Vikram’s Writing Portfolio

Recruiting Email Copy

2023-02-25T19:00:00+00:00

Context

Below is an email I copywrote to be sent out to about 200 software engineering candidates per week.

Hi [candidate name],

I was really impressed with your Software Engineering experience and wanted to share some exciting opportunities you might find interesting. We’re looking for talented software engineers like yourself to build features for Amazon Alexa. We have roles all across North America (some 100% remote).

Alexa Social, a brand new organization, builds features that connect people from across the globe through shared experiences. Alexa Social currently supports features like photo and video sharing. We are growing rapidly, and making strategic investments in multiple new social experiences like building a social feed. This is a new organization where you will get the opportunity to build brand new features from the ground up!

If this sounds exciting to you, please let me know so we can set up a quick call to figure out if Alexa is right for you.

Best, Vikram

Firefox Tracking Protection Guide

2022-12-20T19:00:00+00:00

This document was completed as the final requirement for the Technical Writing Certificate at Bellevue College, Technical Writing Capstone, Fall, 2022.

1 Introduction

1.1 What Is tracking?

1.2 Cookies

1.2.1 Third Party Cookies

2 Firefox Settings

2.1 Search

2.2 Privacy and Security

2.2.1 Permissions

2.2.2 Security

2.3 What Should I Do If Enhanced Tracking Protection Breaks a Site?

3 Add-Ons

3.1 Can Add-ons Be Trusted?

3.2 How to Install an Add-On

3.3 Disabling an Add-On

3.4 uBlock Origin

3.4.1 Disable for Certain Websites

3.5 Facebook Container

3.6 Firefox Multi-Account Containers

3.7 Privacy Badger

3.7.1 Disable for Specific Sites

3.7.2 Adjust Blocked Domains on a Site

4 Browsing

4.1 Rejecting Cookies from a Site

4.2 Requesting Sites not to Sell Data

4.3 Browsing with Containers

5 Disclaimer

1 Introduction

In today’s internet-driven world, many major companies that do business online such as Google and Meta rely on collecting users’ browsing data for advertising. Websites can even collect data about your browsing after closing the site.

Mozilla Firefox is a web browser with features designed to prevent invasions of privacy. If you consider it an invasion of privacy to track your browsing habits for advertising purposes, this guide can demonstrate how to take advantage of these features to minimize the risk of websites tracking you.

1.1 What Is tracking?

“Tracking” refers to the methods websites use to collect data on users’ browsing habits. Generally, companies will use tracking to build user profiles, which allows them to show advertisements to users based on what the company think they want to see. These profiles include demographic information such as age, gender, and online activity. For instance, you might start to see more ads across all sites for an item after you search for that item on one site.

This guide focuses on protecting your browser from techniques some websites use to build profiles on their users.

1.2 Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores on your device. The website can then use that information for various functions of the site. For example, online retailers use cookies to remember the items in your shopping cart. Other sites might use cookies remember your username and password when you click “Remember me” after logging into a website.

1.2.1 Third Party Cookies

Although most cookies are benign, some “third party” cookies can track your browsing activity across multiple websites. Third party cookies are cookies that come from domains other than the domain you logged into.

For example, suppose you log onto an online retailer who shows you an advertisement served by Google, the company that owns the search engine of the same name. Google can now install cookies on your device to learn about your browsing habits, even if you never directly logged on to any site owned by Google.

These cookies are the reason many websites will show advertisements for products the user has seen before, even if the user has not visited the website before.

2 Firefox Settings

This section will show which settings to change in the browser to get the most out of its built-in privacy features.

Click the application menu button (pictured below) in the top right corner and click “Settings” to open the settings.

The following sections will explain which settings to change in each of the categories on the left side of the screen. Categories that do not have a section do not need any changes.

2.1 Search

Change your Default Search Engine to DuckDuckGo.

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that collects no personal information or search history. DuckDuckGo is the best choice for privacy because most search engines collect user data.

2.2 Privacy and Security

Under Enhanced Tracking Protection, choose Strict.

Under “Send websites a “Do Not Track” signal that you don’t want to be tracked,” choose “Always”.

