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PAUL CANAVESE
1212 Versailles Ave, Alameda, CA 94501-5453
paul[-at-]canavese.org http://paul.canavese.org (510) 521-8011

Experienced server consultant specializing in Ruby on Rails, J2EE, mobile, and high-scalability.

Note: I am currently booked through at least June 2010.

Agile
Server
Professional
  • Twelve years of server development experience: envisioning, architecting, and building new server products
  • Strong communication, documentation, organization, and planning skills.
  • Well versed in best development practices: agile methodologies, extreme programming (XP), design patterns, MVC, refactoring, UML, internationalization (I18n) and localization (L10n).
Adept
Ruby on Rails
Developer
  • Three years developing in Ruby and Ruby on Rails (1.x and 2.x).
  • Built six significant RoR-based applications.
  • Committed to current best practices (spanning unit tests, advanced caching, plug-ins, etc.).
  • Extensive deployment experience (EC2, Joyent; Passenger, Mongrel, JRuby).
Mobile/
Wireless
Expert
  • Twelve years developing and deploying software solutions for mobile devices.
  • Launched high-availability, reliable consumer services for telecom carriers used by millions of end users.
  • Proficient in key wireless technologies, including MMS, SMS, XHTML, WML/WAP, C-HTML, billing integration, DRM.
  • Expert at addressing unique constraints of client-server wireless applications.
Enterprise
Architect
  • Well versed in development best practices: design patterns, MVC, refactoring, optimization/tuning, UML, internationalization (I18n) and localization (L10n).
  • Database expert: MySQL, Oracle, Hibernate, transaction and scalability issues.
  • Deep background in enterprise Java (J2EE, EJB, servlets, JSP, JMS, JDBC, templating, etc.) and J2EE server technologies (BEA WebLogic, Tomcat, Apache).
Seasoned
Engineering
Leader
  • Responsible for product visioning, product management, development, documentation, quality assurance, professional services, and support.
  • Director-level experience building, organizing, and managing teams.
  • Experience managing staff in several foreign countries.

EMPLOYMENT

Canavese Consulting, Alameda, CA, consulting.canavese.org 2003-present

Web and technology consulting (part-time before June 2008).

/content/pages/4/31.pngNeighbor-Connect.com, Alameda, CA, www.neighbor-connect.com  11/2008-present

Social networking site based on neighborhood affinity, including local news feed and marketplace.
  • Sole developer (Ruby on Rails 2.2.2, MySQL).
  • Integration with various back-end APIs: Amazon Associates Web Services (product, seller listings, shopping cart), Google Maps, and others.
  • Integration of various data feeds, including RSS, Eventful (venues, events), real estate listings, earthquakes, and local police/fire logs.
  • Rich web UI utilizing modal dialogs, in-place editing, etc. (AJAX/Javascript).
  • Complex caching and performance enhancements.
  • Deployment to Joyent using Capistrano.

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Cc:Betty, Palo Alto, CA, ccbetty.com  3/2009-11/2009

Venrock-incubated start-up providing a "personal email assistant to initiate and sort through emails and parse conversations, files, images, media, dates and places, in the spirit of saving time while collaborating and coordinating with groups of people."
  • Joined existing team as consultant, implementing new features and providing architectural guidance (Ruby on Rails 2.3.3, MySQL, Solr, EC2).
  • Extensive UI development with highly dynamic views (Javascript-heavy, AJAX).
  • Contributed to development of Google gadget plugin and integration with separate Firefox plugin.
  • Integrated with Scribd for in-page document viewing.
  • Developed iPhone web interface (utilizing iUI).
  • Developed testing infrastructure (utilizing RSpec/Cucumber).
  • Integrated with Facebook Connect.
  • Debugged and addressed performance issues (utilizing New Relic).
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Herd Management Solutions (EasyKeeper.net), Alameda, CA, easykeeper.net  3/2009-8/2009

