Experience

• 

  T-Mobile

  • United States
  • Telecommunications
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Sr. Engineer, Software

    • Jan 2017 - Nov 2023

    T-Mobile's Product Catalog database, now based on IBM MDM-CE (with Java/JVM custom code for business-logic and ease-of-use for those configuring products), and the DevOps GitLab pipeline for build, test, and deploy. Provided guidance for junior engineers, and documented key changes in methodology and tool-use to continue to modernize the inherited code-base.Migrated the existing SQL Server DB to a required custom XML format (from those building the new solution). Distilling/transforming the 2GB database took 40 minutes with my pipeline, but almost as many hours to load; it was vital the files be as correct and consistent as possible, with well-crafted XML schemas (XSD). The config team could rely on being able to make last-minute changes with the tools they best understood. It also needed to be stable over a year of changes to the target DB, while the source DB also adapted to business requirements at the same time.Converged three multi-year code repositories (Git) into one (maintaining history) with a single Maven build, managing dependencies and code changes to add code-coverage and SonarQube reports as code-quality metrics. Created a programmatically-generated build/test/deploy pipeline for 6+ stages for 10+ environments, in 200+ lines of robust and easy to maintain DSL-based code, equivalent to 2000+ lines of YAML output for GitLab.Also introduced Kotlin to the test-framework for unit-tests, using its null-safety and type-inference features to simplify and solidify testing.

  • Software Developer, Database/.NET

    • Jun 2011 - Jan 2017

    T-Mobile's Product Catalog: a SQL Server DB, with C# client-app (PCM), and other surrounding .NET support apps for ETL. Inherited as a dev-built tool with no automated tests, created a TeamCity build system, to regularly run builds and tests for PCM and other essential tools. Monthly feature releases with low-defect rate, along with maintaining a stable zero-new-defect Hotfix release rate for production-level issues, with same-day or overnight turnaround. Self-prioritization within a sometimes very interrupt-driven environment.Subject matter expert for export feeds, to both internal and external partner destination databases, I grew and enhanced the primary data-exporter tool (PCDE) so that new feeds could be added in days not weeks, ran very stably every night, and provided helpful and pertinent error messages so that ops could resolve problems themselves. (The tool would become a key component in the migration-pipeline mentioned further above.)Created an F#/SQL tool ("Tommy") using concurrent data pulls to create 2GB snapshots for creating 5x faster (and more reliable) external incremental data feeds, also removing the last barrier to the migration work mentioned further above.Became the “backbone” of the team essentially by being both willing and able to understand the quirks and paradigms of processes and users, adapting to their domain rather than expecting them to work to ours. Created an XML transformation (XSLT) based tool flexible enough to be in constant use for 10 years for tasks including per-environment builds, data/source normalization, and code-generation from data or schemas.

• 

  Microsoft

  • SDE/T Telemetry

    • Jun 2010 - Aug 2010

    Bridged support for legacy telemetry issues in reorganization after Office 2010, as the Office 2013 teams would also own Office 2010 Service Pack onwards. Created documentation for and responded to inquiries from the numerous developers new to the subject matter. Introduced refactoring guidelines for simplifying future development

  • SDE/T Reliability/Feedback

    • Jan 2007 - Jun 2010

    Tuned existing summarization and reporting queries for the Office-group's "Watson" issue DB, reducing a 26.5 hour reporting run by 98% to 26 minutes, while also lowering server-impact. Reports and summaries became de facto action items for the next weeks' agenda for all Office teams concerned.Tech support for other Office-group teams relating to the Watson DB (and later the Windows-group as ownership moved mid-cycle).

  • SDE/T Performance

    • Mar 1997 - Jan 2007

    Became owner of existing Outlook Performance (Reporting) Database (benchmarks, memory/network usage, etc.), and enhanced through two more versions of same. Then owned three versions of the Perf DB for the entire Office-group as it grew and integrated more data for all Office teams, but with a design and toolset so those teams would remain owners of their perf-labs. Established a reputation as an ETL expert.Recognized for contributions to an automated data testing tool (3rd of 4 inventors, US Patent 7,457,723 B2).

  • Technical Support, Tiers 2&3

    • Apr 1990 - Mar 1997

    Windows and Macintosh Office Suite support. Also picked for small team in trial (Office-) developer support effort.Note: most of this time was before the industry moved to out-sourcing its tech-support.

• 

  Microsoft

  • Bellevue, Washington, United States

  • Co-op in Technical Support, Tiers 1&2

    • Dec 1988 - Dec 1989
    • Bellevue, Washington, United States

    All Microsoft Apps for the Apple Macintosh. (Excel started on the Macintosh.)