Profile

Worked in many areas of web software development from individual contributor to engineering manager. Has an unusual combination of breadth and depth from schema design and query optimization to extensive AJAX and CSS with high volumes of data and traffic. Excels in taking anything from a feature to a product from requirements gathering to scalable production release as a contributor, manager or both. Proven record of completing projects by meeting the needs of stake holders while integrating with third party platforms/APIs/services through effective communication and good inter-personal skills. Supported Linux-based production environments at the web operations level.

Skills

Recent: Java, Spring MVC, Hibernate/JPA, Tomcat, Maven, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript/jQuery/Dojo/AJAX, DOM/CSS/XHTML, Apache, Subversion, Trac, Facebook and MySpace Platforms

Additional: Python (Twisted), ant, Perl, Drupal, Google App Engine, XML, XML Schema, Oracle, PL/SQL, CVS, XSLT, C, Shell Scripting, make, Some UNIX System Administration

Interested in but not experienced: Mobile Applications and technologies, Game development, additional JavaScript toolkits/frameworks

Experience

Silver Spring Networks: Senior Engineer 5/2009 - Present

Brought in to be a generalist with some PHP application support but mainly Enterprise Java application development. Providing UI development expertise when needed and leveraging front to back experience to own features from front to back in a Java/Spring MVC/Hibernate/Oracle/Tomcat environment.

Renkoo: Engineering Manager 9/2007 - 5/2009, Web Developer 6/2006 - 9/2007

Brought in to help accelerate development of an innovative social networking application with a LAMP toolset and extensive DHTML/AJAX using Dojo and mod_pubsub Comet server. Used deep and diverse skills to fill any gaps in the team (DHTML, Twisted servers, Operations, database design/optimization) allowing the application and company to develop and grow quickly. Promoted to Engineering Manager as a confirmation of the role that had already been assumed while still contributing to development. Helped develop, scale and manage successful Facebook, MySpace and .com applications with varying amounts of shared code using Amazon EC2 and traditional hosting.

SilverSpringNetworks.com: Web Developer 12/2004 - 6/2006

Hired to lead the web application development effort for a startup that is using open standards to provide last mile networking to utility companies. Worked on refactoring PHP codebase, leveraging PHP 5 OOP features, XHTML and CSS rewrite, new features and requirements gathering. Transitioned UI from XML-RPC back-end communication to SOAP for internal, small user set web interface.

Friendster.com: Web Developer 4/2004 - 12/2004

Brought on as a member of the PHP web development team to assist in implementing a new PHP/MySQL application architecture, improve performance/functionality/scalability and implement new member features. Instrumental in filling out the details of and extending the scalability of the new architecture through intelligent use of caching and database resources. Lead the PHP refactoring effort to clean up and unify the code base, streamline the database interface, and centralize access to application logic.

Yahoo.com: Technical Yahoo 3/2003 - 4/2004

Hired as a contractor to work on 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup web site. Was the main developer for the multilingual web site (including double-byte languages). Used Apache, MySQL, Perl and PHP to implement database schema and API, data driven web pages, inbound and outbound feeds. Created a Perl object based interface to MySQL database for in-house publishing system. Set up FreeBSD servers for proprietary mod-perl CMS. Implemented live match web pages to track scores, stats, plays, photos and news for soccer matches. Moved to health group 11/2003 to help with new features and maintenance of site. Helped to redesign the back end of the Astrology site for a relaunch using Apache, MySQL, PHP and XML.

FOXSports.com: Software Developer 5/2001 - 3/2003

One of the first four of the new group that completely rebuilt the FOXSports.com web site and publishing system using a (largely) open source, high volume, high availability, low cost and scalable web platform (AOLserver on Linux with Oracle on Solaris). Was instrumental in design, architecture and implementation of both the publishing system and the third party data feed integration. Worked to integrate almost all third party data feeds (including AP, SportsTicker, Stats Inc., Questec, WWTS Odds and other) into the existing software and infrastructure using Java, C, shell and perl scripts, AOLserver and XML/XSL. Also lead small groups to integrate with partners like RealOne (SMIL/XML presentation of video data and meta data) and Lycos (integration of our system with Lycos user registration system via http based Maya API). Worked with Tcl when dealing with and extending AOLserver's API, C for AOLserver modules and a serial port data feed reader, Java for two Socket based data feeds, Perl and shell scripting for system automation and integration as well as implementing recursive Makefile source repository in a CVS environment and the build scripts to automate the build process for over 30 load balanced web and application servers.

Jeff Nichols Consulting: Web Developer 3/2001 - 5/2001

Worked on a jsp/servlet/java bean version of the existing scout911.com database driven site on Apache/Tomcat/Linux that migrated the database from FileMaker Pro to MySQL. The development version is at http://subchaos.com/nicholshome. Increased the speed of searches significantly while the technologies used would result in a more easily maintained and extended web site.

TMINUS10: Application Developer 10/2000 - 2/2001

Started as a contractor leading the User Interface Development group for pressplay.com integrating and developing the JSP, CSS and JavaScript site (the URL was repurposed by parent company Sony Music). Was quickly offered a permanent position as an Application Developer. Did research and development into distributed computing and peer to peer strategies for massive multi-user gaming/entertainment environments. Started to implement socket based multi-platform network gaming framework prototype.

hstation.com: Web Engineer and System/Network Administrator 5/1999 - 10/2000

Was responsible for many different areas including the following: designing/implementing/administering company internal network and internet presence, implementing web applications and HTML pages, creating system tools to help manage network resources and evaluating/testing/implementing new technologies.

MetroLight Studios: System Programmer 3/1996 - 5/1999

Started as an intern while still in school but quickly moved into system administration of ~30 IRIX servers/workstations and ~25 Macintosh/Windows NT machines with a strong emphasis on UNIX administration skills and administration software development (scripts). Spent the last two years in the software department as a Systems Programmer. Used mainly C, Perl and shell/UNIX scripts to maintain and create system tools and utilities for the 3D effects production environment.

Also created Intranet web pages and applications to help organize and improve the production workflow.

Jeff Nichols Consulting: Web Application Developer 1/1995 - 1/1999

Freelance web application development for small companies. Created the scout911.com web site which used HTML, JavaScript, Lasso and FileMaker Pro to present a database of filming locations to prospective clients of scout911 (a location scouting business). Implemented a large suite of web/database pages for unreeled.com that mirrored functionality offered by a FileMaker Pro database system designed to manage 3D Visual Effects production jobs. This package was sold to Visual Effects studios to allow production staff and artists to access/update job information either via FileMaker Pro or the Web interface I developed.

Education

UCLA: 9/1991 - 6/1996

Operation Research major in Mathematics Department with a Specialization in Computing