Under Cookies and Site Data, check “Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed”.

Checking this box may make sites less convenient. For example, this will cause sites to delete your saved username and password even if you want the site to automatically log in. To allow Firefox to save cookies from trusted sites, click Manage Exceptions…

A new window will appear. In the “Address of website” bar, enter the name of the trusted website. Click “Allow.”

You can remove websites from the list by clicking the website’s name in the list and clicking Remove Website.

2.2.1 Permissions

Ensure that “Block pop-up windows” and “Warn you when websites try to install add-ons” are checked.

By default, websites will not have access to location, camera, microphone, etc. unless you have explicitly granted it to the site.

2.2.2 Security

Check all three boxes under Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection.

Check the box under Certificates.

Under HTTPS-Only Mode, check “Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows.”

2.3 What Should I Do If Enhanced Tracking Protection Breaks a Site?

If you notice a site is not working properly because of Enhanced Tracking Protection, click the shield icon in the address bar. Then click the slider as shown below.

3 Add-Ons

Some add-ons can boost the privacy of your browsing by blocking trackers in certain sites. This section will explain how to install and use add-ons. It will also suggest specific add-ons to block tracking.

Although many add-ons are available for privacy purposes, they often perform the same function as each other. Installing too many add-ons may be redundant. The add-ons suggested in this guide cover the most important vulnerabilities with minimal redundancy.

3.1 Can Add-ons Be Trusted?

Although some add-ons contain malware, this guide only recommends 100% open-source add-ons. This means anyone can view the source code, making it impossible for developers to slip trackers or other malware of their own into the add-on.

On Mozilla’s add-ons site, certain add-ons are marked with the symbols below. Respectively, these are Mozilla’s stamp of approval and a badge for add-ons made by Mozilla themselves. The organization only gives the former to add-ons they trust.

3.2 How to Install an Add-On

Mozilla allows users to download add-ons from addons.mozilla.org.

To install an add-on:

Navigate to page of the add-on you want to install on addons.mozilla.org. Links are provided in the following sections.
Click on “Add to Firefox.” A dialogue box will appear that lists the permissions the add-on needs.
Click “Add” in the dialogue box.

3.3 Disabling an Add-On

If you ever need to disable an add-on without uninstalling it,

Open the application menu, then click “Add-ons and themes”. Alternatively, press Control+Shift+A. A full list of installed add-ons should appear.
Click the slider next to an enabled add-on to disable it.

3.4 uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin (UBO) is an add-on that blocks advertisements, tracking cookies, and popups. Although many users know it as an ad blocker, it blocks a wide range of malicious or just annoying website elements.

To install, navigate to the uBlock Origin page from Mozilla and install using the instructions in 3.2.

UBO works immediately after installation, but you can optionally change settings for a better experience.

3.4.1 Disable for Certain Websites

Some websites, such as news sites will not work properly with UBO because they do not allow ad blockers on their site.

In these cases, UBO can be disabled by:

Navigate to the website you want to browse.
Click the UBO icon in the toolbar.
Click the power button in the UI as shown below. A refresh button will appear next to it.
Click the refresh button that appears.

3.5 Facebook Container

Meta (formerly Facebook) uses trackers heavily across its services. Even the “like” widgets you see in non-Meta sites can get data about you.

This add-on makes it so that Meta services cannot interact with other tabs and blocks Meta content on non-Meta websites. It does not need any additional configuration once you install it.

Be aware that installing this add-on will immediately

close all tabs of Meta sites,
delete all cookies from Meta sites, and
log you out of all Meta sites.

To install, navigate to the Facebook Container add-on page and install using the instructions in 3.2.

3.6 Firefox Multi-Account Containers

Firefox has a built-in feature called containers that allow you to separate tabs with different purposes into different containers. Tabs in a container can only interact with tabs open in that same container. For example, if you have Amazon.com open in a container, the cookies installed by that tab cannot see tabs outside the container. This is a great feature to use when sites have necessary cookies to install but you do not want them to see your other browsing activity.

To install, navigate to the Multi-Account Containers add-on page and install using the instructions in 3.2.

