Jonah E Safar
Arlington, MA 02476
jsafar-vf@vfocus.com
Objective:
To secure full-time, long-term employment in a challenging
environment that provides the opportunity to enhance existing skills
and to also develop new ones.
Availability:
Boston, MA and surrounding areas only. No out of state, no
relocation desired.
Computer Skills:
Operating Systems: UNIX (Solaris, SunOS, HP/UX, Irix, Linux, BSD),
Mac, Windows (98, NT, 2000, XP), DOS.
Languages:C, C++, perl, Ada, Pascal, Fortran, PHP, XML, HTML,
Java, Tcl/Tk, Javascript.
Extensions:TCP/IP, SQL (Oracle, mSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL), X, GL,
CGI, HTTP, AJAX, UNIX Threads, RCS/CVS, SVN and BK code
control, TT2, mod_perl, Insure, Purify, JNI, Swing, make,
cons, RT, Bugzilla, Click, ATG Dynamo and Vignette
Storyserver.
Configuration:Solaris, RedHat, Mandrake, Apache, Sendmail, Oracle,
Postfix, PostgreSQL, MySQL, NFS, squid, iptables, ipchains,
ssh, NAT, firewall, wireless, ant, make, Cisco IOS.
Education:
MSEE/CE, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 2001.
BSEE/CS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. 1994.
Certifications:
CISSP 2006, #88133.
Experience:
Mazu Networks, Inc. Cambridge, MA.
June 2005 to Current.
Senior Engineer
Promoted best of breed engineering practices to improve quality of
product releases while decreasing the time from specification to
customer release. Pilot projects included unit testing, middleware
interface libraries, better API specification, better automated
testing within the engineering group, dependency tracking,
automated documentation, strong templating and procedural
separation. Some on-call related duties to assist customer
engineering on a part-time basis. Varied duties included
developing embedded web content, designing and implementing partner
data transfer and export API and code, database optimization and
bug fixing. Tasked with helping to find and repair potential
security vulnerabilities in the product lines. Also responsible
for a complete overhaul of the engineering and customer experience
in product software updates.
Skills used: C, C++, Perl, Java, XML, Apache, PHP, Perl, HTML, SQL,
Linux, Postgresql, Bugzilla, make, Click, AJAX, shell, Javascript,
iptables, CVS, SVN
GameLogic, Inc. Cambridge, MA.
October 2003 to November 2004.
Engineer++
Responsible for accelerating development of casino, lottery and on-
line gaming backend systems, including display, statistics,
accounting integration, security, identity verification and
monitoring. Job encompassed taking original designs or pre-
existing code and implementing functional units and tests within
the scope of the task given. Languages used were primarily C++,
with some smaller modules being done in C. Scripting, reporting
and integration, as well as most build, monitoring and test tools
used Perl. Continued to help expand and improve on the automated
regression testing system as well as the RT-based trouble-ticket
system and the bk-based merging and code control system. Helped
port the cons-based build tools to an automake/make process.
Furthermore, was regularly tasked with acting as the devil’s
advocate for security issues. Was the company’s subject matter
expert for database issues, including MySQL tuning, replication,
backups and recovery, as well as DBA for some table design, foreign
key constraint, table size and indexing concerns. Acted as senior
code reviewer and provided junior engineer mentoring on coding,
standards, best practices and on-call procedures, as well as
presented numerous internal classes on database and SQL usage,
designing and coding with security in mind, and using the Standard
Template Library in C++. Was a primary on-call engineer throughout
duration of employment, which included 24/7 remote support, remote
debugging, network and hardware analysis and patch coding.
Skills used: C, C++, Perl, XML, Apache, HTML, SQL, Linux, MySQL,
RT, cons, make, bk
Virtual Focus Consulting Erie, CO.
September 2001 to Current
Consultant
Brain Enhancement Services
Contracted to pick up maintenance on a previous contractor’s
work, as well as help them design the next major release of
their web test, sales and customer tracking website. Supported
incremental roll-out of features and review of code for phased
refactoring. Analyzed code to detect future security
vulnerabilities as well as performance bottlenecks to make sure
an expanding customer base would not cause an unexpected
processing failure. Also worked with the customer to try and
develop better business processes around their automated tools
to simplify order processing and speed turn-around time. Helped
customer develop a wish list, prioritize their requirements and
then write up detailed specifications for RFC bidding.
