David F. Elliott
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
317-361-6901 (Mobile)
dfe@tgwbd.org

Summary and Objective

Self-motivated, responsible computer programmer seeks opportunity to use computer skills to provide service and solutions for customers. Interested in a wide variety of computer-related fields ranging from writing bare-metal assembly to managing business intelligence data. Fluent in several mainstream programming environments and languages including Xcode, Objective-C, Cocoa, Java, WebObjects, Visual Studio, C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, Python, SQL (PostgeSQL, Microsoft, et al), and many more.

Work Experience

Apple, Inc.
January 2010 to present

Driver Holdings, LLC
July 2008 to December 2009

At Driver Holdings I work as a software developer and general IT infrastructure maven. I brought my years of IT experience to the table and in a short time familiarized myself with Driver's many business practices. Regular duties include developing applications and managing and maintaining server platforms. One notable project I spearheaded was a replacement of a third-party e-mail marketing tool with an in-house system. Not only did we save money simply by avoiding the contract payments but we are continually saving time and effort because the replacement system is much easier to use. Setting up a new e-mail template went from a laborious chore involving several days of work coordinated among several people in IT, marketing, and the third-party provider to a 5 minute call from someone in marketing to someone in IT to spend an hour or two to set up a new e-mail send on a particular customer-initiated event.

Independent Consultant
April 2007 to present

As an independent consultant I've had an opportunity to apply my varied skill set to meet my direct customer's needs and the needs of their customers. Notable projects include:

  • Mac OS X guest support for VMware Fusion 2
  • 64-bit port of and enhancements to wxCocoa for Software Imaging
  • Middleware to inform a back-end data system of incoming calls for Pitney Bowes

Computer Analyst, Science and Technology Corporation, Hampton, VA.
November 2001 to April 2007

At STC I worked on many projects of varied disciplines. My most notable project involved writing a job estimation and cost tracking system, including tying together accounting data from a third-party COBOL-based accounting system (Deltek System 1) and timesheet data stored in a Microsoft SQL database by a separate third-party system (Deltek Time and Expense). Using burdening rate, employee, timesheet, and other data pulled from the third-party systems it provides real-time cost tracking for a U.S. Army contract allowing STC management to give firm financial answers in minutes instead of days.

Communications Skills

I am an effective speaker and writer at any technical level. As a performing musician I have learned how to read and captivate an audience. As a sailboat racer I have learned how to communicate quickly and effectively as part of a team. Working on others' computers has taught me how to effectively explain problems and sell appropriate services. I have consistently received excellent comments from customers and colleagues for both technical and non-technical abilities.

Technical Skills

Twenty years of computer experience has exposed me to many types of hardware and software. I am constantly learning new skills and I am willing to train myself and/or be trained on other systems. The following are quite incomplete lists highlighting the technologies I continue to use on a consistent basis.

Programming

Languages

  • C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++
  • Java
  • SQL
  • Python
  • x86 Assembly
  • C#, VB.NET
  • HTML, CSS, Javascript

Environments

  • GNU (on Linux, OS X, Windows, and others)
  • Xcode
  • Visual Studio

Toolkits/Libraries

  • Cocoa
  • WebObjects
  • ASP.NET

Computer Hardware

  • Apple Macintosh: PPC, i386
  • PC compatible: IBM, Compaq, HP, Dell, Gateway, custom
  • Network wiring/planning

Operating Systems

  • Mac OS X (10.1 through 10.6)
  • Windows NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, 7
  • Linux: Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, Novell/SuSE, others.

Formal Education

  • Undergraduate studies at Purdue University Calumet in Computer Information Systems (June 1999-December 2000)
  • Undergraduate studies at Ball State University in Computer Science (August 1998-May 1999)

Certifications

CompTia A+

Hobbyist Projects

Darwin/x86. As a long time OS X user I've always been interested in the open source foundation. With the release of Intel-based Macs the x86 port of Darwin has become a first-class port of Darwin, although primary for use on Macs. My goal is to revive support for generic computers. Most of my work on this project involves maintaining the x86 bootloader and writing a handful of kernel extensions to make non-Mac hardware work with Darwin.

Primary developer of wxCocoa, a port of the wxWidgets GUI tookit to the Mac OS X Cocoa toolkit. An interesting challenge was working out a standard method of allowing Objective-C messages to be handled by C++ classes. To my knowledge, no one else has accomplished this including OpenOffice.org and Mozilla. The closest would be Mozilla's Camino which is workable but not quite as defined.

Other Information

A much longer version of my resume can be found at http://www.tgwbd.org/resume.html. The most recent version of this short-form resume can be found at http://www.tgwbd.org/resume-short.html.

Please ask me for references.