Click here for Word Document version (Slightly older than this page)
Objective
To develop internal tools, back-ends and customer facing web products & services implementing databases and other internet enabled technologies,
specifically utilizing Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/jQuery/AJAX. If it can be built with LAMP, I can build it.
Having mastered PHP however, I am particularly interested in Android applications and would welcome a pivot onto that path. I am currently learning and developing my own app in Java and I would strongly entertain any opportunities which would allow me to further learn and improve my knowledge and skill set in this area.
I prefer to be the team lead, manager or director and have many years' experience doing so, but I'm equally comfortable as an autonomous developer who requires minimal supervision or management.
Interview
If your idea of an interview is to ask me to code a bubble-sort, tell you why man-hole covers are round, or design an elevator control system,
then we probably aren't going to be a good match. At this stage of my career, my experience and references should speak for themselves.
I am more than happy to bring code examples and explain logic flow however.
Skills
Excellent ability to find solutions & solve problems using logical, modular and common sense methods
Automation and optimization are two of my specialties
Self-starter and motivated requiring minimal supervision
Organized with strong attention to detail
Team player as well as team leader
Strong communication, written and documentation skills
Ability to meet deadlines and multitask in a fast paced environment
Horizontal move to "Chief Product Officer, Cloud Kiosk" on 05/17/2016 to focus on our fastest growing product line offering (for Microsoft CSP Tier 1 partners) which I sparked creation of back in October
Helped to reduce engineering burn-rate from $350,000/mo to under $200,000/mo
Leverage nearly two decades of "startup experience" to guide operations and suggest improvements
Responded to and drafted RFIs, RFPs, SOWs, Commercials
Collaborated with international teams and sales prospects across multiple timezones
Acted as Program Manager and liaison between B2B customers and engineering team of 55 developers in Chennai, India to determine features and deliverables
Personally in charge of the "Branded Cloud Marketplace" and "Cloud Kiosk" product lines
Project managed several initiatives including the UI performance effort to reduce page load times from 10s to 2s, the UI re-design stressing proper MVC architecture in Magento and the conversion from Team Foundation Server (TFS) to Git
Implemented VirtualBox VM development environments
Document various processes in Confluence wiki and JIRA issue tracker as well as instantiated mandatory PHPDoc for all methods & classes
Mentor junior developers
Lead effort in Localization (I18N) and Globalization (G10N)
Product is multi-tenant and extensively uses REST JSON API
Familiarity with OpenStack, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Docker containers
Other Skills include Word, Excel, Power Point for enterprise presentation to peers, management and customers. Excellent communication
Implemented a shared library architecture. Prior to my joining all code was copied to new projects
Completely re-wrote the back end database connections to use singleton classes. Similar to above all RDBMS interfaces were forks of copied code
Instantiated a base class with magic getters() and setters() which most all other classes derive from. Also converted other classes to use proper OOP including proper exception try/catch/throw
Our sites received in excess of 30,000 hits per second, so extensive use of both a primary local HD cache as well as pooled memcached were wedged into our RDBMS connection class and template rendering class.
Refactored and debugged code to reduce excessive cache entries as well as convert some SQL to "wide" versions to speed up frequent queries
Wrote and maintained two Roku channels, complete with authentication and bi-directional XML API
Architected a full XML API in use by our Roku channels as well as internal and external resources. Output to various formats including JSON, XML, CSV
Added BitPay's Bitcoin payment processing
Apache's re-write rules were a key component of our many sites, all of which had to match up for SEO purposes. I coordinated this effort
Convinced management to use MySQL replication master/slaves and wired in seamlessly to our existing RDBMS connection class, thereby drastically reducing the load to our existing hardware
Improved back-end tool to use a dynamic menu system for administration, authentication, as well as developed many of the supporting pages therein including MRTG graphs and other reports
Wrote an automated crontab to retrieve current currency values and convert our reports to USD
Created and maintained the mobile version of our main property sites (using "skins" to easily rebrand)
Routinely created niche sites (over 20 of them) to upsell our main site
jQuery, DHTML, CSS and AJAX for all admin, niche, mobile and main sites to reduce server load and give a better UX overall
Instituted Subversion revision control system including pre/post commit hooks as prior to my arrival all development was done on a shared "dev" server
Similarly, set up and switched all developers to VirtualBox VMs that mimic our PROD servers (including an optional "slave" RDBMS VM). I maintained them and posted new versions periodically
Also wrote several Bash scripts including one "svnu" to update all VMs for all projects
Most active Wiki contributor, adding and updating various pages to share knowledge with other team members and outline various procedural instructions
Documented all code functions, methods and classes in PHPDoc format, as there was virtually no documentation before I started
Built routine to detect shared accounts based upon GeoIP, login times and frequency
Taught CTO and lead developer many tips, tricks and good programming techniques I've learned over my years of experience
Successfully and efficiently worked from my home office for 3 years. Team was spread around the world.