Skills used: Perl, HTML, Javascript
Turbine Entertainment, Inc.
Contracted to help accelerate and complete an ongoing project
that was falling behind deadline. Took ownership of a complex
GUI tool to help customer support research customer issues by
visualizing large amounts of archived game data. Project was
integrated into existing code and required interfacing with new
modules being produced by other internal groups. Windows
2003/NT development environment using P4 source control.
Project was multi-threaded, used MFC components, and interfaced
with newer .NET components. Project was taken from
specifications gathering, through proof of concept, writing,
integration, testing and delivery. An additional high-level
security audit and a series of talks and documents were also
provided on ‘safe coding’ practices, and tools to help with the
secure development process. This included internal web servers
and tools implemented in PHP, as well as back-end engines
providing game services in C++.
Skills used: C++, P4, Visual Studio, MFC, Threads, Windows,
Linux, PHP, Apache
Virtual Focus
Designed, purchased and maintained the in-house network and
systems. Handled in-house provisioning of leased line, ISP
services, repair and security. Automated nightly tape backups
and some critical OS update patch handling. Network comprised
of Mac (OS9 and OSX), Windows (2000 and XP), Solaris and Linux
machines. Network supports shared printing services,
transparent firewalls, wireless roaming with authentication,
email spam-filtering and shared network disk-space.
Skills used: Postfix, PostgreSQl, MySQL, Solaris, Windows,
MacOS, Linux, Wireless, Firewall, Arkeia, Apache, iptables, NFS
Alignment Software
Contracted to provide a set of network exploration tools that
would run natively on Windows 98, 2000, NT and XP, Linux and
Solaris systems (from 2.6 to 2.9), but would have a consistent
Java interface. System-level code was written in C++ and used
makefiles on Linux and Solaris and Visual Studio under Windows.
The Java interface implemented JNI and ant was used to build and
manage the project including documentation. Additional research
and coding was provided to create ‘burstable’ queries that would
respond to network congestion. High volume and high load
testing was conducted on all code for reliability and memory
use. Provided insight into user-interface changes to improve
graphic visualization of test results.
Skill used: Java, JNI, C++, ant, TCP/IP, UDP/IP, Windows,
Solaris, Linux
Prestige Medical
Given a sample order file and the company’s EDI specification,
created a high-speed parser to explode an incoming order into
human readable printable or web-viewable orders. Working with
the company’s IT lead to modify an open-source software and
hardware inventory tracking system that includes a trouble
ticket and help desk system to the company needs. Also making
sure it will run on currently available systems, and be able to
be maintained and upgraded by the company internally.
Skills used: C, EDI, HTML, PHP, mysql
Stonekeep Consulting
Assistant developer for the Congo distributed registration
system. Provided back end printer driver development in the
CUPS environment, created build and configuration platforms for
CUPS printing support, PHP and XML web development, MySQL
database development and Java ODBC and Swing development for
middleware and mobile client. Planned for hot-failover, load-
balancing, hardware and network growth as services expand and
better mobility is needed. Contributed work on simple kiosk
infrastructure planning with security in mind. Provided data
migration and translation between existing client database
sources and target Congo use both remotely and ‘at site.’
Skills used: Java, ant, Swing, C, CUPS, Apache, MySQL, CVS,
ODBC, Swing, PHP, XML
Audible Magic Corp.
Updated and provided technical support and training for
purchased IP rights from ipArchive. Helped design product
expansions. Provided feasibility studies and protocol analysis
on demand for further product studies. Remote-diagnosed
hardware issues, and provided on-site service to companies that
were using Audible Magic hardware. Provided load-balancing
consultation, hardware selection and configuration assistance
for a number of projects. Wrote a high-speed, SMP enabled
application for rapid Ethernet protocol detection and multi-
level assembly with content analysis and action.
