Benjamin Reed - Resume

Professional Objective

Employment in emerging technologies. I have a wide range of experience in diverse areas of computing. I enjoy learning new technologies, and applying that knowledge to the development of superior software.

Work-Related Skills

Programming

bash shell scripting (expert)
Perl 5.x (expert)
Java (intermediate)
PHP (intermediate)
C/C++ (some experience)
Python 2.x (some experience)

Development Tools

CVS (expert)
Subversion (expert)
Ant (intermediate)
CMake (intermediate)
GCC (intermediate)
Make (intermediate)

General Linux/UNIX System Administration

Mac OS X Administration (expert)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.x and 4.x Administration (expert)
Red Hat Linux 5.x through Red Hat 9 Administration (expert)
Debian Administration (intermediate)
Fedora Core Administration (intermediate)
HP/UX Administration (some experience)
OpenBSD Administration (some experience)
Solaris 7 and 8 Administration (some experience)

Server Administration and Networking

Apache HTTP Server 1.3.x and 2.x -- configuration, virtual hosting (expert)
Bugzilla bug tracker administration and customization (expert)
Postfix mail server (expert)
PostgreSQL database server (expert)
RPM -- extensive experience in creating and maintaining RPM packages (expert)
Squid web proxy (expert)
BIND DNS server (intermediate)
CUPS print server (intermediate)
DHCP server (intermediate)
Linux kernel configuration, compilation, and tuning (intermediate)
MySQL database server (intermediate)
Network troubleshooting -- tcpdump, traceroute, etc. (intermediate)
Network design (intermediate)
OpenLDAP server (intermediate)
RT request tracker administration and customization (intermediate)
SAMBA Windows domain and fileshare server (intermediate)
Sendmail mail server (intermediate)
SNMP -- daemon configuration, as well as use (intermediate)
YPServ/YPBind NIS configuration (intermediate)

Web/Web Design

CGI, FastCGI -- mostly perl (expert)
HTML/XHTML (expert)
mod_perl (expert)
XML -- used to create this resume (expert)
Adobe Photoshop (intermediate)
CSS (intermediate)
HTML::Mason (intermediate)
Omniture (intermediate)

Employment History

Software Engineer
Raritan, Inc. (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
February 2006-May 2007

Perl and Java programmer. Responsible for developing and maintaining a number of subsystems for the CC-NOC line of network management appliances.

Achievements:

Updated appliance software to run on CentOS 4.3, including aiding in design and implementation of a set of tools for automated custom kickstart distribution generation for rapid appliance and OS development.
Wrote a tool for restoring old backups that converts and upgrades backup data between versions seamlessly, as well as allow backups to be restored to any CC-NOC appliance while retaining existing events and performance data.
Wrote a tool to completely automate the build process, building on the existing kickstart infrastructure.

Project Administrator
Fink Project (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
September 2001-Present

Project co-lead for an estimated 80,000-user distribution of open-source software for Mac OS X. Involved in all major policy decisions, as well as packaging software as a maintainer.

Achievements:

Maintain KDE for Mac OS X, including development of a native Aqua port, using Qt/Mac.
Maintain hundreds of software packages for Mac OS X, including the PostgreSQL database, the Mono .Net implementation, Ruby on Rails, and many more.
Helped found the Fink Developer Network, a not-for-profit organization designed to aid the Fink project in providing tools and support to the Mac OS X open-source development community.
Asked to speak at aKademy 2007 on porting KDE to Mac OS X.

Software Engineer
Motricity, Inc. (Durham, North Carolina, USA)
July 2004-February 2006

Perl and Java programmer. Responsible for developing and maintaining eReader.com -- a large-scale mod_perl-based e-commerce site -- using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Apache, and mod_perl (HTML::Mason) as well as internal Java-based systems for e-commerce integration.

Achievements:

Successfully performed a large-scale move of the eReader.com site to a new colocation facility, including configuring hardware and software, setting up procedures for migration, and developing tools for reproducing a production environment on new hardware.
Migration of a CVS repository to Subversion.
Design and implementation of a custom FTP server to be used by our publishers and content administartors.
Implementation and aid in design of a Java-based business-logic proxy for handling mailing lists across multiple properties from a central location.
Designated "Technical Captain" (subject matter expert) for the care and future development of the business-logic proxy project.
Design and implementation of the Omniture site performance and usage tracking system for eReader.com, including creating a detailed taxonomy standard to be used across Motricity's properties. Also, I have acted as a technical resource to aid in the development of other Motricity Omniture implementations.
Design and implementation of an ONIX import infrastructure for receiving books from other publishers and book resellers for use on the eReader.com site.

System Administration and Operational Support
Oculan Corp. (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
August 2000-May 2004

Perform various administration and automation tasks. Duties include design, implementation, maintainance, and administration of the source code tree, web, mail, and other infrastructure servers, as well as other office network and system administration. Primarily involved in scripting and support related to the infrastructure that provides backups, updates, and nightly tasks for Oculan's line of network management appliances.

Achievements:

Design and development of a customized Linux distribution for our appliances.
RPM packaging and distribution system for updates.
Design and implementation of the OpticNerve build system, using Ant and Java.
Software for doing an in-place upgrade of the underlying (Linux) operating system on appliances in the field, while retaining historical data.
A system for allowing the customer to initiate a support connection that creates a tunnel back to the appliance for trouble-shooting.
A secure (SMTP-Auth-based) mail system for employees in the office and around the globe.
Tools for backing up, and monitoring remote appliances and notifying customers of potential issues through our support team.
Design and implementation of a filtering reverse proxy for web access to a custom demo environment using Apache 2.x and mod_perl.

HP OpenView Consultant
Onion Peel Solutions (Netplex, now Tavve) (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
April 2000-August 2000

Consulting on a wide range of HP OpenView products, including Network Node Manager and IT/Operations. Provided support and consulting for Onion Peel's 3rd-Party OpenView add-ons: Amerigo, Amerigo/L2, ROVE, and NeRD. I was also involved in HP-UX and Solaris administration, as well as Perl development on the NeRD product.

Network Programmer and Enterprise Network Management
State Farm Insurance (Bloomington, Illinois, USA)
April 1999-April 2000

"Network automation" for a large (20,000+ servers, plus users) network, supporting enterprise-wide system management with Hewlett-Packard's IT/Operations OpenView suite, as well as automating many other Windows NT and UNIX system administration tasks. I gained familiarity with HP-UX 10.20 and Windows NT Perl programming.

Achievements:

Automated cataloging system for internal development resources (with a web interface).
"Automation Request" system for departments to request tasks to be performed by the automation team.
Designed and implemented a web interface to IT/O.

Network Administrator, Contracted
State Farm Insurance (Bloomington, Illinois, USA)
July 1998-April 1999

Network administration tasks in the Netware and Windows NT environments of 10,000+ users, including user ID modifications, software deployment, and various administrative tasks. I streamlined administrative tasks by writing a number of batch processing scripts for Netware in Perl.

Owner, Webmaster, System Administrator
Alloy Web Designs (Bloomington, Illinois, USA)
May 1997-July 1998

Self-Owned company, performing in Contract Web Design. Duties included HTML, Graphic Design, and SQL database backend programming, as well as Webmaster/Administrator work, such as troubleshooting/configuring the Apache web server, Sendmail, and configuration of TCP/IP services for virtual hosting in Linux. I also performed Cisco router configuration, and had worked with and configured USRobotics Total Control Chassis as a consultant.