3.7 Privacy Badger

Privacy Badger locates and blocks trackers from sites you visit. While UBO draws on a fixed list of blocked domains, Privacy Badger detects and blocks tracking dynamically. In other words, it can catch what UBO misses.

Like UBO, Privacy Badger works immediately after installation, but can be adjusted based on your preferences.

To install, navigate to the Privacy Badger add-on page and install using the instructions in 3.2.

3.7.1 Disable for Specific Sites

Some sites that do not allow ad blockers view Privacy Badger as an ad blocker. If you ever want to disable Privacy Badger for specific sites,

Click the Privacy Badger icon in the toolbar. The privacy badger widget will appear.
Click “Disable for this site” in the widget.

3.7.2 Adjust Blocked Domains on a Site

If you open the Privacy Badger widget, you will notice a list of domains with sliders next to each domain. If you want to allow all content from a domain, move the slider to the right. To block cookies from a domain, move the slider to the middle. To block all content from a domain, move the slider to the left.

4 Browsing

This section explains how to browse securely using the features and add-ons in this guide.

4.1 Rejecting Cookies from a Site

According to European law, users must give consent to a website before it can collect data. This is why you’ve likely seen notices on websites that inform you on how they use cookies.

You may have seen banners at the bottom of certain sites asking you to accept or reject cookies. Each site’s banner will look different from the others, but generally they will have an option to accept all cookies and view more options.

As an example, see the screenshot below from Pocket.

Click “Manage”. Accepting the cookies immediately might allow trackers.

Click “Reject All”. This will reject all cookies except the ones necessary for the site to function.

Remember that this is only an example. Different sites will look different or use slightly different terms.

4.2 Browsing with Containers

Ensure that the Multi-Tab Containers extension is installed before using containers.

Using containers isolates tabs from each other, allowing you to have different online identities for different purposes. For example, you can keep all your shopping tabs in one container so that they cannot interact with tabs outside the container.

Right click on the new tab icon next to your open tabs. A menu of containers will open.
Select the container you would like to open the new tab in.

A new tab will open in the container, and you can now browse as normal.

5 Disclaimer

Following this guide does not guarantee complete privacy on the internet. This guide does not apply to mobile devices. Websites that you visit may still identify you and your device. To prevent this, a VPN can help.

Although the instructions above block third party cookies, they do not prevent first party cookies (or cookies that come directly from the sites you visit) from seeing your browsing.

This guide also does not protect against hackers or anyone who wants to steal passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, email addresses, etc. Always create strong passwords and never share personal information with a site you do not trust.

References

“gorhill/uBlock.” GitHub. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki.

“Multi-Account Containers.” Firefox Help. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers.

Privacy Badger. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://privacybadger.org/.

“Trackers and scripts Firefox blocks in Enhanced Tracking Protection.” Firefox Help. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/trackers-and-scripts-firefox-blocks-enhanced-track.

Dupe Checker Guide (Anonymized)

2022-10-12T19:00:00+00:00

Context

Tools

Candidate Relationship Management software (CRM)

HireEZ

Applicant Portal (AP)

LinkedIn Recruiter

Engagement Guidelines (EGs)

Quip

Using Quip

Dupe Checking Workflow

Checking for Profile in Applicant Portal

Using HireEZ to find an email address

Checking for CRM profile from email address

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using the CRM extension

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using Boolean Search

Checking Recycle Cool-Off and EG status

Handling Duplicate AP Profiles

Context

This is a manual made in my previous recruiting job as a reference for new recruiters. Dupe checking is the process of checking our internal HR systems to find candidates who have multiple profiles.

This version of the manual is a work sample. I have deleted any sensitive information, including links and screenshots. Anything that was supposed to have a link in the original version is written in blue and underlined. The original document also contained a cheat sheet for reference on EG statuses.

Tools

Candidate Relationship Management software (CRM)

The CRM is a tool that allows recruiters and dupe checkers to see if a candidate is currently engaged with another recruiter.

HireEZ

HireEZ is a recruiting platform with an extension that helps recruiters and dupe checkers find candidate emails when they are not listed on candidate profiles.

