Dr Mano Toth

I am a documentation and developer experience manager. I help software companies design, implement, and optimise their information architecture and developer experience programs. I have built technical writing teams and work processes from scratch. To continuously improve developer experience, I determine metrics for measuring the effectiveness of documentation, I monitor and evaluate the data, and I set objectives for my team accordingly. As a result, sales form submissions have increased in the past by 50% in three months.

Until September 2023, I was Head of Documentation and Developer Experience at PSPDFKit. I built a documentation team and a developer experience program from scratch. My team of technical writers was responsible for the highly technical documentation of more than 20 products in various programming languages.

Before joining PSPDFKit, I was the Lead Technical Writer and Documentation Engineer at Adverity. I led a team of technical writers and we created a completely new documentation site from scratch. I designed and implemented the front end of Adverity’s new documentation site, as well as the software architecture and the work processes with which the technical writing team contributed content.

Previously, I worked at Tricentis, Omnit, IBM, the Central European University, and the University of Cambridge.

I define myself as an enthusiastic writer, developer, and scholar.

Writer

Since 2011, I have been working in various roles related to the production and publication of texts. I have extensive experience in writing, editing, vetting, and proofreading documents. I have managed the text production and publication process, as well as the teams involved.

As a technical writer, I primarily see myself as a student and an educator, as someone who learns something new every day and documents this learning experience so that others can learn from it as well. I gather, produce, and disseminate knowledge about complex products, and respond to feedback in order to make the learning experience of readers/users as effective, engaging, and enjoyable as possible.

Documentation projects

Professional experience

2022 – 2023 Head of Documentation and Developer Experience, PSPDFKit

2020 – 2022 Lead Technical Writer and Documentation Engineer, Adverity

2019 – 2020 Technical Writer, Tricentis

2018 – 2019 Technical Writer, Omnit

2017 – 2018 Manage the production and publication process of test papers, Cambridge Assessment

2012 – 2017 Write, edit, and proofread test papers, Cambridge Assessment

2011 – 2012 Write and edit financial contracts in French, IBM

Software tools

Aha!
Camtasia
Confluence
Git, GitHub, GitLab
Google Analytics
Jenkins
JIRA
MadCap Flare
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Subversion
VS Code

Languages

Hungarian native
English proficient (C2)
French fluent (C1)
German intermediate
Spanish intermediate
Italian beginner

Developer

When I started coding in 2018, my main motivation was to improve the user experience on our documentation site. Since then, I have been involved in many different projects, and I have been constantly improving my coding skills. My primary focus is still front-end development in order to make the documentation more user-friendly and engaging, but I have also gained experience in back-end development, automation, and DevOps.

I have good working knowledge of the following languages:

C# (.NET)
CSS
HTML
Groovy
JavaScript
Markdown
Python
TypeScript

Coding projects

OpenAI-powered Q&A tool where you ask questions and get answers based on the product documentation.
A tiny, fast, pure JavaScript solution to display a short, customised animation while your website loads
- Code on GitHub
- Working example on JSFiddle
An object-oriented way to construct a navigation bar in TypeScript
- Code on GitHub
- Working example on JSFiddle
An object-oriented way to construct a basic calculator in JavaScript
- Code on GitHub
- Working example on JSFiddle
Sort the elements of an array asynchronously with JavaScript
- Code on GitHub
I implemented the front end of the Adverity documentation site based on designs received from other departments.

Scholar

As a scholar, my main fields of interest are memory studies and critical European studies. My primary goal is to uncover certain deeply embedded assumptions and cultural patterns in different discourses about Europe. I am particularly interested in the role of historical narratives in politics, in how visions of the past and the future shape identities and inspire social action.

Education

2012 – 2017 PhD Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge

2010 – 2011 MA Political Science, Central European University

2007 – 2010 BA International Relations, Corvinus University of Budapest

2006 – 2009 BSc Economics, University of Nottingham

Academic appointments

2019 – 2020 Visiting Lecturer, Central European University

2017 – 2018 Visiting Lecturer, Aga Khan University London

2014 – 2015 Visiting Researcher, Free University of Brussels

2012 – 2016 Supervisor, University of Cambridge

Journal articles

2021 On Pluralist Mythscapes, Memory Studies

2019 Challenging the Notion of the East-West Memory Divide, Journal of Common Market Studies

2015 The Myth of the Politics of Regret, Millennium – Journal of International Studies