Exclusive use of (LAMP) Linux, Apache, mySQL, PHP in developing enterprise network security solutions for (VA) Vulnerability Assessment and (NAC) Network Access Control.
Hired as full-time employee with title of Senior Programmer in March 2003
Promoted to Product Development Manager in July, 2003.
Solely designed and coded an in house CRM system entitled CRiMson (user: test, pw: test1234)
Actively maintained and added features to Roach(u:test/p:test), our in-house change-request system that I built.
Significantly contributed to the Lockdown 2.x product.
Lead developer and architect for v3.0 product which was released in September, 2004 and still the foundation for current versions.
Acting GUI Team manager, responsible for triage of change-requests, hiring new team members & training.
Responsible for architecture overhaul and cleanup resulting in better efficency and speed of product line.
Currently lead GUI/RDBMS Senior Software Engineer for 4.0.
Developed XML API for third party interfaces to the Lockdown family of products.
Extensive use of cascading style sheets (CSS) and DHTML.
Exposure to Ruby, Active Record, DBUS, (HA) High Availability mySQL failover clustering, distributed networking and master/slave architectures
Leszynski Group (formerly Innovative Solutions, Inc.)
Bellevue, WA 98004
02/2002-03/2002
Technical Writer (Contract)
Microsoft contracted ISI to design three Tablet PC applications. I was responsible for designing the graphical user interfact (GUI) for "Noteworthy", keeping a Microsoft media player look and feel. Specifically, I Drafted technical design, requirements and specifications for:
08/1998-10/2001
Minister of Content (Founding Employee #2)
Prior to November of 1998, WildTangent developed state of the art websites exploiting Microsoft's Chromeffects as well as ASP, DHTML, JAVA, J++, Active-X, Direct-X 6+, SQL Server 6.5 and IIS 4.
The company was charged with setting up and maintaining Microsoft's Chromeffects Developers Network (CDN).
After the cancellation of Chromeffects in November '98, WildTangent continued to develop its own 3D graphical web technology using DirectX and now has over 30 million installed base.
Hired to manage a small team of web architects, programmers and graphic artists.
Created most of the original underlying database integration using PHP and mySQL running on Linux served by Apache with OpenSSL for secure transactions and mod_auth_mysql for database authentication of users/passwords.
Designed and coded a great deal of products from screen-savers to tools to complex 3D and 2D games. This involved writing AI, game physics, file parsers, HUDs and required optimization of code to increase frame-rates while minimizing both CPU and memory footprints.
Here are a few working examples of the Intranet (using PHP/mySQL) I did.
This is a local "clone" of our Intranet with fake data. Feel free to add/edit/delete records.
I wrote the original back-end SQL for our online API reference.
Here are some screenshots of games I worked on (all were written in Java/J++):
JewelCase Demo (the param tags in the web page were structured so that the CD data could be pulled from a real database) this takes a while to load, please be patient
Elected by my piers to become Web Director encompassing all Imagine Media's web properties
I conceived two different revisions of the boot Magazine's site. This site consistently sustained an average of 80,000 hits per day. This includes all of the organization, maintenance, page design code, layouts and implementation of new software such as forums, Java chat rooms and writing custom Perl and JavaScript programs. These have included an automatic bootWire posting form for our news editors and another form to assist in the threading and responding to the Letters to the Editor column.
I coded and maintained the smaller www.freeissues.com site during it's launch.
