I’m an experienced manager, software engineer, speaker, and architect of very large-scale websites, with a special emphasis on the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack. However, even though the term is considered “old-fashioned” these days, I tend to think of myself as a systems analyst; that is, my primary skill is the ability to visualize and solve problems related to the integration of large-scale systems such as websites, service-oriented network architectures, data warehouses, and other software constructs. At Yahoo!, we face (and solve) issues of scaling and traffic that are second to none in the Internet.

In the past, I’ve been a consultant and architect of data warehouses and very large extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (2004-present). I’ve held a number of positions while at Yahoo!:

• Sr. Engineering Manager, Media Integration Team. In this position, I manage a large number of engineers involved in multiple projects that support the Yahoo! Media anchor properties—News, Finance, Sports, and various other smaller properties. Since this is a new team, I’ve been involved in establishing a management structure, defining internal processes, and helping to build a collaborative environment rich in technical expertise.
• Sr. Engineering Manager, Yahoo! News. In this role, I managed a team of backend engineers; during this time, we delivered major new revisions to the News site and ensure that the site could support extremely high-traffic events such as the 2008 Presidential Election, the 2009 Inauguration, and the untimely death of Michael Jackson. During this time, Yahoo! News achieved and then maintained its position as the #1 News property on the Internet. I led my team in developing good engineering practices, organizing sub-groups, and reporting on critical project deliverables.
• Engineering Manager, Yahoo! Shine. I led a team of engineers in developing the first content property at Yahoo! to be entirely driven by user-generated content. I worked with product managers and upper management to negotiate initial product features and schedules, and led the team to achieve those commitments.
• Engineering Manager, Yahoo! Tech. I was initially the technical lead (engineer) for this product, and moved into a management role after the initial delivery. Yahoo! Tech was the first new media property to be developed at Yahoo! in over five years, and the first site within Yahoo! to use a totally service-oriented architecture. We led the way in implementing new technologies and frameworks at Yahoo!, and my team members have gone on to be widely-recognized experts throughout Yahoo!
• Backend Engineer, Yahoo! News. In my first role at Yahoo!, I worked with other engineers to deliver a total redesign of the News property, moving from legacy code to a site that was completely implemented in PHP and using MySQL, Linux, and Apache.

Data Warehouse Engineer, Blazent, Inc., San Mateo, CA (2004). I helped develop data warehouse architectures and policies for this small start-up company that focused on Business Intelligence applications for Information Technology departments. I worked with Oracle, MySQL, and various ETL applications (Informatica, Embarcadero, Ascential) in defining the ETL processes for the application.

Sales Consultant, Informatica, Inc., Redwood City, CA (2003-2004). As a Sales Consultant, I provided technical expertise on the Informatica suite of ETL/data integration tools during the sales process. This included product demonstrations, trade show participation, and on-site proof-of-concept projects. I also worked with Informatica’s acquired changed-data-capture products using IBM DB2 and ORACLE.

Independent Contractor (2001-2003). During this period, I participated in numerous projects including data warehouses for a major bank in San Francisco and for a large government agency in British Columbia. These projects included the design and development of ETL processes using tools such as Ab Initio, Oracle, DB2, and ETI•EXTRACT. I also participated in several small start-ups and worked with VC firms on various projects.

Director of Software Engineering, DotRocket, Inc., Campbell, CA (2000-2001). I was in charge of producing a web traffic data warehouse product for this startup company that focused on Internet bandwidth optimization. A prototype of the data warehouse was designed and implemented using Perl, PHP, and MySQL before the company ceased operations because of lack of funding. I managed a team of employees and contractors during this period.

Managing Director of European Operations, Legendary Data Systems, Reading, Berkshire (United Kingdom; 1999-2001). As the country manager for this US consulting firm establishing a foothold in Europe, I hired and managed a team of consultants, developed and maintained customers, grew a partner base, worked with legal staff and other specialists, and delivered an organization that significantly contributed revenue to the company’s bottom line in a period when the US operations had stagnated. Projects included data integration and data warehouses in conjunction with Natwest Bank, Plc, IBM Germany, and Evolutionary Technologies, Ltd.

Multiple positions with Evolutionary Technologies International (ETI), in Austin, TX, and Wokingham, Berkshire (UK) from 1992-1999. While with ETI, I started as a software engineer and was promoted to engineering manager. During this period, I helped the company grow from 16 employees to a multinational organization with more than 400 employees on three continents with more than US$40M in annual revenue. I established the company’s first technical support team. I became a consultant, first in the US and then on a long-term assignment in Europe. I worked with numerous customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, and Italy. (Note that consultants with ETI worked in both a pre-sales and post-sales capacity.) I helped ETI Europe deliver more than US$20M in revenue while I managed a team of consultants in the UK, France, and Germany. I helped develop close relationships with partners such as IBM France and IBM Sweden. My final title with ETI was Manager of European Consulting.

Technical Writer, BMC Software, Austin, TX (1991-1992). I produced reference and end-user documentation for the “ALTER for DB2″ and “CHANGE MANAGER for DB2″ products. I worked closely with the engineering staff and with other technical writers and editors.

Systems Analyst, Texas Education Agency, Austin, TX (1988-1991). I helped in the development of the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), the first large-scale data warehouse that focused on the needs of Texas Educators. In addition, I helped develop an order tracking and management system for the purchase and shipping of textbooks to the more than 1,100 Texas school districts.

System Support Specialist, Commercial Systems, Inc., Austin, TX (1984-19988). I wrote Z80 assembler device drivers and provided end-user support and consulting for this small start-up computer manufacturer.

OPEN-SOURCE DEVELOPMENT

It seems like there’s not a place on a traditional resume to include interesting things one has worked on that are not in conjunction with formal employment or training. Outside of work, I’ve been the developer of Siteframe, an open-source “community content-management system” written in PHP and using MySQL; Siteframe is currently installed on several thousand websites, and about 60 new sites register each month. While initially targeting amateur photographers (and thus providing a lot of built-in image support), Siteframe has become popular among many sites that want to share images and documents among a large community of users. The latest release of Siteframe heavily leverages the object-oriented features of PHP5 and utilizes advanced database functions in MySQL 4.1.

EDUCATION

B.A., English Language and Literature, Baylor University, Waco, TX (1983).

AWARDS AND HONORS

Named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006.