Makin' science go faster

Continuing my life-long quest to lower entropy and improve the quality of everything I come in contact with. If I had a business card, it would say "Does all the things"* Updated the Spring Boot command-line client to behave more like a Unix-y tool, switching from interactive-mode only to one driven by command-line flags and a well-written man page. This was the first of many opportunities to drive error-handling as a priority at SourceClear, in order to give the user constructive information instead of cryptic error messages* Migrated the API away from Mongo to use Postgres JSONB, significantly reducing the deployment complexity and increasing the stability. In support of this change, created @PreLoad and @PrePersist JPA hooks to hide the JSONB complexities so it would materialize as an Object but persist in a @Column* Introduced Sentry error capture to the API and supporting backend services, to help contextualize errors the users were experiencing. Later, Sentry support was added to the web application, and is under consideration for the command-line client* Migrated a legacy puppet, docker, EC2 deployment pipeline to Kubernetes, which dramatically lowered the deployment friction, surfaced insight into the behavior of the apps to more teams, and consolidating the number of required EC2 instances to host the entirety of the infrastructure* Introduced Hashicorp's Vault for automated x509 certificate management and more fine grained secret storage* Championed replacing GitHub Enterprise and Jenkins with GitLab to bring more robust Kubernetes integration as well as a more declarative CI/CD pipeline* Independent from work, I enjoy [providing Kubernetes support on StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=user:225016%20%5Bkubernetes%5D), where (as of June, 2018) I am in the top 20 answerers for the Kubernetes tag

* Reduce production Sentry alerts from many thousands a day to zero in six months* Refactor code to include execution context in error messages versus "it didn't work"* Refactor toward less monolithic codebase* Refactor toward Scrapy instead of in-house framework* Refactor production deployment toward systematic and transparent builds and deployment activities* Ease new web data source on-boarding* Promote Apache Lucene tokenizer/analyzer versus hand-written code* Coach and troubleshoot technical issues with engineering tools* Modify AWS IAM policies to permit self-managed access keys

* Inform changes to LAN addressing for better integration with AWS VPC, inbound VPN access and better support for Bonjour/AirPlay * Provision Nexus repository for binary artifact management, with backups to AWS S3 * Debug and strengthen existing Hadoop/Cascading codebase * Port stand-alone Hadoop jobs to Cascading for better integration with existing code

Empowering Guidewire Live! to maintain the weekly production releasesIncreasing the automation to make the releases more systemic and lower risk, which supports the high release velocityBuilding high-quality, dynamic user experience web applications using AngularJS and Spring/Java, among other technologiesEncouraging and mentoring whenever possible to spread knowledge around the team

Researched French P&C insurance regulationsAdapted the Guidewire product to permit more fluid adoption in a French regulatory environmentIntegrated third-party toolkits into the Guidewire products, also to reduce customer burdenCounseled third-party vendors on modern technologies to promote cross-team sharing and ultimately attempt to lower our own integration burdenCollaborated with Guidewire HQ to fold our learning back into the core product where applicable

I am in the professional services arm of the organization, responsible for the integration of their claims, policy and billing system into the existing customer's enterprise.

Championed the use of Trac+Subversion as a collaboration tool to replace ClearCaseUpgraded existing ant and Eclipse build system to use continuous integration techniques and Maven 2Promoted software engineering best practices within the team and the organizationLed the persistence framework migration from Oracle TopLink to EJB 3.0 (JPA)Promoted and led the implementation of two separate levels of software testing, unit and integration

Diagnosed and prepared recommendation for replacing a single-sign-on (SSO) system used for reportingPrepared Spanish localization demonstration of existing internationalized web-app, using Google's translation service allow client to win major contractPrepared proposal for replacing an in-house external-process scheduled remote procedure call subsystem with more JavaEE implementation to increase manageability and lower ongoing costs associated with the administration and maintenance of the in-house subsystemWorked extensively with Inetsoft's StyleReport reporting tool, leveraging their provided Java API to: create a query-by-example web-app, sharing created queries across users, create and manipulated Inetsoft reporting data sources, extended StyleReport report definitions to be data-source agnosticCreated a new meta-data provider for Inetsoft's StyleReport allowing report definitions, data-source definitions and other relevant meta-data to be stored via WebDAV (which in turn was backed by an RDBMS) instead of a filesystem, to allow better distribution within the Enterprise; this migration also allowed monitoring the revision arc of any reporting meta-data (in contrast to a filesystem based provider, which is "last commit wins"); proposed using JMS and Inetsoft's inherent notification API to ensure that meta-data changes were propagated across the Enterprise

