William Thompson
Senior Software Engineer
Seattle, Washington
dietbuddha@gmail.com - Recommendations (LinkedIn)

SUMMARY

I am a decisive, results-oriented senior software engineer. I've been doing software development and operations since 1996. My experience includes creating scalable software, front and backend web development, ETL tools, configuration management, automation and continuous integration. I develop on different Unix environments as well as mixed Unix and Windows environments. As a lead, I focus on communication, quality, automation, and collaboration.  I am a strong communicator, interacting directly with customers and business owners.

LANGUAGES AND PLATFORMS

• Python, Javascript, Ruby, Perl, sh, make, scons, SQL, C++
• FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Debian, RedHat/CentOS
• MSSQL, MySQL, Oracle
• Django, Rails, mod_perl

EXPERIENCE

Staff Software Engineer, Walt Disney, Seattle, WA (06/15/2009 - Present)

• 2012 LTI Award Recipient
• Lead of Software Engineering for Enterprise Automation Team
• Mentor other developers.
  
• Developing software in Python on RedHat.
• Development platform: Linux(RedHat), Windows(Server 2003), SQLServer, MySQL, Django, mod_python, Apache.
• Implemented development methodology based on on Agile and Lean practices.
• Implemented development sandboxes and usage of a toolchain.
• Initiated best practices such as Continuous Integration, TDD, db migrations, automated packaging, code coverage, code documentation, group ownership, etc
• Initiated the practice of enforcing development policies with automated tests where applicable (code coverage, code format, etc)
• Provided Linux/Unix administration and information.
• Evangelized configuration management ideals and automation in general and through projects.
• Lead or oversight on projects:
• Metrics: the challenge was in helping to drive requirements, and staying flexible enough to change direction
• Email-Service Desk Gateway
• F5 Management Web App
  
• REST wrapper around CA/Unicenter Service Desk
  
• REST wrapper around F5 iControl
• REST wrapper around SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
  

Security Consultant, ICreditVision (09/2009)

• Ran a Blackbox Vulnerability Assessment on a single IP address.
• Created a Penetration Test plan based on results of Vulnerability Assessment.
• Created a report on the results of the Penetration Test and the Vulnerability Assessment.
  
• Communicated with the customer at every step of the way to provide as much clarity as possible.

Lead Software Engineer, CarDomain, Inc, Seattle, WA (09/07/2005-06/12/2009)

• Developed software in Perl (mod_perl), Ruby (Rails), Javascript, Rake, Java and sh on CentOS using the Agile Methodology.
• Development platform: Linux (RedHat, Fedora, CentOS), MySQL, Oracle, Apache, mod_perl, Rails.
• Lead on numerous projects where I:
  • Collaborated with business owners on requirements
  • Performed due diligence on technology choices, designs, and risk mitigation
  • Facilitated communication between technical and non-technical people
  • Involved throughout the entire project lifecycle.
• Initiated, lead and managed many infrastructure projects such as continuous integration, toolchain project, application config simplification, etc.
• Lead and managed many user facing projects such as Groups Bulletins, Related Rides, Ajax Webservices Framework, etc.
  
• Integration with many third party services using different technologies. ie. (SOAP, REST, Javascript)
• Created analytical and functional tests to improve code quality.
• Drove the creation of development sandboxes which helped to streamline development.
• Mentored and collaborated with the other developers.
• Numerous changes which lead to more efficient development as well as increased product performance.
• Identified and resolved issue which accounted for ~15% load savings across the database, all webservers, and total network traffic.
• Identified and resolved numerous issues which impacted uptime or response times.
• Created mod_perl REST consumers for Rails REST services and vice-versa.

Contractor, Isilon Corporation, Inc 04/05/2005

• Updated website per business requirements.

Contractor, Isilon Corporation, Inc 08/02/04 - 09/19/04

• Evaluated existing templating solutions to address business problem.
• Designed and implemented a light-weight templating system.