Applicant Portal (AP)

The Applicant Portal (AP) is a proprietary site that allows applicants to view and apply for jobs and for recruiters and hiring managers to manage applicants. It stores the names, emails, resumes, and addresses of any candidate that has applied to ABC Company.

LinkedIn Recruiter

LinkedIn Recruiter provides dupe checkers with access to the back end of candidates’ LinkedIn profiles. Dupe Checkers can leave notes, add candidates to specific projects, reach out to candidates, etc.

Engagement Guidelines (EGs)

Engagement guidelines are the rules on which recruiter is allowed to engage with a candidate. See the EG Wiki article.

Quip

Quip is a program like Excel or Google Sheets to help you organize candidates’ eligibility. The dupe checker can make different Quip sheets that they share with recruiters and add notes for each candidate within each project.

Using Quip

One of the easiest ways to organize candidates on Quip is to create a doc for recruiters that you often work with, and make different sheets in the Quip doc for each individual project you have with that recruiter. Things to include in the Quip that may be helpful when organizing projects are:

Candidate Name
Candidate LinkedIn
Candidate Email
Candidate AP/CRM Link
If the Candidate is/is not eligible
Any additional notes

Dupe Checking Workflow

Checking for Profile in Applicant Portal

Open the candidate’s LinkedIn Recruiter Page.
Copy their name (or email if provided) into the AP search bar. You can also use HireEZ to find the candidate’s email if you are having a hard time finding them in the applicant portal (see “Using HireEZ to find and email address”)
Look through the search results to find a profile that matches the search. There may be more than one.
Open the profile and scroll down to the candidate’s uploaded resume.
Open the resume and scan it, then go to the candidate LinkedIn page and compare their LinkedIn to the resume to verify that the AP profile matches the LinkedIn.

This step verifies that a candidate’s profile exists in AP. If the profile exists, check for duplicate AP profiles. If not, check to see if they have a CRM profile.

Using HireEZ to find an email address

Click the HireEZ extension while you have the candidate’s LinkedIn profile open. You must already be logged in to HireEZ.
If an email address exists in HireEZ, you will see it under the candidate’s contact info section.

Checking for CRM profile from email address

Enter the email into the Quick Search in the CRM. The candidate’s profile should appear right under the search bar if the profile exists and contains that email address.

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using the CRM extension

Ensure you have the CRM extension installed in your browser.
Log into the CRM.
Open the candidate’s LinkedIn profile. You can open it in LinkedIn Recruiter or in the main LinkedIn site.
Open the CRM extension. If a candidate’s profile exists, it should appear in the pane on the right.
Click “Full Profile” to open the profile in the CRM.
Confirm that the information in The CRM matches the information on the candidate’s LinkedIn.

Note : This method is fast, but does not always work properly. Sometimes CRM profiles will be linked to the incorrect LinkedIn profiles. This may cause the extension to direct you to the incorrect profile. Always check manually to make sure the profile is correct.

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using Boolean Search

Enter the candidate’s name into the “Full Name” field.
Enter the candidate’s current employer into “Primary Company”
Enter the candidate’s location or previous locations into “Location”
If there is no profile that clearly belongs to the candidate, you may create a new profile for them. Be sure to exhaust all other options before doing this.

Checking Recycle Cool-Off and EG status

In the applicant portal, click the “View All Feedback” button on the top right side of the screen. Check the feedback to make sure that the candidate is NOT in a cool-off period (refer to section 4: Candidate Eligibility “Cheat Sheet” for breakdown of eligibility).
If the candidate is not in cool-off, open their CRM link (hyperlinked under “CRM Status” on the upper middle part of the applicant portal page) and check the candidate’s Global Status.
If the candidate is available (see the bottom of section 4), write “RO” or “ro”, “Reach Out”, etc. in their timeline (this indicates to other recruiters that you are actively engaging with the candidate), and make sure to add the recruiter’s name under the “Prospect Engaged By” box, and change the “Global Status” to engaged unless told otherwise by the recruiter/hiring manager to use a different label.
If you are using a Quip/note taker, go back to it and make note of the candidate’s email, profile links, if they were/were not eligible, and provide any additional notes that might be beneficial to the recruiter/hiring manager.
If you are working in a LinkedIn project, go to the project page and move the candidate to the appropriate folder once they have been dupe checked (i.e. HM Review, Screened, Future Prospect, Do Not Contact, etc.)

