Darren Kovalchik

Editor
www.darrenedits.com | linkedin.com/in/kovalchik

Professional editor with experience editing fiction, nonfiction, technical documentation, corporate communications, training materials, and web content. Holds a Certificate in Editing and BA in Creative Writing.

Experience

Weird Lit Magazine

Associate Editor | 7/2025–Present

Editorial Intern | 4/2025–6/2025

• Assist with the submissions process, including reading and intake of stories
• Contribute to the Weird Lit Mag blog
• Copyedit stories, blog posts, and other written materials
• Update submission intake and processing documentation
• Assist with various editorial projects e.g. style guide and video creation
• Attend weekly editorial meetings

Darren Kovalchik Editorial Services

Editor | 02/2025–Present

• Provide developmental editing, line editing, and copyediting services for authors of fiction, nonfiction, and technical works
• Create proposals and invoicing for clients
• Maintain and update a custom-built business website

Slalom Build

Director of Software Engineering | 01/2022–06/2024

Software Engineering Manager | 01/2017–12/2021

Software Architect | 06/2015–12/2016

• Created client proposals in PowerPoint by using internal style guides and researching relevant projects across offices
• Worked on an initiative organizing training programs to rapidly train engineers for client projects—the initial Flutter training led to the staffing of 12 team members in the Seattle and Orange County offices
• Organized, developed, and presented boot camp style trainings for React, Angular, Ember and other technologies
• Created internal PowerPoint presentations to build support among executives and grow the front-end development practice, increasing the skill set by 50% in 2 years
• Participated in discoveries with clients to determine technology stack, project duration, and team makeup
• Created project architecture, process, and timeline diagrams using Miro, PlantUML, and Mermaid
• Worked with engineers and UX designers to create project style guides using Figma and Storybook
• Documented feature and API functionality in inline code using JSDocs and Markdown
• Reviewed documentation and pull requests written by Slalom and client team members in GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket
• Managed the staffing, performance feedback, and promotion processes for a 15-person tree of managers and individual contributors, 10 of whom were promoted to more senior positions within the organization
• Managed engineering teams while working with clients such as Apple, Microsoft, AWS, Expedia, and Pennymac
• Acted in an engagement management role on projects, working with clients to determine staffing needs

Smashing Ideas

Subsidiary of Penguin Random House

Associate Technical Director | 06/2014–06/2015

Senior Software Engineer | 11/2013–05/2014

Software Engineer | 02/2012–10/2013

• Developed and delivered training workshops and presentations about the Scrum development process, helping to modernize the development process at Boeing and Smashing Ideas
• Facilitated user story mapping sessions with clients and internal teams
• Involved with creating client proposals and responding to RFPs
• Managed the staffing, performance feedback, and promotion processes for 2 individual contributors
• Provided technical oversight of projects and helped define, develop, and deliver products for clients such as Penguin Random House, Boeing, Microsoft, and the Allen Institute

Phinney Bischoff

Software Engineer | 03/2010–02/2012

• Leveraged personal expertise and experience to write and publish blog entries about front-end development on the Phinney Bischoff website
• Developed websites while working with clients such as the Bezos Family Foundation, Linfield College, and The Northwest School

Education

University of Washington

Certificate in Editing
Specialization Classes in Developmental Editing and Proofreading

Western Washington University

Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing
Emphasis in Technical Writing
Certificate in Web Development