Senior .NET Software Engineer - Project Orion, Data Production ToolsI am currently engaged as an onsite contractor with the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, CO. I am assigned to the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Program, and serve as the only full-time .NET developer on the Orion Data Production Tools team (DPT). The DPT solutions consist of an ASP.NET MVC website, RESTful web service interfaces, Windows services, and SQL Server data repositories. These DPT systems provide file processing and data services used to create software artifacts that are ultimately used as parts of the command and control systems and telemetry monitoring tools used in the labs and on the spacecraft itself.

This was the best job in the company. In a nutshell, I was required to evaluate all the new tools, technologies, and techniques related to developing an enterprise-class software solution for the financial services industry. In other words, I got paid to tinker with all the new geek toys.During my tenure in this position, I managed the CSS R&D efforts by performing technological assessments and developing proof of concept prototypes and projects designed to evaluate various products, tools, and technologies for their suitability with CSS products. I also provided strategic technical guidance to management, business analysts, and the architecture and engineering teams. Some of my key responsibilities and accomplishments during my time in this position included:* Participated as a member of numerous Microsoft Product Advisory Groups including Windows, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Premier Support for Developers.* Participated in a number of performance and tuning labs with Microsoft, HP-Compaq, and Unisys to formulate horizontal and vertical scalability strategies used to optimize the performance and availability of CSS applications and services.* Designed and developed .NET-based solutions for integrating a client’s daily SIS trade activity and stock and money movements into the CSS system – routinely handling a daily volume of over a million transactions during a limited nightly batch processing schedule.* Performed evaluations of numerous third-party tools and components to assess their compatibility and or usefulness with CSS products (e.g. BizTalk Server, Bloomberg, SWIFT message processors, FTLabs bond calculator).* Designed a new claims-based security infrastructure leveraging the identity and access control features found in the Windows Identity Foundation.* Provided architectural guidance, technical training and thought leadership to the engineering team when new patterns or technologies were adopted.

I managed an engineering department of approximately thirty developers that were divided into four functional groups. In this position I was responsible for coordinating the software development and release schedules between each of the functional teams, and also led the research, design, and development efforts focused on evaluating, prototyping, and implementing new tools and technologies for use in our products. Some of my key responsibilities and accomplishments during this time included: * Managed engineering resources including hiring, training and mentoring, task assignments, deployment schedules, and performance reviews.* Designed a COM/ODBC based replacement for the stand-alone executable model used in the first versions of the CSS data access components, eliminating the need for the proprietary network stack used in the previous architecture.* Developed a Visual C++ “App Wizard” add-in to provide a code generation tool based on the new COM+ transaction component design. * Created client conversion applications to import profile data from their legacy mainframe applications into the CSS systems.* Created and led a forensic “SWAT” team dedicated to analyzing, debugging, and correcting software and/or platform issues related to the reliability or performance of CSS products.* Provided on-site customer support functions related to system setup, data conversion, and integration with their existing systems.* Regularly provided technical presentations, whitepapers, and product demonstrations to engineers, end-users, and potential clients to keep them abreast of the rapidly changing technologies of the internet age.

I was one of the first C++ developers hired by CSS and collaborated in the design, prototyping, and implementation of application features used to craft the earliest versions of the CSS client/server product.Some of my key responsibilities and accomplishments during this time included:* Prototyped applications to leverage a proprietary network interface developed by CSS to transmit data between a Windows client and a SGI-IRIX server.* Developed an automated code generator to produce C++ source and project files for creating Embedded SQL data access and transaction components based on database table schema definitions stored in an Access database. * Ported Microsoft Foundation Classes for use as a shared library on the SGI-IRIX platforms to provide cross-platform capabilities for C++ server code initially written using Windows-based development tools (Visual C++). * Assisted in the design of a multi-tier “web services” platform architecture that predated what would become known as the Windows Distributed Internet Applications Architecture (Windows DNA), leveraging HTTP transport protocols to invoke remote business applications running on distributed web servers, and completely separating client components from the business applications and database resources.* Ultimately served as team lead for all server-side development efforts.

Dig a hole, put in a pipe, fill up the hole. Stimulating, huh? The good news is that I spent most of my career at NPC supervising the process from inside a pickup truck, so it was more like, "You guys go over there, dig a hole, put in a pipe, etc..."