Handling Duplicate AP Profiles

AP can now automatically detect possible duplicates. You will see a message on screen when this happens. Click all the possible duplicates and check their resumes to confirm they are duplicates.
If the profiles are duplicates, open the CRM profiles associated with all duplicate profiles
Write a note in the Summary section of both CRM profiles indicating that there are duplicate AP profiles with links to both profiles
Continue to dupe check both profiles as normal. If both profiles are available, you may engage with the candidate. If one profile is not available, do not engage either profile.

More info on AP duplicates

Contributing to Mozilla Help Articles

2022-05-12T19:00:00+00:00

Recently, I’ve contributed to these two articles on Mozilla Support (SUMO):

Uninstall Firefox from your computer

Problem

This article had not been updated for Windows 11.

Research

The first step to writing this article was to uninstall Firefox on my device running Windows 11 and record each step of my process. I used OneNote to make a note of each step taken.

Writing

The process turned out to be fairly similar to the process to uninstall on Windows 10. The next step was therefore to figure out how many of the existing Windows 10 instructions could be kept and how many should be modified for Windows 11. The major difference between uninstalling a program in Windows 10 and 11 is navigating to the uninstall button. The rest of the process is identical, so I decided to only rewrite the navigation instructions and leave the rest the same.

Watch DRM content on Firefox

Problem

The article lacked a troubleshooting section. Many users have a problem where DRM-protected content on sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu will not work in Firefox. These users had no clear instructions to fix this.

Research

First, I needed to find all possible solutions when DRM content would not work in Firefox. To do this, I made a list of solutions suggested in the contributor discussion threads of the article. I also performed a search in the forums for users having similar problems. In OneNote, I created a list of all solutions I’d found. Finally, I posted my list in the discussion thread to ask if other contributors had any additional solutions.

I also tested each solution to make sure they all worked on my device and noted each step I took.

Writing

This process using all the information I had gathered when researching and organizing it in the article. I created a header for each possible solution. To avoid redundant information, I used links to refer back to previous sections of the article, and a link to an external website that explained how to disable software that sometimes interferes with DRM content in Firefox.

Hosting your Site on GitHub

2022-04-16T19:00:00+00:00

This portfolio is hosted on GitHub and built in Jekyll. GitHub is an excellent (and free!) way to host your own static site. This guide walks you through the steps to host your Jekyll site on GitHub using Atom. This guide assumes that you do NOT already have a git repository for your project.

Prerequisites

A GitHub account
A Jekyll website that you have successfully built and deployed locally
Atom installed on your device

Logging into GitHub in Atom using OAuth

Open Atom
Click the GitHub logo at the bottom of the Atom window. Two tabs should appear on the right: a Git tab and a GitHub tab.
If you are not already logged into GitHub, click Login and the window should then say Enter Token
Visit github.atom.io/login and click Authorize Atom.
If you are not logged in to GitHub, you will be taken to a sign in page. Go ahead and sign in.
Copy the token that shows up on the next page and paste it into the GitHub window in Atom

Initializing the GitHub Repository in Atom

Go to File > Open Folder…
Navigate to the folder where your project is located. Click Select Folder.
In the GitHub tab, click the button that says Initialize and publish on GitHub.
In the window that appears, name your repository username.github.io. You must follow this naming convention for the site to work. Notice that the URL of this site is ghanvik.github.io, since my username is ghanvik.

Pushing your Site to the Remote Repository

Open the Git tab.
Click Stage All.
Add a commit message that says “Initial commit” and click “Create detached commit”.
Click Publish on the bottom of the window. This will be right next to the GitHub button you clicked earlier.

In your web browser, you should now be able to go to username.github.io and see your site live!

Creating the Dupe Checker Guide

2022-03-25T19:00:00+00:00

At Amazon, I have been working as a recruiter for Software Development Engineers. We have a tedious task whenever we build a list of candidates to reach out to - we have to manually merge any duplicate candidate profiles our CRM software Beamery detects. As a new hire, much of my time was spent checking for duplicates, or ‘dupe checking’ on behalf of more senior colleagues.

