Candidates About

SOFTWARE ARCHITECT

LinkedIn public profile for GaryWilliams

 

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Seasoned Information Technology professional recognized for on time, on-target and on-budget delivery of projects.  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.  Ability to communicate effectively with all levels from support staff to executive management.  Known ability to generate multi-million dollar savings by utilizing technology in innovative ways.  Proven history of quickly understanding complex requirements and turning them into practical plans of action.  Adaptable and focused.  Team player…dedicated, resourceful, persistent and smart.

 

STRENGTHS

I deliver successful projects.  With experience in project management, team leadership of onshore and offshore teams, architecture, design and hands on coding, I have the experience to bring the project to a successful conclusion.

 

Project leadership and vision.  Understands the broad vision and business values of clients and executes the project to design and lead teams to deployment of the desired application.

 

In-depth end-to-end high performance software development.  From the browser or Window clients through the cloud or server and extending to the database, hands-on development of software that performs very well while maintainable and extensible at the same time.

 

Broad integration experience.  Experience integrating desktop systems with existing client systems ranging from mainframes to embedded systems enabling enterprise architectures.

 

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

Demonstrated leadership abilities over a 30-year career in software development experience with 15 years of project leadership expertise.  Solid background in software integration covering a gamut from device drivers to components and application development of web and servers across multiple operating systems extending to the cloud.  Detailed knowledge of .NET, XML, ASP.NET and integration of these.  High degree of problem and performance analysis.  Worked in various industries including life insurance, consumer electronics, application tools, document imaging and system software.  Extensive knowledge of computer systems inside and out—including hardware, operating systems and software.  Helped Quest Software grow from a company of 200 to over 1,800 during tenure.  Helped Kaseya grow from a company of 100 to over 500 during tenure.  Technical areas of expertise include:

 

Certifications: Sitecore Developer, IASA CITA-F

Platforms: Sitecore CMS, Umbraco CMS, Windows, Windows Azure, Windows Phone, Linux, UNIX, AIX

Frameworks: MVC, jQuery, .NET, MFC, Ext JS

Databases: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, MySQL

Programming Languages: TypeScript, C#, PHP, XML, HTML, JavaScript, ASP.NET, SQL, C++, Visual Basic and some Java

Communications: Web API (REST), WCF, Web Services, AJAX, TCP/IP Sockets, JSON

Software:  TFS, ASP.NET, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Source Safe, many UNIX tools

               

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

CONTRACT ARCHITECT

MGM

September 2016

 

Reviewed proposal for re-engineering of some internal applications and made recommendations of architecture, team best practices, training and development environment.

 

CONTRACT DEVELOPER

Delphic

September 2016

Technologies used: Umbraco, ASP.NET, MVC

 

Integrated Okta into Umbraco web site for single signon.

 

CONTRACT ARCHITECT

MindBody, San Luis Obispo, CA

February 2016 – July 2016

Technologies used: Microsoft TFS, TypeScript, JavaScript, jQuery, LESS, Knockout

 

Contract architect for the first phase of a responsive mobile application for scheduling of wellness classes.  The role utilized both offshore technical leadership skills along with hands on technical development skills.  Using Agile methodology, led offshore team, interfaced with program management and MindBody development team.  Significant contributor to the development effort.  Project was managed with Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) for bugs, user stories, tasks and test plans.  Code was developed using TypeScript, LESS and Knockout.

 

CONTRACT SENIOR DEVELOPER

Nationwide Insurance, Brea, CA

November 2015 – February 2016

Technologies used: ASP.NET, C#, WCF, SQL Server, Entity Framework, LINQ, TFS

 

Senior developer for Virtual Pet Insurance, a web based application for pet insurance applications for consumers and extended benefits for employers in an agile development.  Worked with SAML for secure transmission of employee details from employer sites.  Assisted with various research and data analysis tasks.  Assisting with fixing some defects, including all Sitecore defects that other team members were not able to fix.  Made several recommendations for SDLC improvement and Sitecore architectural improvement.

 

CONTRACT ARCHITECT

Honda, Torrance CA

May 2015 – October 2015

Technologies used: ASP.NET, C#, MVC, REST (Web API), SQL Server, Entity Framework, LINQ, OAuth

 

Contract architect for Field Quality Reports, the next generation application design for mobile and web platforms to process quality reports at dealer sites.  Coordinated meetings with the business to validate requirements, develop the project schedule, design the service interface and database, led the onshore and offshore teams, worked with the onsite project managers.

 

Worked with many teams at Honda to solve integration issues with security and the proxy servers.  Worked with Honda program management to change the schedule when they wanted to change the delivery method from waterfall to agile, within the constraints of a fixed price contract.

