Overview

I have been in the software business since I was 16, starting out at one of the first retail computer stores in the world. As you can see from this resume, I've done all kinds of interesting things throughout my career. I've worked at startups, I've worked at big companies, and I've even had my own consulting practice. I bring a lot of energy, passion, and experience to the table. I relish jumping into new environments and new technologies with both feet, and I enjoy "living in the future," always working on the bleeding edge of practicality. I still write code, but currently focus on technical evangelism, coupling my software development background with my speaking and writing skills to get developers excited about new techonlogies. Developers still see me as "one of them" and this gives me a lot of credibility when I go out and speak with them. I am a geek at heart and never mind getting my hands dirty. I'm not afraid to dig into kernel level source code, but I am just as comfortable traveling around the world and presenting high-level business and technical concepts to a professional audience.

While maintaining an intense schedule at work I still find time to be a parent, attend graduate school, cook lots of pizza in my backyard oven, write for my personal blog and to enhance and maintain Syndic8, my 11 year old RSS Feed directory.

Work Experience

As Senior Web Services Evangelist, my goal is to create excitment and awareness for the Amazon Web Services.

I created the AWS blog in 2004 and have written over 1800 posts for it in the last 10 years. I am responsible for scheduling, planning, writing, illustrating, publishing, and promoting each post. I work with each service team to make sure that their services and features are described completely and accurately. Where possible, I use the service prior to the public release, writing demos and sample code.

I am the host of The AWS Report, a video podcast. I interview guests drawn from the AWS user community and from the service teams. I have been able to make use of the communication and storytelling skills that I acquired while attending the Master's of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) program at the University of Washington.

I have prepared and delivered over 750 presentations to trade shows, conferences, user groups, corporate visitors, and internal teams.

In the early days of AWS, I originated and directly managed many aspects of our developer relations program including the eveloper newsletter, weekly chats, external beta testing, and strategic relationships with external vendors.

I Wrote the highly rated book, Host Your Web Site in the Cloud, published by SitePoint in September 2010. Documented the writing process on my personal blog.

I Served as internal liaison for the production of Amazon Hacks.

I served as Technical reviewer for Google, Amazon, and Beyond., Power Selling with Amazon.com Web Services., and Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds For Dummies.

I am currently an adviser to the Cloud Computing Certificate Program offered by the University of Washington. In this role, I meet with a small group to create and review the curriculum for this three-class program.

Always eager to try something new and different, I spent some time as a virtual evangelist, giving presentations in the Second Life virtual world. My first presentation was reviewed here.

Previous positions at Amazon.com include Senior Software Developer on the Associates / Web Services team, responsible for creating reporting and tracking tools.

Customers include:

For KnowNow, developed a distributed test suite using Java and the company's message routing technology.

For etomei, lead the design and development of a courthouse automation system using Java and XML.

For eByz, served as Consulting Chief Technology Officer. Reporting to the CEO, I was responsible for defining the company's technology and working with the development team to bring it to market. Defined and assisted in the implementation of a strategy built around Web Services, and built a UDDI directory browser. Built an email-based interface to a web service using SOAP and JavaMail. Also constructed demo applications using Java/Swing, XML, and XSLT. Wrote the second-round business plan and slide presentation.

For Imprev, performed software development on a web-based application for the real estate industry. Instituted sound software engineering practices and streamlined the release cycle.

For Foulger-Pratt, revamped the company's web site, which I built in 1996.

For KnowNow, I built several Visual Basic and Java/Swing applications which made use of their Internet-scale message routing technology. The most notable of these applications was an Excel Add-In which used the KnowNow technology to implement real-time publishing and subscription of spreadsheet cells. Previous to this project, I served as Acting Vice President of Development for a period of three months. Reporting to the founders, I developed a release schedule, implemented a development methodology, and brought focus to the development process while releasing two beta versions. Prior to this assignment I developed a Windows-based proof of concept program for the company's routing technology.

For Akopia, served as Acting Vice President of Development. Reporting to the CTO, established and delivered on a multi-phase release schedule for the company's Interchange product. Responsible for all aspects of development, testing, documentation and online product delivery. Wrote architecture and product definition documents.

For Utilis, prepared an independent appraisal of the company's technology.

For jStream, reviewed and evaluated their technology and prepared a management briefing document.

For NextPage, evaluated technologies with an eye toward acquisition and then prepared a briefing for distribution to the board of directors.

For ePartners, provided independent analysis of technologies developed by their portfolio companies.

For BlueStep (formerly MyAssociation), prepared an independent technical review of the company's technology platform and applications. The review was distributed to the company's board.