Skills used: TCP/IP, Protocols, C, C++, Perl, Linux, FTP, HTTP,
P2P
ReEnforce, LLC
Advanced Linux work involving iptable intercepts and rapid
TCP/IP stream capture for categorization and rewriting in
modular C++. Gave lectures on P2P concepts and fundamental
networking topologies, both actualized and virtual. Gave
additional lessons on computer-user motivation and ethics.
Project under NDA.
Skills used: TCP/IP, Protocols, C++, Linux, iptables, HTTP, FTP,
P2P
PlanetiBiz, Inc.
Acted as a sub-contractor for expert hourly consulting for web-
enabled business plans, websites, back-end databases, server
infrastructure, security consulting (including system integrity)
as well as code-walkthrough. Specialized in PostgreSQL and PHP
solutions, requiring knowledge of Apache configuration issues,
hardware optimization, PHP standards for versions 3 and 4, as
well as the differences between PostgreSQL versions 7.0 and the
newer 7.1. Also provided C and C++-based PostgreSQL dynamic
loaded triggers for complex behavior.
Skills used: Apache, HTML, PHP, C, C++, PostgreSQL, SQL,
triggers, Perl, Javascript
WebUseNet, Inc. Boulder, CO.
May 2001 to September 2001.
Senior Architect Colorado R&D Office Closed
Created a new on-line music service targeted to take advantage of
fat pipes to allow for streaming and downloading of MP3 encoded
music, with the ability to move to MP2 and MP4-encoded video in the
near future. The job encompassed the entire development cycle from
creating project requirements from the base concept, to determining
infrastructure needs and planned roll-out, to database design, user
interface, privacy concerns and media rights management. The beta
functional system was implemented on Oracle and Apache, running
under Linux. A caching and balancing system was devised to allow
scaling from one machine to many, both for the session management,
and database access. The majority of the coding was done in Perl,
using the mod_perl and TT2 interfaces to Apache. A large amount of
low-level coding was done to allow database access and session
management to be scalable into the future. The project was
designed with a strong eye towards bringing in liaisons, co-
branding of the site for various sponsors, creation of warehousing
and burn services for people that wished to use the site as a
conventional on-line music service, or as a ‘mix-CD’ creation
service and most importantly, integration with content protection
services, such as those that had been being developed by ipArchive.
Also handled development machine specifications and procurement,
and helped set up and configure the office machines. Was
responsible for office data security and handled the firewall and
password databases.
Skills used: Apache, Perl, TT2, mod_perl, HTML, Oracle, SQL, Linux
ipArchive, Inc. Westminster, CO.
December 2000 to April 2001.
Senior Architect Company out of Business
Researched requests for currently existing commercial off the shelf
solutions that could be adapted to company needs (both hardware and
software). Helped write and review patent applications and created
non-technical white papers based on highly technical subjects for
public and board consumption. Did rapid prototyping in multiple
languages to create proof of concept projects, collected facts and
made algorithm measurements to support company fact sheets and
engineering specifications. Was tasked with assisting business
development in creating product specifications and use cases, then
formalizing the lists for applicability and testability. Developed
UML object-oriented specifications with the engineering group for
implementations. Provided example code to help engineering with
complex coding issues such as allowing C++ object inheritance
through a dynamic module loading architecture at run-time.
Code developed included modification of TCP stream assembly
products for real-time, high-bandwidth protocol monitoring, high-
level protocol reverse engineering and advanced automated content
recognition. Work included concepts taken from network intrusion
detection systems and from leading edge human sound processing and
speech recognition techniques, as well as video and picture
modeling coupled with pattern recognition. As ancillaries to the
main projects, supported hardware selection, linux kernel
compilation and tweaking, database design, web server setup and
interface creation, network design for local servers and remote
clients, and machine security, both for transmitted data, and for
the network machines themselves. Created and maintained the CVS-
based code archive and automated backup scripts, as well as the bug
submission and tracking systems and automated build scripts.
Helped create a system to allow for ‘publishing’ content to a
staging web-server before being released to the internet server.
Worked closely with the Solaris administrator and the building’s
network administrator to make sure all departments had required
resources, and monitored network traffic to prevent unintentional
release of proprietary data.