 

Architected and hands on development of REST web service and database portions of the project.  Prepared deployment and build environment documents to ensure the continued knowledge transfer to Honda employees.

 

ARCHITECT (VOLUNTEER)

Laguna Sea Dwellers

January 2011 – Present

Technologies used: Azure, Umbraco CMS, jQuery, jQuery UI, Web API, C#, SQL Server, Entity Framework, Bootstrap, Azure, TFS, OWIN

 

Architecture and development of the web site for the dive club I belong to, deploying it to Azure.  Utilizing responsive design rewrote the former web site from ground up.  Built in test driven development to ensure the database and API behaved correctly.  Utilizes OWIN for single sign on, REST / Web API for dynamic updates, and REST for mobile responsiveness, using Umbraco as the CMS.

 

GROUP MANAGER

Avanade, Seattle WA

February 2013 – April 2015

Technologies used: ASP.NET, C#, MVC, jQuery, jQuery UI, ExtJS, Sitecore, TFS

 

Solution architect for business development opportunities for potential clients, creating time and cost estimates and then producing the solution plan. Actively participated in the assessment of software development practices for a business where the team was not meeting schedule or quality goals. Interviewed many of the staff related to software development in that business subsequently assisting with creating a plan for process improvement. Actively assessed the systems of a another business that had recently merged to make a recommendation for a content management system (CMS) and ecommerce systems, and how to best merge the assets of each of the two former businesses.  Developed Sitecore prototypes for business development with clients.

 

Managed delivery by offshore development team for a life insurance company through the first phase of development; making nightly calls to assist with removing any roadblocks and to ensure they understood their tasks.  Created the architectural documents for the second phase of the project; then led the team in understanding the architecture so they could implement it with the correct vision.  Led the in house development staff on a third phase of the project, teaching some of the developers new technology.  Hands on development of tools, code reviews and defect fixes of offshore team work product.

 

SENIOR DEVELOPER / ARCHITECT

Capita Technologies, Irvine, CA

March 2012 – February 2013

Technologies used: ExtJS, AJAX, WCF, ASP.NET, C#, OAuth

 

Hands on development of the reporting component of the Rapid Impact product.  Developed a new interface to the reporting UI using ExtJS, AJAX and WCF.  Worked on OAuth for single sign on from Facebook.  Heavily based on Javascript in the browser for a rich user experience.  Significantly improved the performance and functionality of the reporting through understanding of all layers from the browsers through to the database.  Developed a new rules engine that simplified the user interface for defining rules while at the same time adding extensibility.  Worked closely with the president and marketing teams to mold the product into a more user friendly product that also met all the product requirements.

 

LEAD DEVELOPER / ARCHITECT

Kaseya Corp, Aliso Viejo, CA

October 2007 – March 2012

Technologies used: SQL Server, C#, XML, JSON , AJAX

 

Architected and delivered the new service desk module, which is an ITIL help desk application for problem reports.  Designed as a highly extensible product, allowing customers to customize the definition, the lifecycle and automation of incident processing, and look of the service desk.  Leveraged my broad knowledge of XML, the .NET framework, and innovative design to drive the entire design team to surpass expectations and produce a high quality product that would improve efficiency and exceed customer expectations.  The product was natively designed to operate in multi-tenant (Saas) environments.

 

Hands on coding along with directing three employees and close involvement in providing leadership to many other employees.  Heavily invested in making the development have a stronger basis on XML documents with the goal of minimizing the amount of coding necessary for other developers to build on the base system.  Used an agile and rapid development process, with the product development going through three major redevelopments and test cycles during this time.

 

Technologies used included C#, XML, ASP.NET, JSON, and AJAX.  Leveraged advanced SQL Server features such as functions, User Defined Functions, User Defined Types, Common Table Expressions and XML to get the maximum use of SQL Server.  Architected the definition of UI components to be based on XML with embedded SQL.

 

The product was so successful that Kaseya sales started to use the product to “get in the door”, and then finish the sale with the rest of the Kaseya system.  Kaseya used the service desk itself for not only bug tracking (both internal and external) but also accounts receivable tracking and change management tracking.  Professional services increased to perform service desk customization.

Results: Completed service desk implementation through several redesigns and delivered a competitive product that was a tremendously successful to the company.  Invited to 2010 Kaseya President’s Club as a result of success.

 

CONTRACT

Agility Analytics / Motorcycle Industry Council, Irvine, CA

September 2004 – October 2007

Developed and architected ASP.NET based XML Web service for communication between motorcycle dealers and suppliers using industry standard specifications for XML, XML Schema, web services and STAR.  Developed ASP.NET based testing system for assuring web service messages meet requirements using XPath and SQL Server.  Assisted with developing the concepts from the requirements stage through the design and implementation stages.  Assisted adopters with implementation.  Developed numerous prototypes to develop and prove some concepts.  Wrote specification documents, design documents and test plans.

