David Zobel                http://tinyurl.com/5r4m6

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER/ARCHITECT (contract)

Articulate, motivated leader with extensive engineering and mentoring experience.

BS / Computer Science      Caltech (California Institute of Technology), Pasadena CA       6/84

CREDITS (partial list)

N-tier enterprise software and database management systems

YaYa Media Web-based advergames: user-facing apps, intranet tools, and back-end datamart

Save.com Multi-database data mining system for online store coupon distribution

DeskTalk Phone/PC network deployed at commodities exchange and on commercial aircraft

Ashton-Tate Core engineering on dBase 5, the world’s leading consumer DBMS

Games and multimedia

Disney Interactive Top-selling CD-ROM games: Animated StoryBooks, Print Studio series, etc.

Activision Single- and multiplayer PC and console games: Return to Zork, MechWarrior 2, etc.

IGN/GameSpy Middleware, networking tools, etc., used by world’s largest console game developers

Mattel/APh Video game cartridges for the Intellivision system

independent consulting MPEG conversions of CD-ROM games: Dune, Conspiracy, Inside the Vatican, etc.

Systems, tools, and specialty software

Calera Patented software for best-selling optical character recognition system

TRW Military-standard firmware for networked terminal concentrators

Symult Massively parallel operating systems and multiprocessor network protocols

Vertisoft Disk compression utilities bundled with MS-DOS 6

SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE

Languages:
       C/C++/C#, Java, Visual Basic (VB/VBA), JavaScript/PHP/Perl, assembly (PowerPC, 680x0, 80x86, ARM,
       VAX, 6502, Z80, CP1600), FORTRAN, Lingo/ActionScript, Pascal, Eiffel, Forth, PL/1, BASIC, COBOL, etc.

Operating systems and development environments:
       Windows (xp/NT/2k/Me/9x/3.x), UNIX (Linux/Solaris/AIX/XENIX), MacOS, DOS, VMS, AmigaDOS, JCL, MPW

Multimedia platforms and services:
       Flash/Shockwave/Director, MPEG, JPEG, MJPEG, CCIR-601, DAT, DirectX

Networking and web services:
       Client/server model, .NET/C#, JSP/J2EE/EJB, ASP, XML/HTML/DHTML, CGI, COM, TCP/IP, ISO, Novell

Database management systems:
       Oracle 8i/PL-SQL, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, Access, dBase

Coding standards and methodologies:
       OOA/OOD/OOP, MIL-STDs, MIL-SPECs, Structured Analysis, Structured Design

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Professional organizations: Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. MPEG Consortium. Multimedia PC Committee.

Book: Dave Zobel’s Bent Book of Boatspeak (McGraw-Hill, 2000)

Who’s Who in...: …the Media and Communications; …the West; …Science and Technology.

Awards: TRW Special Award: exceptional performance. Rensselaer Medal: excellence in math and science.

Foreign languages: Russian, Spanish, French.

EXPERIENCE

Director of Systems Forefront Technologies, Thousand Oaks CA 5/06 – 10/06

Startup: end-to-end credit card and stored-value card processing system.

Architected and developed high-security software pipeline. Analyzed and documented financials database. Helped develop business plan.

VP Development Design Science, Long Beach CA 7/05 – 12/05

Mathematics formatting and publishing software.

Specified and directed development and testing of software and tools. Hired and supervised engineers, QA, CS.

Principal Engineer Worlds.com, Boston MA 11/04 – 7/05

Worlds, Inc. created the online 3D chat room paradigm a decade ago and now hosts some of the best recognized properties in the space.

Specified and coded upgrades to software, tools, and UI.

Lead, Gaming Software Engineering (Middleware) IGN/GameSpy, Irvine CA 6/04 – 11/04

IGN/Gamespy is the leader in online gaming software and middleware. Its software powers the online experience in literally hundreds of games.

Directed software development and documentation efforts for middleware, tools, and gaming software. Handled staffing, scheduling, and work assignments department-wide. Reported to CTO and General Manager.

Technologies: C++, Microsoft Project.

Senior Engineer Savage Entertainment, Los Angeles CA 7/03 – 5/04

Savage is the powerhouse behind all manner of highly immersive games content for the top gaming platforms, including:

               Medal of Honor: Rising Sun              He-Man: Defender of Grayskull            The Naked City

               James Bond 007: Nightfire               James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire      Strike Force

Producer/developer on Sabertooth, Savage’s multiplatform gaming engine. Designer/lead developer on speech-recognition technology demonstration game. On-site game designer and developer at Electronic Arts.