Lead Tools Engineer, Coco Corporation, Inc, Seattle, WA (07/02/2004-09/03/2005)

• Developed software in C++, Python, scons and sh on Linux x86, Linux ARM, Windows XP, and Windows CE.
• Development platforms: Linux (Debian), Windows NT, GCC, Python, Visual Studio cl.exe
• Lead a team of 3 people.
• Wrote business case proving importance of configuration management in the build system.
• Created an auditable, multiplatform build system for C++ and Python on:
  • Windows XP
  • Windows CE
  • Linux X86
  • Linux ARM
• Made the developer builds a variant of the integration build.
• Managed the toolchains for all 4 platforms.
• Automatic provisioning and performance testing.
• Maintained in-house repository.

Contractor, CarDomain 01/24/04 - 03/01/04

• Extended functionality of Mantis a PHP based bug tracking system.

Contractor, CarDomain 11/01/03

• Setup and demonstrated Bugzilla, showing features and limitations.

Development Support Engineer, Isilon Corporation, Seattle, WA (07/01/2001-07/01/2004)

• Developed software in Perl, sh, and make on FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
• Operating platforms: OpenBSD, FreeBSD.
• Solely responsible for all IT and Helpdesk tasks for first 2 years.
• Created automatic provisioning process for test machines.
• Extension, maintenance, and troubleshooting of build system (FreeBSD).
• Redesigned and maintained network topology.
• Creation and maintenance firewall, corporate webserver, intranet, bug tracking software, cvs repository and backups.
• Creation and management of numerous internal tools and scripts: build scripts, monitoring scripts, boot floppy installs, reports (histograms) of bug/build and build/performance.
• Evaluation and ordering of lab equipment(remote power/kvm/serial, racks, cabling, etc).
• Setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting of all hardware (servers, switches, etc).
• Maintenance and troubleshooting of all IT services (mail, ssh, dhcp, dns, etc).
• Design, creation and editing of intranet.
• Grew and managed the machine room to over 300 machines.
• Came up with unique cabling solution to address switch testing.
• Managed relationships with various hardware and service vendors.
• Managed and configured various networking devices: Extreme Networks, HP, Cisco, Foundry Networks 
  

Lead Software Engineer, iSyndicate Corporation - San Francisco, CA (03/01/1999-04/01/2001)

• Lead team of 3 people.
• Developed software in Perl, Java and PHP on Solaris and Linux.
• Design and implementation of back-end of data warehouse.
• CGI/JSP programming in Apache with mod_perl, PHP, and Resin with Weblogic.
• Maintenance and administration of revision control system (Accurev).
• Maintenance and administration of MySQL database.
• Schema design and creation on Oracle and MySQL.
• Evaluated configuration management software.
• Tagging and making releases.
• Installation and maintenance of software packages.
• Monitored production MySQL server and web servers.
• Maintained web reports.

Software Engineer, Cogit Corporation, San Francisco, CA (07/01/1997-02/01/1999)

• Developed software in C++, Perl and make on AIX and Solaris.
• Programming in C++ with a strong emphasis on portability and maintainability.
• Programming in Perl using Object Oriented methodology to create prototype web interface.
• Installing STL-port for cxx(DEC), gcc(DEC & Solaris), CC(Sparcworks).
• Modified STLPort to work with additional compilers.
• Handled the migration from gcc 2.7 to gcc 2.8 without interrupting day-to-day development.
• Maintenance and development of automated build system.
• Administration of the bug tracking system.
• Helped to build an ETL tool for POS data.

Engineering Aide, The Center for EUVE(Extreme Ultra-Violet Explorer) Astrophysics (02/1996-06/1997)

• Design website for the internal testbed group.
• Created CGI programs in Perl and C.
• Light administration responsibilities on an SGI Indigo 2.
• Helping coworkers with program maintenance, specifically in C.

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley, Cognitive Science BA. wih a Minor in Philosophy, graduated 1996