Results: Key participant in developing and promoting a new industry standard from specification through implementation

 

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

Byte Builder, Huntington Beach, CA – Consumer Electronics Software

September 2002 – Present

Started company from the ground up.  Developed prototype software in C# and .NET, with the client using Windows Forms and the server a Windows service.  Wrote business plan, worked to raise capital and wrote provisional patent.

Results: built and designed a .NET-based product for control of home theaters.  Patent filed August 21, 2003, private placement memorandum completed on October 2, 2003.

 

SR SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Lantronix, Irvine, CA – Embedded Device Servers

March 2004 – August 2004

                Developed several applications for a new .NET based product line running on embedded Lantronix devices.  Developed a .NET remoting channel to facilitate remote procedure calls.  Stabilized .NET translation technology, reworked and simplified much of the user interface for both the stand alone application and Visual Studio .NET plug-in.  Developed web site to track revision requests for technical publications group.

                                Results: product is significantly more stable than when I started. 

 

CONSULTANT – SYSTEM ARCHITECT

Creative Stream, Irvine, CA – Computer Assisted Help System – START - UP

September 2002 – April 2003

                Built and designed a .NET-based client/server product using C#, pending patent submission. The client uses Windows forms and the server is a Windows service, and ASP.NET for server administration.  Organized concepts into a coherent product design.  Researched components to make system work.  Implemented product based on design.  Worked with marketing manager to refine the user interface.  Wrote documentation on the workings of the product.

                                Results: product is being demonstrated to potential customers. 

 

ARCHITECT/TECHNOLOGIST

Quest Software, Irvine, CA – Application Management Tools

October 1998 – July 2002

                Responsible to oversee the technical architecture and new development of the Vista Plus product.  The server ran on HP/UX, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX and Windows NT.  The server was originally written in C and I converted it to C++, and communicated with the client using a socket based RPC mechanism.  The Unix server was originally written as a daemon, and I converted it to multithreaded service.  Responsible for the design and technical content for a team of 35 engineers working on the product.  Highly influential in hiring, firing and discipline of team members, and worked with VP of business unit and product management team to define and implement product content.

 

                Product was not meeting the performance expectations of a customer (AIMCO).  Traveled to customer site in North Carolina.  Analyzed the customer’s use of the product, traced network protocols to determine problems and recommended changes to business model.

Results: after 2 days, improved performance of the installation.  Customer was pleased with product support and purchased additional licenses.

 

Product was not meeting performance tests for customer (EDS).  Traveled to site in Texas.  Analyzed testing methodology and recommended a system configuration change.

                Results: after 2 days, test met the expected benchmarks.

 

Sales staff was requesting the product on IBM O/S 390 for a prospect.  Traveled to Quest Software field office in Illinois.  Researched the OS/390 implementation of Linux and implemented changes in the software to run on Linux. 

                Results: after 3 days, product was running on the mainframe. 

 

Product was in chaos in 1998—Gartner Group rated it “do not buy.” Worked with VP of the business unit and marketing team to reengineer the product.  Wrote requirements document, developed several key features and improved scalability by a factor of 5.

Results: Gartner Group rated the product a “magic quadrant leader” in 2000 and 2001 among 200 vendors.  Sales in 1997 were $750,000.  By 2001 sales increased to $27 million.

 

Product could not handle a large number of clients.  Researched the bottlenecks, analyzed the software behavior and implemented more efficient coding techniques. 

Results: improved the number of clients from 250 to 1,000 with better than ½ the original response time.

 

Responsible for research into various technologies and their application to the product including software distribution via Microsoft System Management Server, Microsoft Exchange Server access to the Vista Plus database, initial research into Microsoft Management Console plug-in of the Vista Plus server and feasibility of Microsoft.NET architecture.

 

PREVIOUS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

                Senior Consulting Engineer at FileNET Aug 1992-Oct 1998

            Senior Systems Programmer at Unisys, Computer System Consultant at Codercard Inc and Trivium Inc., Associate Engineer and Intern at New World Computers Inc.

               

EDUCATION & CONTINUING STUDIES

                Bachelor of Science, University of California, Irvine, CA – Information and Computer Science

                                Other Training: Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 1993, 1997, 2000 and 2001

                                Microsoft COM programming with MFC

                                Unisys: Project Scheduling and Managing Unisys Quality

                                Microsoft University: OS/2 Programming Environment and LAN Manager Programming Environment

                                IBM Training Center: Basic IBM System V36 Operation

                                Designed and built home-brew Z80 computer