Online record management system for animal herd management (animal profiles, health records/reminders, pedigrees/geneology, milk records, linear appraisals, etc.).
  • Implemented site to specification from prototype through initial beta release (Ruby on Rails 2.3.2, MySQL, Passenger).
  • Integrated with USDA/DHIR milk record service to automatically access pedigree and milk record information.
Stealth Startup, Walnut Creek, CA 9/2008-1/2009

Facebook-enabled web application offering career coaching based on personality attributes.
  • Sole developer. Application supports complex model for answering sets of questions and scoring, AJAX-heavy UI, Facebook notifications and news feed entries, comments, video integration (Ruby on Rails 2.2.2, MySQL, Facebook, AJAX)
  • Implemented as Facebook IFrame application to retain full-featured UI including AJAX effects.
  • Gave extensive input to develop interactive UI and design.
  • Deployment to Joyent using Capistrano.
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OboPay (BillMonk), San Mateo, CA, obopay.com  8/2008-11/2008

A company specializing in consumer-to-consumer payments via mobile phone, which purchased BillMonk (www.billmonk.com), a Facebook-enabled web application for tracking loans of money and items between friends.
  • Generally reclaimed BillMonk application development process from documentation and source code after all engineering staff was no longer available.  (Ruby on Rails 1.2.5, Postgres, Facebook)
  • Researched, documented, fixed, and validated build, packaging, and deployment process.
  • Fixed various bugs, including system-level problems, migration to new Facebook API, and migration from AWS (Amazon Web Services) 3.x to 4.x.
  • Implemented new features.
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PTrades, Lafayette, CA, ptrades.com 6/2008-12/2008

Facebook-enabled web application offering paper trading of commodity futures, stocks,
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and stock options.
  • Performed complete rewrite of PHP application into Ruby on Rails. Application supports trading from multiple accounts, teams, regular and "around-me" leaderboards (across FB networks, teams, and globally), notifications, and viral features.  (Ruby on Rails 2.1, MySQL, Facebook)
  • Added stock and stock option trading, integrating with QuoteMedia financial data feed.
  • Deployment to Joyent using Capistrano.
  • Designed to easily enable white-labeling and delivered site for Zecco (Try it here: game.zecco.com).
  • Added various new features, including integrating new futures data feed, fragment caching, and complex expiration logic.
GrouchoReviews, San Jose, CA, www.grouchoreviews.com 2001-present
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Website offering film/DVD/Blu-Ray reviews, interviews, an features.
  • Implemented initial site in PHP on top of PostNuke engine.  In 2008, performed complete rewrite into Ruby on Rails.  Application includes integration with Amazon and other movie sites, syndication through RSS, email subscription management, automatic cross-linking across content pages by film/actor/director, integrated Google custom search, dynamic sitemap (0.9), statistics, etc. (Ruby on Rails 2.1, MySQL, Facebook)
Various Others  2001-present

Developed and administered various other sites
  • Developed flexible web-administered content management system (CMS) for use by multiple sites, featuring categorized blogs, arbitrary page content, configurable URL paths, Captcha-protected commenting, tagging, photo albums, calendars, page caching, syndication through RSS, integrated Google custom search, dynamic sitemap (0.9). (Ruby on Rails 2.1, MySQL)
  • Developed JesseManibusan.com, a musician website with a blog, online store, and photo gallery (PHP, PostNuke, MySQL).
/content/pages/4/1.gif Digital Chocolate, Inc., San Mateo, CA, www.digitalchocolate.com 2005-2008