In addition, I assisted in the maintenance and updating of the PC Gamer and the main Imagine Media web sites.
Wrote reviews for the print edition as well as online news stories and answered reader's questions for both MaximumPC and the MaximumLinux print magazines. Even after I relocated to WildTangent, I continued to freelance write for both magazines.
This was a site called "bootMail" that never came to fruition because the project was dropped (consequently no links work in this example).
Just before I left, I laid the foundation for the new MaximumPC site (using the Apache Server and PHP to generate the site in a modular fashion).
Informix Datablade was used to render all news items once per day to alleviate over-loading the database servers.
Self Employed
Seattle, WA
01/1992-Present
System Administrator/Webmaster
Administer a Linux server that offers among other services:
Web Page design, Virtual hosting, FTP, IRC, SSH, DNS, Listservers, SMTP, IMAP & POP3, SSL.
Freelance projects:
Frizb's CD Exchange (The data is derived from a Young System's Inventory Point of Sale terminal and uploaded via a web form which parses it and puts it into this custom built database with web front end)
Solely responsible for every aspect in the daily operation of this business, including the management of personnel and funds, scheduling of all appointments, set-up and maintenance of computers & electronic equipment.
Extensive use of Programming, Desk Top Publishing, Sequencing, Sampling, MIDI, SMPTE, Digital Signal Processing, Computer Generated Animations, 1/2" Video, Voice-Overs, Multi-Track (Analogue & Digital) Recording and Mixing.
Instructed and consulted clients and employees in the use of all equipment and software, as well as recommended purchases for their particular use based upon their immediate and future needs.
Wrote several soundtracks and won several CD competitions.
Foley, recording and soundtrack work for several published game titles including Valve Software's "Death Match Classic Quake Mod for Halflife", Sierra's "Gunman", Vicarious Vision's "Synnergist" & "DarkAngel" plus countless WildTangent games.
Sold the domain name "TheMatrix.com" to Warner Brothers in January 2002.
Forte Technologies, Inc.
Rochester, NY
10/1995-07/1996
Webmaster/Technical Support
Sole webmaster for the company's entire www.ForteVR.com site.
Responsible for page design, layout, HTML/Perl/cgi-bin programming, VRML, graphics & animations, online registration to data base automation, order forms, contests, updating, as well as incorporating the latest JAVA applets and scripts
I moved product registration and RMA issuing to an online web-enabled database process, thereby reducing the department's work-load by 35%
Implemented secure (https) online ordering which increased vendor orders by 10%
Performed as First and Second line Technical Support Engineer
Helped current and potential customers (consumer as well as corporate) solve problems and make informed decisions about the complete product line
Instrumental in the development of "Synnergist", a PC-based CD-ROM full-motion-video computer adventure game
Coordinated actors/characters
Assisted in the brain-storming of design, game play, and pseudo-code
Responsible for all audio including recording voices, sound effects and musical themes
Contributed to their second title "DarkAngel"
TAD (Temporary Placement Agency)
Rochester, NY
1992-1993
Various Titles
Edgemere
Installed 10BaseT Networks for Griffith Oil throughout NY State
Preparation of computers, printers, hubs, cabling and other related networking components
Eastman Kodak Company
Transferred hand drawn diagrams and flow-charts into VISIO v3.0 files
Comstock Michigan Fruit
Operated a technical Help Desk software package via telephone and Novell networks
Answered telephone problems and assisted users of various software packages including Word, Word Perfect, Lotus, and Super Base
WARD'S Natural Science
Worked extensively with PageMaker v4.2 & v5.0, as well as Quark X Press v3.31 on the Power Macintosh platform to develop their 1995 catalog.
Classic Video/Beta Video Corporation
East Rochester, NY
1988-1994
Salesperson
Responsible for managing and training employees, opening and closing both store locations, assisting customers in their selections, cashier and organizing
inventory.
Conceived & Designed forms, letters and promotions.
Other
I am extremely versatile and can perform many roles while multitasking. My strengths are in building tools, automation, interfaces, data mining and report generation using relational databases & PHP as well as Java & Object Oriented Programing (OOP). My code is clean, efficient, clever, well designed, documented and easily maintainable. I pride myself in this and view coding as an art form.