Founder and developer of the Syndic8.com syndication portal. Wrote over 77,000 lines of PHP and 65 MySQL tables containing over 300 columns. The site includes a full XML-RPC interface and currently serves information on over 400,000 syndicated XML news feeds to over 13,000 members.

Developer of Headline Viewer, the first widely released desktop client for syndicated news headlines in XML format. Composed of nearly 25,000 lines of Visual Basic, this program has had over 30,000 downloads and has received many favorable reviews. Designed and built all of the code, the backend tracking system, the web site, and the dynamic updating mechanism.

Founder and editor of the Newsfeeds weblog. This weblog spreads information about syndicated news feeds.

Responsible for the architecture and detailed design of all HTML and XML editing features for the next version of Visual Basic (Visual Basic.Net) including WYSIWYG design view, HTML source view, CSS Editing, schema-driven XML validation, and IntelliSense statement completion. Evaluated competitive products and wrote comprehensive specifications. Worked with development, quality assurance, and user education teams to plan and meet a schedule. Developed and maintained a relationship with the Internet Explorer team for the supply of dependent components. Organized and led weekly team, SWAT, and dependenent component meetings. Demonstrated the product to internal and external groups. Prepared and presented at the VBITS conference. Designed and implemented the multiple selection feature for Internet Explorer 5.5.

Former duties included Development Lead for the DHTML Editing Component, Development Lead on HTML Editing on Visual InterDev 6.5, and Development Lead for the DHTML Page Designer feature of Visual Basic 6.0.

Customers included:

For Caldera, ported the Looking Glass and Looking Glass Advantage products to the Linux operating system. Added GUI and file typing enhancements. Constructed a transparent mechanism to dynamically load program code as needed.

For Software Emancipation Technology, prepared an innovative 20-page white paper describing a complex software engineering tool, in 3 days. Wrote a brochure for the REENGINEER/SET product. Participated in detailed user interface design for a new product.

For MTI, debugged and enhanced OASIS/RLM, an existing Galaxy application. Ported BACKUP.UNET (40,000 line Motif application) to Galaxy in less than 3 months. In a subsequent project, produced a comprehensive infrastructure design for the user interface of a next-generation enterprise backup product. Created a web-based shared editing system to allow geographically disparate offices to collaboratively edit and review a specification, then used this system to gain consensus on a complex specification.

For J.P. Morgan, analyzed on-going development efforts and prepared project development and implementation plans in London, Paris, New York, and Delaware. Each assignment involved 3-7 days of study followed by several days of writing, resulting in a 20-30 page implementation plan.

For LCC International, extended and enhanced a Galaxy-based FCC forms printing system. Improved printing performance and screen to printer fidelity. On a second, longer-term project, served as project expert in the C++ version of Galaxy. Also built a departmental web server featuring dynamic HTML generation, password protection, and complex framed documents. Build several dynamic data viewers using C++. Built a cross-platform (Windows NT and X11) OpenGL Galaxy object and constructed a dynamic 3-D terrain viewer using the object.

For Diner's Club, prepared a complete object-oriented design for an expense handling system to be implemented in Galaxy.

For Visix Software, performed research, analysis and writing to provide support for two patent infringement lawsuits. Both lawsuits were subsequently dropped, in large part due to the weight of the presentation of the prior art uncovered as part of this project.

For Software Development Magazine, researched and wrote a review of the DISCOVER and REENGINEER/SET tools. Also researched and wrote a review of the Symantec Cafe Java Development environment.

For Data Management Review, wrote a review of the Galaxy Application Environment.

For The Hurwitz Group, wrote a 2000 word white paper on Internet CGI programming. Wrote a 16,000 word research report on configuration management tools. Wrote a Visual Basic style and standards guide. Researched tools for software design.

For ArborText, handled integration Japanese input methods into a new product. Also providing general Galaxy advice and support. Working to add language-based access to Galaxy features in an advanced editing product. In a follow-on product, wrote the functional specification and performed all implementation and testing of a set of scripting language extensions to the Adept SGML editor. Built a comprehensive test suite for the editing extensions. Made modifications to Galaxy to support Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese characters and input methods. Added JavaBeans support to a Galaxy-based application, including direct invocation of the Sun and Microsoft Java Virtual Machines.

For the Foulger-Pratt Companies, produced an attractive and informative web site. Collected all base information, wrote content, scanned and color-corrected pictures, and procured internet services.

For Global One, produced a comprehensive strategic white paper outlining a design for a multinational groupware solution including electronic mail, conferencing, document publishing, and directory services.