A leading developer of original, high-quality games and applications for mobile phones, Digital Chocolate particularly focuses on social games for the mobile space and the web.
2005-2008 Senior Server Engineer
  • Developed and load tested suite of general game servers to support score reporting, leaderboards, competitive campaigns, subscriptions, user notifications, SMS and WAP push messaging, mobile number carrier lookup. (J2EE, OJB, Struts, JUnit, JProfiler, Grinder, MySQL, mBlox, SimpleWire)
  • Implemented server-side features for Mobile League Sports Network (MLSN) social game. (J2EE, OJB, Struts, JUnit, MySQL)
  • Delivered vending machine server to facilitate controlled free downloads of MLSN product to key influencers. (Ruby on Rails, Extreme Programming (XP), JAD manipulation, MySQL, POP/SMTP)
  • Delivered server to service and track user click-throughs to carrier decks, supporting mobile-originated SMS keyword campaigns, in-game "More Games" and "Invite a Friend" features, free trial upgrades, and aggregator sites. (Ruby on Rails, MySQL)
  • Delivered complex administration server to manage various back-end server applications, handling:
    • accounts, subscriptions, user notifications, mobile number verifications and associations
    • carrier settings and mobile applications
    • high scores, leaderboards, and competitive campaigns
    • click-through mappings, invitations, and related statistics
    • messaging and mobile-originated SMS keywords
    • reporting real-time server status, deployed versions of each instance
    (Ruby on Rails, J2EE, XML-RPC, MySQL, JMS, ActiveDirectory)
  • Refactored, productized, debugged, and made deployable server integrating with Sprint GameLobby community and server managing subscriptions from Cingular MRC platform. (J2EE, MySQL, RPM)
  • Load tested, profiled, optimized/tuned, refactored, and debugged server supporting Café games initiative. (J2EE, customized Grinder, JProfiler, MySQL)
  • Refactored and debugged load test client emulating mobile handset games. (Grinder, J2ME, MySQL)
  • Re-implemented, profiled, optimized/tuned, load tested, and debugged server supporting "AvaPeeps: Flirt Nation" product.
    • Delivered multi-shard solution reaching 400+ TPS per shard.
    • Refactored and optimized DB schema to optimize for performance.
    • Implemented asynchronous processing of user feedback to reduce peak load.
    • Implemented custom memcached Hibernate second level cache.
    • Wrote Capistrano script for deploying, administering, and monitoring.
    (J2EE, Hibernate, EHCache, memcached, MySQL, customized Grinder, Jprofiler, Capistrano)
  • Delivered complex administration server supporting "AvaPeeps: Flirt Nation" product, including:
    • Complex browsing of static and user-associated game metadata
    • Hibernate statistics, including entity usage, second level cache, and query cache
    • DB settings and statistics
    • Per-minute graphs of performance and game play statistics, aggregated as appropriate (e.g. busy DB connections by host, response times by host and service, errors by host and service)
    • Automatic archiving of DB rows no longer needed for the live production system.
    (Ruby on Rails, distributed Ruby (Drb), MySQL, XML-RPC, ImageMagick)
  • Provided ongoing engineering leadership in mentoring, interviewing, and recruitment.
  • Performed tools work, including Ant scripting, RPM deployment, continuous integration, cron management, and shell scripts.
  • Wrote unit tests and took leadership to maintain strong test utility classes. (JUnit, jWebUnit)
/content/pages/4/4.gif ACCESS Co., Ltd., Newark, CA, www.access-us-inc.com 2001-2005

A Japanese-owned mobile technology company integral to NTT DoCoMo's popular i-mode service. ACCESS has shipped over 150 million units of client software on mobile phones and other devices. It is also a key player in carrier server solutions.