Skills used: C, C++, UML, Perl, TCP/IP, Protocols, Apache, Squid,
CVS, Linux, Solaris, Shell scripts, HTTP, FTP, P2P
Quova, Inc. Westminster, CO.
April 2000 to December 2000.
Senior Engineer Colorado R&D Office Closed
Wrote perl and C libraries to handle database interconnect
(primarily Oracle) as well as high-speed network exploration.
Considerable CGI work with perl and modperl was later added for
remote analysis and control of an expanding tool set. Assisted
with data structure design and data compression methodologies to
rapidly store, transmit and index huge volumes of data. Worked on
rewriting parts of basic networking tools such as ping, traceroute
and nslookup for the purpose of robustness, speed, better low-level
socket use and reduced internet traffic. Involved in the staffing
selection process to expand the research department to meet
increased demands from the engineering and data warehousing
departments. Provided math and algorithm support while exploring
fuzzy logic, neural networks and self-fitting algorithms until a
full-time mathematician was employed. Wrote, over a three month
period, a massively threaded, distributed engine for parallel
network exploration in C++. Emphasis was placed on remote control
of the code, high speed, and very low network impact. Helped deal
with the creation of filters and procedures to rapidly handle
complaints and to improve the code to reduce the incident of
further similar complaints. Considerable effort was expended on
removing all store and forward designs in an attempt to minimize
data loss and provide as much fail-safe and fail-over capability as
possible. Rewrote and integrated improved socket-level objects to
take advantage of ICMP and TCP network protocols. Involved in the
patent request process for development done on both code and
concepts.
Responsible for keeping track of the latest releases and versions
of critical software and kernel upgrades, as well as maintaining a
list of bugs and other problems found during the course of research
and development. When possible, was tasked with creating code
patches or workarounds for serious low-level problems in the OS or
application level software. Worked with the Unix community and
vendors to handle purchasing decisions and product support from
VALinux, Parasoft and others. Worked with IT to keep the
development environment and desktop computers up to date, networked
and fully functional. Did machine repairs, upgrades, and
internally consulted for VxWorks and ip-space deployment.
Skills used: C++, Perl, TCP/IP, ICMP, Linux, Solaris, Oracle, SQL,
Threads, Insure++, CVS, NFS
bCandid Boulder, CO.
December 1999 to April 2000.
Senior Consulting Engineer Company Sold
Originally supporting engineer for the Twister discussion engine.
Worked with customers to customize both the interface and add
enhancements to the base server with the main engineering team.
Also acted as QA for the product line, writing and running test
cases, and generating reproducible faults based on customer
feedback. Consulted on machine selection, backup plans, security
and tuning. Generated Perl, XML, HTML and Javascript templates for
customers. Later moved to the bConnected project to act as initial
architect and coder to a secure business to business EDI solution.
Worked with a small team to quickly engineer a prototype based on
management input, then implement a working system. Initially
integrated two companies as proof of concept. During second-phase
engineering, moved to concentrate on back-end integration with a
wide array of database systems and communications to be able to
support as many future customers as possible, as well as document
formats and automatic translation and conversion. Helped
customers, both internal and external, obtain and configure the
hardware and software needed to fulfill their business functions.
Skills used: Perl, XML, HTML, C, Twister, Usenet
DMR Consulting Group, Inc. Englewood, CO.
August 1999 to December 1999.
Senior Systems Analyst Work Contracted for Completed
Was on contract to U.S. West, E-commerce group. Acted as assistant
to the Vignette project leader. Helped to establish and review
development procedures for both coding, coding style and web
deliverables. Was instrumental in helping to collect and analyze
requirements, then apportioning work based on expected load.
Produced an on-line product catalog that extended across all
internal 'stores.' Additionally, each department had the ability
to add custom extensions and abilities to their storefront. The
project involved constructing the database back-end and the web-
based data-entry tools. The project existed in a StoryServer
environment with coding done in Tcl, Javascript, HTML and SQL.
Emphasis was placed on extensibility, consistent look and feel as
well as ease of use.