Technologies: Metrowerks CodeWarrior, AlienBrain, Perforce, ProDG, Visual Studio .NET, Visual SourceSafe.

Technical Lead/QA Manager YaYa Media, Los Angeles CA 9/01 – 7/03

YaYa develops advergames: heavily branded freeware games distributed via brand websites, e-mail, and CD. The viral marketing component of these games uses an automated e-mail process to “spread the word” among users. Titles include:

                  Honda Adventure              Race stock Honda automobiles through a virtual city—even go off-roading

                 Kmart/Joe Boxer                Click on Vaughn’s underwear and watch him dance

                 Get Up & Go                       Take a fun personality test and learn which Chrysler car best suits your style

Hands-on direction of engineering and QA teams, both internal and external. Wrote test plans and procedures. Nexus of communication for technology issues among key departments and at C-level.

Championed software scalability. Deconstructed and rearchitected websites and data warehouse. This single effort made multiple simultaneous deployments feasible and increased our user base by 900%. Created and enforced technology standards. Developed and implemented strategic plans.

Supervised eight engineers (four senior), two toolsmiths, and three testers.

Technologies: XML/JSP/JavaScript, Java/J2EE/EJB, Flash/Shockwave/ActionScript/Lingo, Oracle 8i, Windows xp, Linux.

Lead/Director, Client/Server Software Save.com, Los Angeles CA 6/99 – 7/01

Save.com pioneered the distribution of grocery coupons on the World Wide Web. While the user selects and prints out store-redeemable coupons at home, the system uses sophisticated AI to examine his preferences and anticipate which future offers will be attractive to him. Clients included General Mills, Duncan Hines, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and Revlon.

Oversaw development of shrink-wrapped client application, datamart/data mine, and user-facing website. Rearchitected barcode scanning and data mining technology, saving the company $10,000/month.

Pre-sales support, investigation, and presentations. Championed ancillary technology acquisition.

Supervised four engineers (three senior) and two tech writers.

Technologies: C++, Visual Basic (VB/VBA), HTML/PHP/Perl, SQL Server/MySQL/Access, Windows NT/2K, MacOS, UNIX.

Senior Technologist Disney Interactive, Burbank CA 10/95 – 6/99

Disney Interactive creates and distributes the world’s most popular family-based computer games.

Directed internal and external software teams on titles including Lion King Activity Center and Mulan Animated StoryBook. Technical liaison for producers, artists, and audio staff. Distributed division-wide information on international advances in technology. Screened and approved external developers.

Supervised three technology managers (one senior) and five engineers.

Technologies: C, C++, assembly (PowerPC, 680x0, 80x86), Windows 9x, MacOS.

Technology Liaison/Senior Engineer Activision, Los Angeles CA 6/93 – 10/95

Activision is a leading developer and publisher of action and strategy computer games.

Directed technology on the network version of MechWarrior 2, the MPEG port of Return to Zork, and Activision’s universal software installer. Developed cross-platform engine enhancements, network modules, and prototyping and development tools. Approved specifications and assessed risks. Analyzed new platforms: PlayStation, 3DO, Sega Saturn, multimedia PC, RealMagic full-motion video card.

Created internal engineering standards and supervised software consultants.

Technologies: C, assembly, DOS internals, Windows 3.x/9x, TCP/IP.

Senior Software Engineer/Principal Engineer various, Los Angeles and Santa Clara CA 7/84 — 6/93

Database management systems: Ported dBase to three distinct operating systems. Built a modular DBMS for a local business, now in worldwide use.

Robotics and integrated circuit design: Doubled the speed of a real-time thin-film deposition system. Lectured and advised students in a VLSI design course.

Disk compression utility bundled with DOS 6 and later acquired by Microsoft.

Seatback PC/telephone network used in commercial jetliners and on the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.

Multimedia and 3D graphics: One of the earliest retail fractal generators for the Amiga. MPEG ports of two adventure games—originally programmed entirely in French.

Massively parallel operating systems for hypercube- and matrix-architecture multiprocessor systems.

Patented optical character recognition software for separating joined characters, now found in one out of every three desktop OCR devices.