Since I cannot share the document publicly, I have written this entry to explain my process and what I’ve learned.

The Problem

There was no comprehensive dupe checking manual before I joined the team. There were some trainings, but they did not cover all the possible cases a dupe checker may encounter. My colleague had made a guide, but it did not cover every step in the process. Dupe checking involves verifying a candidate’s information across multiple systems, merging profiles when duplicates are encountered, and changing a candidate’s status in Beamery.

There are many possible places a dupe checker can get confused or make an error. There are two main systems to track candidate profiles, Amazon Hire and Beamery. The systems could sometimes behave in unexpected ways. Some candidates who had common names were difficult to dupe check because of how many possibilities came up.

Audience

The guide I created was aimed at our incoming hires. Our team has a newly created Dupe Checker role for inexperienced recruiters as a way to gain more experience with Amazon recruiting systems. Because this role was so new, there was little existing documentation for it.

This audience needs:

A breakdown of what each system does and what it’s used for
Clear instructions on what they will need to do when faced with various problems

Creating the Guide

My first step was to break the task into steps. The first step is to check if the candidate is already in our job portal, Amazon Hire, and to check if there were dupe profiles there. Then the dupe checker needs to check our CRM software to ensure the candidate does not have dupe profiles and is not already engaged with another Amazon recruiter.

I realized that dupe checking boils down to a series of choices the checker makes when they encounter certain situations. If the candidate has dupes in Hire, merge them. If the candidate has dupes in Beamery, merge them. If there is no profile, create one.

I decided that a flowchart would be the best way to represent the choices involved in dupe checking because it can tell the reader exactly what choice they need to make when faced with a certain situation. Although I cannot share the real chart, I have included the chart below with the text removed.

Each box contains a yes-or-no question, which leads to the next question the dupe checker needs to ask, and finally ends with how the dupe checker should handle the outcome. This is accompanied by paragraphs to explain processes that need more detail. One of the outcomes in the bottom box asks the reader to refer to one of these sections.

Finally, I combined my guide with my colleague’s guide to create a complete guide of 7 pages. I wrote 4 of those pages.

Vikram’s Writing Portfolio

Recruiting Email Copy

Context

Firefox Tracking Protection Guide

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 What Is tracking?

1.2 Cookies

1.2.1 Third Party Cookies

2 Firefox Settings

2.1 Search

2.2 Privacy and Security

2.2.1 Permissions

2.2.2 Security

2.3 What Should I Do If Enhanced Tracking Protection Breaks a Site?

3 Add-Ons

3.1 Can Add-ons Be Trusted?

3.2 How to Install an Add-On

3.3 Disabling an Add-On

3.4 uBlock Origin

3.4.1 Disable for Certain Websites

3.5 Facebook Container

3.6 Firefox Multi-Account Containers

3.7 Privacy Badger

3.7.1 Disable for Specific Sites

3.7.2 Adjust Blocked Domains on a Site

4 Browsing

4.1 Rejecting Cookies from a Site

4.2 Browsing with Containers

5 Disclaimer

References

Dupe Checker Guide (Anonymized)

Contents

Context

Tools

Candidate Relationship Management software (CRM)

HireEZ

Applicant Portal (AP)

LinkedIn Recruiter

Engagement Guidelines (EGs)

Quip

Using Quip

Dupe Checking Workflow

Checking for Profile in Applicant Portal

Using HireEZ to find an email address

Checking for CRM profile from email address

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using the CRM extension

Checking for CRM profile from LinkedIn page using Boolean Search

Checking Recycle Cool-Off and EG status

Handling Duplicate AP Profiles

Contributing to Mozilla Help Articles

Uninstall Firefox from your computer

Problem

Research

Writing

Watch DRM content on Firefox

Problem

Research

Writing

Hosting your Site on GitHub

Prerequisites

Logging into GitHub in Atom using OAuth

Initializing the GitHub Repository in Atom

Pushing your Site to the Remote Repository

Creating the Dupe Checker Guide

The Problem

Audience

Creating the Guide