For Unify, modified the Galaxy Application Environment to support input, display, and storage of Korean characters on Solaris and Windows platforms.

Designed and built Looking Glass Professional, a complete Unix desktop environment. Worked with OEM hardware and software vendors to customize and port the product to their platforms. Participated in industry standardization efforts including the X Consortium, the IEEE, and the Open Software Foundation.

Open Source Experience

Linux - Linux user since 1994. Ported the Looking Glass Desktop to Linux; maintain several servers.

Apache - Apache user since 1995. Main personal server uses virtual hosting to support web sites for 4 domains.

Apache Toolbox - Contributed patches to this development effort.

PHP - PHP user since 2001. Wrote the first 8000 lines of the Syndic8.com implementation in less than two months of part-time work. Made extensive use of the XML and Curl extensions.

MySQL - MySQL user since 2001. MySQL is used for all data storage in Syndic8.com. The current schema includes 50 tables containing a total of 300 fields. Studied query optimization, rearranged tables and organized indexes in order to create a very responsive system.

Gallery - Gallery is a photo album tool written in PHP. Contributed a patch and authored an extension to allow recursive uploading of directory contents.

SquirrelMail - Contributed a patch which improved display efficiency on busy systems. Identified and fixed a problem which would cause an infinite loop when processing HTML mail.

Personal Projects

Syndic8
Syndic8.com is a dynamic, database-driven web site for the headline syndication community. Implemented in PHP and MySQL, the site serves as a focal point for the community. A polling system measures responsiveness and data quality 4 times each day and publishes the results in tabular and graphical form. Full historical data is available for each news feed, as are error diagnostics. The site had 120 members and over 3000 submitted news feeds one month after the first line of code was written. Features include RSS parsing, email-based notification, error highlighting, a document repository, and an XML-RPC interface.

Headline Viewer
Headline Viewer is a desktop client for syndicated news headlines in XML format. Composed of nearly 25,000 lines of Visual Basic, this program has had over 30,000 downloads and has received many favorable reviews. Designed and built all of the code, the backend tracking system, the web site, and the dynamic updating mechanism.

The following are defunct and are listed for completeness:

The Commentator
The Commentator is a web-based distributed facility for online document review and annotation. Wrote the code and applied it for several Vertex Development customers.

Developer-Books
Developer-Books.com is an Amazon Associates Site implemented using PHP.

Popularity Contest
Popularity Contest is a self-organizing web page generator which reorders lists of links based on access frequency.

Other Experience

Speaker
1984-present.
Prepared and gave hundreds of talks and presentations before customer and industry groups, including various XML conferences, CNET Japan, CDExpo, OpenPublish, VBITS, COMDEX, UNIX Expo, UIST, Xhibition, the Hurwitz "Application Meltdown" series, the Seattle PHP User Group, the Twin Cities .Net User Group, and the Linux International Conference.

Advisor
University of Washington Extension, Cloud Computing Certificate Program, 2011. Participated in the development of the curriculum.

Program Committee Member
X Technical Conferences, 1993-1995.

Editorial Advisory Board Member
The X Resource, 1991-1996.
Fast-turnaround review and editing of technical papers.

Advisory Representative
The X Consortium, 1991-1995. Represented company's interests at this industry consortium.

Patents

• Providing a Marketplace For Web Services
• Providing Paid Access to Remote Web Service in an Electronic Marketplace
• Providing Information Regarding The Use of Web Services in an Electronic Marketplace
• Providing Configurable Usage Models For Available Services

Education

Master of Communication in Digital Media, University of Washington MCDM program, 2010-2013 (read my review of my first quarter).

Master's Studies in Computer Science (inactive). George Washington University, 1986-1987.

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, 1985, the American University.

Associate's Degree in Computer Science, 1983, Montgomery College.

Software Skills

High Level Languages:LSL, C, C++, XML, Visual Basic, HTML, Java, Perl, PHP, Smalltalk-80, Ada, Self, Modula-2, PL/I, SNOBOL, BASIC, Pascal.

Assembly Languages: 68000, 8086, Z-80, 8080, 6502, 370.

Application Environments: Apache, SQL, Microsoft Windows SDK, Microsoft Office Add-Ins, Galaxy, Java, Java Swing Java Virtual Machine APIs, CGI, The X Window System, Macintosh Toolbox.

Operating Systems: Windows NT, Linux, UNIX (all varieties), Macintosh OS, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows.

Development Tools: EMACS, Microsoft Developer Studio, GDB, Visual InterDev, FrontPage.

Hardware Skills

Interests

Personal