David Brown

   1758-34 Kawarabuki
   Ageo-shi
   Saitama-ken 362-0022
   JAPAN
   Phone: +81-90-6549-8110
   E-mail: dagbrown@lart.ca

SUMMARY

    Experienced sysadmin and software developer with more than 25 years
    of experience across many varieties of UNIX seeking new challenges,
    opportunities and knowledge.

SKILLS

   Spoken languages
          English (mother tongue)
          Japanese (daily business)

   Computer languages
          Ruby; Perl; Python; Bourne, Korn and C shell; C/C++; FORTRAN;
          HTML; Java; Common Lisp; Make; PostScript; SQL; XML; many
          others.

   Operating systems
          Unix (system administrator and programmer level; several
          versions, most recently Linux and MacOS, but also Solaris, NCR
          Unix, HP-UX, IRIX, SUPER-UX, Reliant UNIX and others).
          Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP (administrator and programmer
          level). A few others.

   Hardware
          Lots of x86/PC experience; MacOS; Sun, HP and other
          servers.

   Open Source projects
          * Lunar Linux, a source-based Linux distribution: developer.
          * Gurgitate Mail, a mail filter and local delivery agent: creator and
            lead developer.
          * Percolate Mail, an SMTP server framework: creator and lead
            developer.
          * Flooterbuck Infobot, a fork of Kevin Lenzo's Infobot: lead
            developer.

   Certifications
          Passed the Japanese IT Standards Examination in April 2006.

EXPERIENCE

   Systems Administrator
   January 2021-June 2021
   Spamhaus Technologies, Technical team
     * Technical environment: Linux virtual machines on diverse cloud
       hosting services around the world, plus a physical datacenter
       using VMWare vSphere
     * Evaluated the production environment with an eye to improving
       data transfer and maintainability
     * Built new Linux servers as needed to maintain service levels
       worldwide

   Systems Administrator/Architect
   July 2007-present
   GMO Internet, Shared Hosting Product team
   Tokyo, Japan
     * Technical environment: A production environment consisting of a
       large collection of SuperMicro servers, mostly running Solaris
       10, but with some OmniOS.  Test environment:  mainly SmartOS.
       Desktops were either Linux-based or MacOS, and I did some
       development work in Visual Basic for an internal Windows system.
     * Migrated the configuration management to a Git-based workflow, and
       then later to a Gitlab-based workflow, to ensure consistent
       configuration across multiple systems.
     * Introduced standard software packages, again to ensure
       consistency across different networks.
     * Migrated the development and test networks from the previously
       anarchic collection of Xen VMs and Solaris 10 zones, to a new,
       standardized SmartOS-based network.  While I was at it, I moved
       the build, wiki and Gitlab servers to SmartOS VMs.
     * Spearheaded the use of a Sun x4500 disk storage solution to
       replace the existing NetApp solution, saving the company tens of
       millions of yen in hardware cost and millions of yen in support
       costs.
     * Discovered the once-thought-missing source code for an old but
       profitable service, and ported it so that it continued to be
       usable after its original hardware had been retired.
     * Envisioned and implemented an effective, disciplined
       configuration management system using open-source tools, allowing
       easy recovery from errors and discovery of the details of changes
       that had been made.  (In other words, I discovered that Git is a
       better tool than RCS so I convinced my coworkers to use Git.)
     * Created an automated software build-and-packaging system for the
       increasing number of third-party open-source software tools that
       needed to be deployed.  Basically, I ported the Lunar Linux build
       system to Solaris, with great success.