Assumed legacy code support role for the in-house ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) solutionCreated SAP R/3 JCO (Java COnnector) data extraction and process management component for use in the existing ETL framework; provided code reviews and software engineering support for the SAP consultants responsible for the ABAP portion of the componentLowered TCO of the thick-client desktop deployment via a JNLP (WebStart) solutionCollaborated with off-shore development partner to bring Swing GUI in line with modern Java standardsInitiated and championed migration of server-side programs from a command-line, disjoint process architecture to one leveraging managed components housed in an application serverCollaborated with CTO to define a new architecture to support their growing data processing and new service development needs; led data and business process integration efforts with 3rd parties via web servicesChampioned migration from Java 1.4 VM to Java5, also from 32-bit to 64-bit platformInitiated and drove to completion migration away from StarTeam SCM and into Subversion+Trac, saving the organization thousands of dollars in licensing and support costs and facilitating new levels of agility in their engineering processes; constructed a StarTeam to CVS repository migration program, then leveraged existing CVS migration tools into SubversionIntroduced Wiki concept into company culture, increasing communication and information ownership; promoted WebDAV repositories of files in contrast to command-line FTP processesIntroduced Maven2 as build system for new projectsMigrated existing HTML-based sales brochures to print-ready XSL-FO; created a web-app to generate marketing collateral on-demand using JSR-170 (Java Content Repository) API to retrieve latest files from SCM; implemented a JSR-170 provider for StarTeam

Primary project scope was providing legacy data access to a set of DMS-2200 "databases" in a cluster of Unisys OS/2200 mainframes; this project was the data access layer for this military branch's Enterprise modernization effortA separate component aggregated and performed calculations upon results from a legacy data query. These business calculations were presented via a Struts-based web applicationPre-existing architecture required all components to interact via OAGIS BODs sent over JMS; production version converts the OAGIS BOD to a SOAP message describing the request in terms of EJB method invocations. Then, these SOAP payloads are executed by an embedded Apache Axis engine and the results are repackaged as an OAGIS Response BOD and sent back over JMSTransformed custom built multi-threaded RMI standalone server for legacy communication into production version which used a managed Java Connector Architecture (JCA) 1.0 connector to expose legacy connectivity across the Enterprise. Stateless session beans and message-driven EJBs exposed this data to the other components and as XML, respectively.This connector used the MitemView engine for event driven screen scraping of the OS2200 DEMAND session commands, which included executing Unicon Group's LOUIS-II DMS query engineUpdated code which used multi-threaded WebSphere MQ listener code to invoke service components into the production version used message-driven EJBsMigrated existing Java code which used a custom "where clause" interpreter for the aggregations and calculations; production version used XQuery to manipulate the data while still in XML. The system makes heavy use of XSLT instead of using hard-coded Java DOM callsDeployed web application to WebSphere 5.0.2 and the legacy access component in Oracle Application Server 9.0.4

Designed the XML Schemas that represented their business document needs based on an existing flat-file weather reportDesigned the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0a compliant Web Service, which was described by a WSDL 1.2 documentImplemented the Web Service using SOAP 1.1Provided integration support as their client connected to the service using a Java client inside Lotus Notes Domino server

Implemented a CCI-compliant Java Connector Architecture (JCA) 1.0 resource adapter for connecting to the GBI's Unisys mainframe, speaking DMPP-2020 over TCP/IP. This replaced the legacy RMI solution and enabled greater scalability and manageability. The business logic was housed in EJB 2.0 compliant Session beans, which consumed the resource adapterDeployed SunONE Identity Server with SunONE Application Server and integrated both with Vignette Application Portal, enabling Single Sign On (SSO) for the State's web applications and portal deliveryAuthored best-practices document for agencies developing for the portal. Created a reference application that demonstrated use of the J2EE components provided by the State's portalDesigned and implemented a templating system (using custom tags) that connected to the State’s Vignette CMS in order to remove layout concerns from J2EE web applications. This library also enabled all applications to have a uniform look and feel by abstracting GUI elements behind the tagsDesigned, implemented CGI to Web Service wrapping components enabling CGIs to be accessed by web services using JTidy, NekoHTML, XSLT, XPath, JAXRPC and SOAPParticipated in the architecture process that created a portal for statewide use. Used a combination of RUP and SunTone for requirements gathering, use-case discovery and validation and domain modeling.

Architected, designed and implemented a web store application for a company selling energy and energy-conscious products. The store handled the sales of monthly subscriptions, the purchase and fulfillment of physical products and integrated with a 3rd-party billing solutionMVC (model-view-controller) design pattern in the presentation tier leveraged reusable validation logicStateless session beans served as a "session facade" against CMP entity beans to produce "flyweight" objectsImplemented a light-weight content-management piece so business owners could update contentIntegrated with the billing company over FTP using stateless session beansPublic key cryptography ensured the safe storage of credit-card dataUse of J2EE design patterns ensured the system was flexible enough to adapt to the changing energy market conditionsProvisioned and ensured 99% uptime metrics of company Solaris servers in the colo

Re-architected a failing Microsoft ASP based test delivery platform to use a more scalable and flexible J2EE solution. The new system was able to deliver multimedia test content to a thin-client without the latency incurred in the existing system.Used Rational Rose and RUP to re-architect existing solution and ensure that all customer needs were capturedStateless session beans held test delivery logic; stateful session beans managed test flow; CMP entity beans managed the data lifecycleReporting done using XSL against Oracle's native ability to produce XMLContributed to the JMeter project, then used JMeter to demonstrate the system capable of delivering 1,000,000 tests per year (as per customer requirement)

Migrated Microsoft IDC/HTX website to the more maintainable ASP technologyMentored developers and strived to share knowledge at all timesProvisioned and maintained Linux servers responsible for company email, website, firewall and Internet access