Federico Puente Pistarini

Senior Technical Writer · Documentation Lead

Federico Puente Pistarini

I've spent more than ten years writing API references, integration guides, product guides and release notes. I test what I document before I publish it, and I work closely with the engineers and product people who know the details.

GET /writers/federico200 OK
{
  "role": "Senior Technical Writer",
  "based_in": "Buenos Aires, AR",
  "timezone": "UTC-03:00",  // North America overlap
  "focus": [
    "API & developer docs",
    "OpenAPI / Swagger",
    "AI-assisted doc workflows"
  ],
  "languages": {
    "es": "native",
    "en": "full professional",
    "ja": "basic"
  },
  "open_to": ["employee", "contractor"],
  "work_mode": ["remote", "hybrid"]  // hybrid in Buenos Aires
}

About me

I didn't start out in tech. I studied Economics, got interested in film, and ended up with a degree in Sworn Translation from Universidad del Salvador. Translation taught me to read for exact meaning, and that turned out to be a big part of this job.

Before moving fully into documentation, I worked as a localization Project Manager, coordinating translators, quality control, client communication and delivery dates. That experience shapes how I plan documentation work across teams today, from tracking dependencies to spotting gaps before a release.

My interest in software documentation started while I was studying Android development. I wrote guides for myself as I went, other students started using them, and then the instructors adopted them too. Later, my first technical writing work was documenting quantitative financial models for Wells Fargo. I had to learn the math from scratch so I could work with the analysts, and every document went through internal model validation.

Since then I've documented marketing automation, travel, logistics and restaurant technology products. I've often been the only writer, or the most senior one, on the team. Outside work I wrote a Flutter reference in Spanish, answered questions on Stack Overflow, and co-organize a small technical-writing group in Buenos Aires with another writer.

What I bring to your team

Technical writing with a QA mindset, a functional-analysis perspective and a project manager's way of planning the work.

I find out how a product is supposed to work, test how it actually behaves, and turn the difference into documentation people can rely on.

Test the product, surface the gaps

I run workflows and API calls, take part in QA and UAT, and report defects in Jira while the feature is still in development.

Make the workflow explicit

With product owners and engineers, I pin down what a feature should do, how data moves between systems and who owns each step. Diagrams expose the missing pieces early.

Get developers to a working integration

API references connected to the full task: prerequisites, request order and examples. I check every call against the OpenAPI spec, and when the spec is wrong, I fix it in the repository.

Turn expert knowledge into shared docs

I interview component owners, adapt to how each one explains things, and turn what they know into architecture docs the whole team can use.

Answer customers with product facts

Product guides, help-center articles and tailored docs for customers and prospects, written with Support and Customer Experience so they match what the product does.

Keep documentation maintainable

Docs-as-code, release notes written from sprint demos, and Python and AI-assisted workflows for recurring tasks, with human review before anything is published.

Writing sample & case studies

Most of my professional documentation lives in access-restricted company portals, so I can't link to it. Below is an independent writing sample, followed by two projects described without confidential material.

Need more samples? I can share additional ones privately or walk you through them in an interview. Get in touch →

Writing sample · fictional API

Submit your first sandbox order

A short integration guide for a fictional restaurant ordering API: prerequisites, a request, an expected response and recovery steps.

Hide the guide

Demonstration only. This API is invented and example.com is a reserved placeholder host, so these requests can't run against a real service.

Goal

Create a sandbox order and retrieve its status. Sandbox orders don't reach a restaurant or trigger a payment.

Before you begin

  • A sandbox access token with orders:write and orders:read permissions.
  • A sandbox location ID and an available menu-item ID for that location.
  • cURL in a Bash-compatible terminal. Replace the placeholders with your sandbox values.

1. Configure the request

export BASE_URL='https://sandbox.example.com/v1'
export API_TOKEN='YOUR_SANDBOX_TOKEN'
export LOCATION_ID='YOUR_LOCATION_ID'
export ITEM_ID='YOUR_MENU_ITEM_ID'
export ORDER_KEY='demo-order-001'

Use a new ORDER_KEY for each new order. Reuse the same key and request body only when retrying an order whose response was lost.

2. Create the order

curl --include --request POST "$BASE_URL/orders" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header "Idempotency-Key: $ORDER_KEY" \
  --data @- <<EOF
{
  "location_id": "$LOCATION_ID",
  "items": [{ "item_id": "$ITEM_ID", "quantity": 1 }],
  "fulfillment_type": "pickup"
}
EOF

Expected response: 201 Created. Save the returned id for the next request. A created order doesn't yet mean a restaurant has accepted it.

{
  "id": "ord_demo_001",
  "status": "received",
  "location_id": "loc_demo_001",
  "fulfillment_type": "pickup"
}

3. Retrieve the order

export ORDER_ID='ord_demo_001'  # Replace with the returned id
curl --include "$BASE_URL/orders/$ORDER_ID" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN"

Expected response: 200 OK, with the same order ID and its current status.

Troubleshooting

  • 401 Unauthorized: check that the token is present, valid and issued for the sandbox environment.
  • 403 Forbidden: confirm the token has the required permissions and access to the location.
  • 404 Not Found on retrieval: verify the order ID and that you're calling the sandbox environment.
  • 409 Conflict: the idempotency key was reused with a different body. Restore the original body to retry, or use a new key for a separate order.
  • 422 Unprocessable Content: read the error response for the invalid field. Confirm the item belongs to the location and the quantity is a positive integer.
  • Timeout after submitting: retry with the same body and the same idempotency key. A matching retry returns the existing order instead of creating a new one.

Why the guide is structured this way

Prerequisites make dependencies explicit. The request and response give a success condition the reader can check. Idempotency and error guidance cover what a developer needs when the happy path fails.

API guidecURLError handling
Case study · Qu · restaurant technology

API documentation verified against the real API

Developer documentation for several products, published in an API portal I administered in Document360.

The challenge
API references are only as good as the OpenAPI specs behind them. Integration partners need guides they can follow end to end, not just a list of endpoints.
What I did
Ran every API flow in Postman before publishing. When the behavior didn't match the spec, I corrected the OpenAPI files in the code repositories and reviewed the changes with the Integrations team. I tested product workflows, took part in QA and UAT, and reported defects in Jira.
What I delivered
OpenAPI-based API references, integration guides, release notes and an API portal kept in sync with the code. I also used Python and AI-assisted workflows to automate recurring maintenance and support content reviews.
OpenAPIPostmanDocument360GitPython
Case study · Expedia · via TAG LATAM

Cleaning up documentation before a move to Backstage

Internal engineering documentation spread across Confluence and GitHub, moving to a Backstage developer portal.

The challenge
Migrating every page as it was would have carried inconsistent structure and formatting into the new portal.
What I did
Reviewed, standardized and reorganized the content before migrating it. I coordinated migration tasks and taught junior technical writers to work docs-as-code: Git, Markdown, YAML and pull requests.
What I delivered
Standardized documentation in Backstage and a review workflow based on pull requests, where I guided editorial reviews and approved changes.
BackstageMarkdownYAMLDocs-as-codeMentoring

Career, as release notes

Aug 2023 – Oct 2026

Qu · Senior Technical Writer / Documentation Lead · restaurant technology

  • AddedAPI references, integration guides, product guides and release notes across several products and audiences.
  • OwnedThe Help Center and the API portal in Document360.
  • FixedVerified every API flow in Postman and corrected the OpenAPI specs in the code repositories, working closely with the Integrations team.
  • AutomatedRecurring documentation tasks, content reviews and spec maintenance with Python, the OpenAI SDK, MCP and custom AI skills.
  • LedDocumentation delivery across parallel workstreams with Product, Engineering, QA, Support and Customer Experience. The only person at every sprint demo, so the go-to for cross-product questions.
Earlier

Ryder · Whiplash · backend architecture docs

  • AddedBackend architecture documentation, written close to business analysis with component owners.
  • AddedPublic-facing articles and release notes.
Earlier

Expedia · via TAG LATAM · docs migration to Backstage

  • MigratedReviewed, standardized and reorganized documentation from Confluence and GitHub into Backstage.
  • MentoredTaught junior technical writers Git, Markdown, YAML and pull requests; ran editorial reviews and approved PRs.
Earlier

QuickPivot · marketing automation · first software docs role

  • AddedProduct documentation built by testing legacy and new versions with product owners, UX and developers.
Earlier

Wells Fargo · quantitative financial models

  • AddedModel documentation reviewed by internal validation teams and subject to regulator review. Learned the quantitative material from scratch to work confidently with SMEs.
Before that

Localization Project Manager

  • ShippedMultilingual localization projects: contributors, quality control, client communication and delivery.

What I work with

Platforms

  • Document360
  • Confluence
  • Backstage
  • GitHub
  • Jira

Code & web

  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Java (Android)
  • Dart / Flutter

Formats & specs

  • OpenAPI / Swagger
  • Markdown
  • YAML
  • JSON

Testing & diagrams

  • Postman
  • Visio
  • Miro
  • Google Drawings

AI & automation

  • OpenAI SDK
  • MCP
  • AI skills & agents
  • RAG

Methods

  • Docs-as-code
  • Information architecture
  • UX/UI coursework

A sworn translator who writes docs

EspañolNative
EnglishFull professional
日本語Basic / intermediate

Degree in Sworn Translation from Universidad del Salvador (4 years). Translation trained me to read for exact meaning, which is most of what good technical writing asks for.

Contact

Email me to talk about a role or to request additional writing samples.

federico.pistarini@gmail.com