   Programmer/Systems Administrator
   February 2005-May 2007
   Rightweight Process/Invio/USE, Internet Solutions Division
   Tokyo, Japan
     * Technical environment: A mixed environment, generally with Linux
       on servers and Linux, Windows and MacOS on desktop. Network
       equipment was Yamaha, Dell and Cisco. Programming was mainly done
       in Ruby with Rails, but there was also some PHP, Perl and Python
       development. My supervisees used Microsoft technologies like C#
       and .NET.
     * Supervised a team of University of Waterloo students, making them
       immediately productive by implementing a learn-by-doing training
       program where early results were immediately management- and
       customer-visible. This fostered a positive relationship between
       team members and the rest of the company by rapidly demonstrating
       the quality of their work.
     * Quickly identified and capitalized on areas of strength in new
       employees, leading new team members to be quickly accepted by the
       rest of the company, and encouraging new employees to quickly
       take on new and challenging tasks.
     * Designed and built a high-performance, high-availability
       load-balancing network for customer's ad server and discovered
       inexpensive and simple solutions for subtle problems by
       investigating and diagnosing performance bottlenecks,
     * Performed rapid and effective needs analysis for another service
       for the same customer. Upon receiving amended requirements for
       their ad server, quickly perceived their actual requirements
       based on their requests and clearly explained my perceptions.
       The customer accepted my amendments to their original request.
     * Designed and implemented robust, high-performance email systems,
       including smart distribution-list management, spam and virus
       filtering, and email hosting solutions, for both internal and
       external email customers.
     * Worked with a customer to devise an offsite backup solution for
       their web site, working within the constraints of a hostile
       environment, which saved the customer large amounts of money and
       gave them control over their own data.
     * Designed and implemented Subversion and Trac systems for
       intranet, with special exceptions for access by outside
       contractors.

   Webmaster (contract)
   June 2004-April 2006
   XBRL Spy
   Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
     * Technical environment: Apache web server on a hosting service
       with PHP.
     * Researched and recommended content-management software and
       hosting providers, with a focus on highest quality and maximum
       flexibility combined with greatest value.
     * Rapidly set up the website and its content within the Drupal CMS
       framework
     * Handled system administration tasks including software
       installation, backup and email management.

   Systems Analyst
   2003-2004
   Blast Radius
   Products Division
   Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
     * Technical environment: A mixed environment consisting largely of
       Linux servers and Windows workstations. Most of my own
       development was in Python on Linux systems, but there was also a
       large amount of development in C++ and Java within Windows
       environments.
     * Wrote a bug tracker using the Roundup framework to enable Quality
       Assurance to accurately track problem resolution.
     * Authored a lightweight document management system which used
       out-of-the-box components including SAMBA and DocUtils, enabling
       the design and development teams to quickly exchange project
       documentation and information.
     * Implemented a system backup and archive scheme to meet government
       and software release requirements, and to ensure protection of
       the software development environment.
     * Supervised and mentored a practicum student, leading directly to
       his being hired on a permanent basis in the IT department.
     * Administered the development team's Perforce and Subversion
       source code repositories.
     * Provided general IT support for the Products division, including
       acquiring hardware and software for development, Quality
       Assurance, and customer-facing demonstrations, and assessing
       network performance and topology issues.
     * Liaised between the Products division and Blast Radius's IT
       department, ensuring that IT issues were solved in a timely,
       satisfactory manner.

VOLUNTEER WORK

   Developer, build master
   2004-present
   Lunar Linux (Open Source distribution)
     * Technical environment: A source-based Linux distribution, like
       Gentoo but with a curses-based installer rather like Debian
       or Red Hat.
     * After the project had a lengthy hiatus without new install media
       releases, I took the initiative to figure out how to build the
       install media, fix what was broken with the build, and institute
       a daily build.
     * Made considerable improvements in the installer for the distro,
       including adding support for installing with a (virtual) serial,
       and streamlining the interactive installer.
     * Made, reviewed and accepted many pull requests in the distro's
       Github repositories.
     * Mentored several others, providing resources and encouraging
       them to experiment and take risks.


Prior to 2004

* Did building, packaging and source code management for NCR Corporation
  in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
* Repaired and reinstalled some less-well-known computers for Mortice
  Kern Systems in Waterloo.
* Wrote some LISP code as a research assistant at the University of
  Waterloo.
* Wrote a GUI for the settings file for Advanced Scientific Computing in
  Waterloo.
* Learned how to be a system administrator at the Computer Science Club
  at the University of Waterloo.
* Ran a bunch of HP-UX workstations for scientists working at
  Environment Canada in Downsview, Ontario.
* Worked in a VMS environment at Labatt Breweries of Canada, providing
  system and user support.

EDUCATION

* Completed two and a half years of a 4-year Computer Science program at
  the University of Waterloo.