readers in social media. Beats include software development, open source, operating systems (particularly Macintosh and Linux), telecommuting, and whatever tickles my fancy.

Freelance author and editor. 2002-present

Write, edit, and contribute to a wide range of publications, including Software Test & Performance, Software Development Times, ACM netWorker, Inside the Internet, LabRat, Smart Meetings West, and plenty more (see Esther's articles for links to samples). Also served as senior analyst at Evans Data Corp. (2002-2004), write e-newsletters and e-learning courses, and provide online community management.

Site Editor, DevSource.com, Ziff-Davis. February 2004-November 2006

Held sole responsibility for acquisition and publication of 8-10 original articles for software developers, with emphasis on Windows and .NET programming. Developed relationships with freelance writers, wrote articles on programming trends, and conducted interviews with software development luminaries. Responsible for the online discussion forum.

Senior Writer and Editor, IT Business Network, Digital Media Online. Feb. 2006 - Sept. 2006

Launched a brand-new site for hands-on IT business users; defined site coverage, structure, and scope. Wrote about all aspects of the IT landscape, from management issues to networking to productivity applications. Established a stable of loyal freelance authors.

Content Editor, InformIT.com, Pearson Education. 2003-2006

As a member of a four-person team, I acquired, project managed, posted, and merchandised about 25 articles and sample chapters each month, reaching a diverse audience of programmers, database administrators, system engineers, IT managers, graphic artists, and non-professional end users. Beats include software development, databases, network administration, and desktop applications.

Site Editor, InformationWeek, CMP Media. 2001-2002

Managed the leading IT magazine's online original content at InformationWeek, including opinion columns, features, and online community. Edited online news, wrote two weekly E-mail newsletters, chose stories to highlight. Collaborated extensively with print magazine editors. Wrote occasional columns and features for both print and online. Launched online community, which skyrocketed to 200,000 pageviews per month. Under my tenure, site traffic increased by 26%.

Senior Editor, Planet IT, CMP Media. 2000-2001

Assigned freelance articles, edited and produced 12 to 15 original features per month for this online publication for information technology professionals. Developed and maintained a broad network of industry contacts. Beats: Web tools, E-business, data management, enterprise applications (including CRM and ERP), storage, and Linux.

Technology Editor, Sm@rt Reseller/Sm@rt Partner, Ziff-Davis. 1998-2000

Primarily wrote reviews and other technology articles, but contributed to every magazine section. Beats, for this solution provider weekly magazine, included software development, E-commerce, Web tools, and IBM software. Had a twice-monthly business/technology column.

Additional Editorial Experience. 1992-1998

Magazines: Frequent freelance contributor for a broad range of computer industry publications, including (but not limited to) PC Magazine, Computerworld, Computer Shopper, Software Development, Visual Developer, Network World, Network Magazine, ZD Internet Magazine. Senior contributing editor, OS/2 Magazine, 1994 to 1996. Technical Editor, Visual Developer Magazine, 1996 to 1999.

Books: Author of 3 books ( Lotus Domino Go Webserver Frontrunner, The Computer Speech Book, The New Riders' Guide to Modems); contributed chapters to 4 ( Teach Yourself REXX in 21 Days, Intrabuilder Frontrunner, Inside OS/2, WordPerfect 6 Super Book); technical editor on 4 books ( Linux System Administration White Papers, Linux Programming White Papers, Core Java Media Framework, Inside CompuServe). Wrote 2 software manuals (Smack! labeling software and DeScribe word processor).

Past Work Experience

Online community: Popular and effective online community leader, using both proprietary and Internet technologies. Managed a dozen InformationWeek.com forums, with sections ranging from IT Careers to columnist chat areas to tech talk. Sysop on CompuServe since 1991. Chief Sysop, ZD Net, AT&T Interchange. Active participant in nearly every type of online community (BBSes, instant messaging, IRC, etc.) since 1984.

Software development: Compiler development and optimization; small business custom application programming; corporate database management; software quality assurance at Lotus Development Corp.; network administration.

Computer retailing: Ran a computer store and computer consulting business for four years on rural Deer Isle, an island off the coast of Maine. Served the computer needs of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, from initial consultation to computer training to technical support.

Entrepreneur: Attempted to acquire VC funding for a start-up creating a highly optimized object-oriented software development environment. My company was one of 11 selected for the first Arizona Venture Capital Conference.

Management: Led teams of up to 25 employees. Identified talent, provided mentorship and opportunities for growth

Affiliations

• Internet Press Guild: Founding member, president. Lead author of "Care and Feeding of the Press," a guide for PR professionals.
• Amazon "Top 500" reviewer (see her profile)
• Phoenix OS/2 Society: Founder and board member. The user group's magazine won awards two years running in the Lotus User Group Newsletter Awards (one award was for my column).
• Association of PC User Groups: past member, board of user group advisors.
• Primary instigator of community activities: Warpstock (program chair), WarpTech (program chair), the Downeast Computer Fair. User group officer since 1986.

Presentations

• Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference, panel moderator, Fall 2005.
• Comdex speaker, Las Vegas, Fall 2000.
• Learning Tree International, Instructor, 1994-1997.
• OS/2 World Conference, speaker, 1994 and 1995.

Education

• North American College, 1981-1982. Certificate in Data Processing.
• Brandeis University, 1975-1978. Major in Linguistics, minor in Women's Studies.

Technical Proficiencies

Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, HTML, content management tools (including Vignette, Teamsite), site tracking, and log analysis software. Extensive knowledge of the Internet. Proficient with Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, Linux.