Experience
Click here for a PDF version: TimothyMcMackin.pdf
Summary: Technical writer, software documentation
I explain complicated computer systems, tasks, and concepts in plain language.
•
I build sample applications and implement docs-as-code pipelines.
•
I document AI features and rework docs for consumption by AI agents.
Webflow (Remote): Feb 2026 — May 2026 (workforce reduction)
- Staff Technical Writer
Developer research
Led a developer research project and reworked the developer documentation information architecture based on the results. CI restructuring
Restructured the internal system that publishes documentation, SDKs, and API specs. MCP server and documentation server
Documented the company's primary MCP server and reworked technical docs to be AI-readable. Used a documentation MCP server to provide information to the primary MCP server. The documentation MCP server became the third most popular MCP tool and increased the success rate of MCP sessions from 30% to 80%.
Docs for AI and non-AI features
Documented API updates and AI and non-AI-based features including generating updates to the Webflow Designer API via AI. Usage of beta features of the Designer API tripled.
TriliTech (Remote): 2023-2026
- Senior Technical Writer
Maintained the developer documentation for the Tezos blockchain, including API and SDK reference, tutorials, and developer-focused tasks.
Documented the Tezos Etherlink Ethereum compatibility layer and how to develop and use decentralized Solidity applications on it.
Documented domain-specific programming languages based on OCaml, Python, and JavaScript/TypeScript and wrote sample frontend and backend applications in these languages.
Documented the Tezos SDK for Unity video game development tooling.
Shutterstock (Remote): 2017-2022 (workforce reduction)
- Staff Information Engineer IV: 2022
- Senior Information Engineer: 2017-2022
Developer documentation
Developed and wrote documentation for Shutterstock's public API, SDK, CLI, UI widgets, and AI tools by creating a pipeline to merge OpenAPI spec files with manually written examples and task-oriented content. These docs reduced average partner integration time from 3 months to 1.2 months. Partner feedback indicated that documentation was a major factor in getting integrations working quickly.
Technical documentation leadership
Drove a culture of information sharing and introduced technical documentation processes as Shutterstock's first technical writer. Hosted writing classes and working sessions to educate development teams about technical docs. Development teams included documentation as part of their development processes. Teams started their own documentation workgroups and provided much of their own docs.
Documentation pipeline
Developed a modular documentation platform that internal teams use to publish docs. Onboarded documentation for 5 internal services in 2 months and eventually 13 services. This system reduced the time that teams had to spend on tech doc and allowed me to unify internal docs with tools like a global search.
Internal technical documentation
Documented internal Node.JS microservices and APIs to promote innersourcing and accelerate onboarding. Teams used this documentation to reduce the amount of time they spent answering consumers' questions, to onboard new developers, and to communicate how to use their systems.
IBM (Durham, NC): 2004-2017
- Advisory Technical Writer/Team Lead: 2012-2017
- Staff Technical Writer/Team Lead: 2007-2012
- Technical Writer: 2004-2007
Led a seven-person documentation team for IBM's UrbanCode continuous delivery software, including reference docs, live training, videos, white papers, customer forum response, and support response. Covered a wide range of enterprise DevOps scenarios, such as blue–green deployments, rolling deployments, dark launches, and continuous delivery.
Documented a wide range of technologies and platforms, including programming languages, distributed software, mainframe software, mobile software, and cloud systems.
Collaborated with support teams to identify customer needs and to focus efforts on preventing support calls. Reduced average time to documentation error resolution from 8 days to 2 days.
Contributed to products at a technical level by writing code samples, coding progressive disclosure information, installing Jenkins pipelines, and implementing enhancements to product information in Java, JavaScript, and Python.
Researched and wrote custom documents for our largest customers and for critical needs, including videos, white papers, and topology models that were tailored to customers' specific situations. Contributed directly to sales deals in the millions of dollars.
Education
- M.A. Professional and Technical Writing: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
- B.A. English Rhetoric and Literature: Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH