My name is Mike DeVine, and I love to write.

I’ve got experience writing for blogs as well as journalism, creative fiction, and marketing. In addition to maintaining several project blogs over the past several years, I currently run my own personal blog, Paper Awesome (which you’re visiting now!). I have experience with CMS (WordPress/Blogger) management, SEO optimization, social media integration and management, and brand awareness campaigns on both small and big business levels. In addition, with my bachelor’s degree in New Media I have the back-end and front-end programming skills necessary to add tricky custom functionality to a blog or site, and to debug if problems arise.

Odyssey

Team Member, Content/Social Media Manager

Sep. 2011 – May 2012

Built and maintained project blog for our team’s New Media Team Project at Rochester Institute of Technology. Leasing up to the year-end student festival, ImagineRIT, we launched several publicity initiatives, including a Facebook page which reached over 2,200 people, as well as a press release sent out to campus and local media.

Immerspace

Team Leader

Sep. 2010 – Nov. 2010

Launched and maintained project blog for Odyssey’s precursor, Immerspace, as part of a class project.

Sugar Labs

Website Redesign Co-Op Team Member

Feb. 2011 – May 2011

As part of a co-op for Sugar Labs, launched and maintained a project blog for a planned website redesign as well as a micro-site for a planned bike race sponsorship.

SCCC Compass Newspaper

Staff Writer, Layout Editor, Managing Editor, Editor-in-Chief, Student Advisor

Jan. 2006 – Oct. 2008

Wrote numerous articles, maintained layout and ran office in various roles at Suffolk County Community College’s student newpaper. 2nd place winner of Newsday’s School Journalism Award for Typography & Layout, 2007.

Skills

Blogging, Journalism, WordPress/CMS Management, SEO Optimization, Social Media Management, Website Design/Development, Mobile & Responsive Web Design/Development, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Game Design, QuarkXPress, UX Design/Development, Flash/ActionScript, Installation Design, Graphic Design, Computer Art, HCI, Print Design, Unity3D, C#, XML/JSON/SQL Databases, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Blender, Entrepreneurship, New Business Development, Promotions, Advertising, Sales, Spanish-English Translation, Japanese to English Translation, Audio/Video Post-Production

Awards & Achievements

RIT Winter 2012 Research & Innovation Symposium: 1st Prize, February 2012.

One of my New Media Team Project team members and I gave a presentation at the Winter Symposium 2012 at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Student Innovation. The presentation we gave was roughly 10 minutes long and had a brief Q&A. Afterward, we were surprised to find out we had placed first for our group of presentations- earning us $150 to continue development of our Team Project.

Newsday School Journalism Award for Typography & Layout: 2nd Place, May 2008.

This award was given to me personally for an issue of the SCCC Compass I submitted in which I served as Layout Editor. The Compass itself also received awards in several other categories, including Second Place in Illustrations/Cartoons, and First Place in Feature Writing. These awards were the most the Compass had amassed in any one year in its nearly 50-year history.

Herbert M. Rothstein Award for Excellence in Journalism, June 2005.

Named in honor of a former Ward Melville High School English teacher, the Herbert M. Rothstein Award is given to students who demonstrate a talent and passion for writing and journalism.