Skills used: Vignette StoryServer, Tcl, HTML, Javascript, Oracle,
SQL
XVT Software, Inc. Boulder, CO.
March 1998 to July 1999.
Senior Engineer Engineering Offices Closed
Brought on to support development of the 'Hop Skip Jump' web
project, to localize displayed content based on the viewer's
location, determined through an algorithm using incoming internet
addresses and zip codes. Provided Oracle support and developed a
high-speed, multi-threaded server back-end to handle http requests
and various algorithms to determine closest-neighbor pairing and
complex-phrase searches in real-time. Was instrumental in the
design of the overall project to make flexible business rules
integral to the entire project. Also involved in efforts to
streamline and accelerate the development of the project from an
original estimated two or more years to just under six months.
Demonstrated a high level of code reuse in a new project to develop
a high-speed, high load, multi-platform application server that
also functioned as a standard web-server. The 'Flashpoint' server
was introduced at LinuxWorld in 1999. Was responsible for
evaluating the reuse potential of many of the coding modules, as
well as adopting the code to fit into the new project. Responsible
for the entirety of the engineering and coding development for the
core server itself. Worked with others to teach threaded coding
concepts, as well as dynamic memory and dynamic linking concepts
integral to the project. Developed a working sub-module for the
server to accept secure socket layer communications through a 'plug-
in' based off of the SSLeay libraries. Produced a GPL version of
Flashpoint and worked out the engineering specification to develop
the next major revision of Flashpoint. Spearheaded use of CVS
revision control processes, accelerated bug-tracking policies as
well as Purify and other tools to catch bugs earlier in
development.
During this period, also helped design the distributed support
networks and backups that would be required to keep the system
acceptably usable as load increased. Helped write up a staged
purchase and deployment plan for roll-out. Worked with Oracle and
with a local Oracle consultant directly for optimal database use,
licensing issues and to resolve bugs. Set up a partial internal
test environment, and also provided internal security audits.
Helped resolve internal DNS, email and FTP server issues, and set
up a caching proxy for the company. Continued to provide direct
customer support and interaction as needed. Included rapid porting
of large projects between platforms, especially to Solaris 2.7, 64-
bit HP/UX and to Caledra, RedHat and Slackware Linux. Provided
engineering support to the cross-platform division to expand their
X-Windows capability with various toolkits.
Skills used: C, C++, X, CVS, Threads, Oracle, SQL, HTML, Apache,
Squid, Protocols, Porting, Linux, Solaris, HP/UX, Purify, HTTP
Raytheon Submarine Signals Division Portsmouth, RI.
May 1995 to March 1998.
Engineer Left for Better Position
Covered both the Block-1C and the NSSN submarine real-time command
and control projects. For the Block-1C project, spent considerable
time debugging and verifying problem reports on simulators and
actual equipment. As part of the NSSN project, designed
interfaces, deciding on the structure of the programs under the
weapon-group control and determining code-reuse potential from
older, related projects. The majority of the programming was
conducted in Ada. Interface design was coordinated using Teamwork
and Rational’s APEX development environment. Documentation was
produced using the Interleaf package.
Worked on expanding the internal production toolset. Developed and
rewrote a number of programs to aid in the automatic code
generation effort. Included were a number of Teamwork database
traversing methods to automatically create package and message
specifications, as well as text-parsing algorithms to provide
intelligent linking between modules. Largest project was a
specialized X-based front-end to the Teamwork module editor. With
this were administrative organization tools for managing data
updates, an intelligent monitor to provide ‘on the fly’ corrections
to entered data and the ability to save edited or created data in
cdif format for exchange with other databases. Also did a code
audit and archive of older Fortran code to asses algorithm
portability for a new virtual environment simulator under
construction. Worked with the advanced projects division to
provide various classification and pattern-recognition programs to
determine the efficiency of a new ultra-wide band sonar in
Mathematica and in C.
Skills used: C, Ada, Fortran, X, GL, Teamwork, Rational APEX, AIX,
SGI, Solaris, Mathematica, Interleaf
Professional Organizations:
IEEE: ComSoc member since 2000.
ACM: Member since 2001.