2004-2005 Director of Server Engineering
  • Directed all technical aspects of server engineering group, including development, professional services, product management, and quality assurance teams.
  • Led development and testing of three core wireless software solutions:
    • Premium Content Subscription Server (PCSS): J2EE engine that enables purchase/billing of content on wireless devices, including content provider extranet and workflow-based administration UI.
    • Wireless carrier portal: template-based J2EE application serving X-HTML/WAP mobile devices.
    • WAP 2.0 gateway: proxy server that adds user identity information to requests.
  • Ensured on-time and high-quality delivery of customized solutions to telecom carriers.
  • Personally participated in specification, architecture, design, implementation, and testing.
  • Coached and developed staff of twelve located in California and Mexico City.
  • Managed project budgets, led staff recruitment efforts, promoted high quality standards, arranged support and documentation plans, and worked closely with sales organization to ensure group success.
2001-2003 Senior Software Engineer, Manager of Server Engineering
  • Formed and led new wireless server development team.
  • Wrote architecture and design documents for PCSS 1.0 through 2.0, and led implementation effort.
  • Investigated and utilized key technologies, such as Digital Rights Management (DRM).
/content/pages/4/2.gif Geoworks, Inc., Alameda, CA, www.geoworks.com 1994-2001

A mobile technology company known for its extremely efficient operating systems. Geoworks entered the mobile server and services market in 1996, in an effort I spearheaded.

2000-2001 Senior Systems Engineer, Server Architect
  • Delivered Mobile Server+ 3.0-4.0, a J2EE mobile service development platform to serve content from back-end systems to mobile devices in appropriate formats and over various transport protocols.
  • Coordinated team of ten developers in California and the United Kingdom.
  • Maintained strong relationship with Toshiba management and technical contacts, resulting in long-term, multi-million dollar business.
  • Investigated and utilized key technologies, including SMS, XML, and JMX.
  • Personally implemented significant percentage of code, including entire IDE.
  • Wrote SDK documentation and developed training presentations for service developers.
  • Attended national and international sales and business development calls.
1998-2000 Senior Engineer, Project Lead and Architect
  • Delivered Mobile Server+ 2.0. Spearheaded rewrite of server from C++ to Java, resulting in easier maintenance and increased performance. Wrote approximately 50% of the code base.
  • Supported DiscoPro/Mobile Attitude services to provide discounts/promotions, reminder messages, ski conditions, and other information to mobile devices.
  • Represented company interests at Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) forum meetings.
1997-1998 Design Engineer, Project Lead and Architect
  • Delivered Mobile Server+ 1.0 and 1.1. Led team to design Apache/Perl/C++ server, Java client, and C client for Geoworks OS (GEOS).
  • Helped close deal to provide text messaging to email functionality and content information for the Fujitsu ByeDesk service, then participated in its delivery.
  • Supported customized web filtering proxy server project for Japanese mobile phones.
1996-1997 Design Engineer, Wireless Content and Services Project Lead
  • Managed secure, over-the-air client-server solution for backup of data from wireless devices.
  • Quickly prototyped server solution to deliver custom-formatted content to wireless devices using Apache, Perl, and XML.
  • Produced a sales demonstration of a wireless information service with live news, weather, restaurant, maps/navigation, and stock information, all delivered to multiple device types.
1994-1996 Software/Design Engineer, Systems Software
  • Developed features for GEOS 3.0 operating system in x86 assembly language, including multi-language support, dynamic resource patching, and localization tool.
  • Managed technology transfer of operating system to Brother Industries, including delivery of extensive technical training, and supported their development of GeoBook notebook products.
  • Led project team for sales demonstration of GEOS 3.0 capabilities.
/content/pages/4/3.gif Quantum Consulting, Berkeley, CA, www.qcworld.com 1992-1994

An industry leader in energy efficiency consulting and market research.
Programmer, LoadView product
  • Developed Windows 3.1 applications for energy-based utility companies.
  • Assisted in design and implementation of Paradox database system.

EDUCATION

University of California at Berkeley - B.A. Computer Science, May 1994

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Programming languages: Java, Ruby, C++, C, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, Assembly, SQL, shell scripting.

Web/application servers: BEA WebLogic (6.x-9.x), Apache/Jserv, Tomcat, iPlanet, Enhydra.

Presentation/markup languages: HTML, XHTML, XML/Xpath/XSLT, WML, Compact HTML (C-HTML), HDML, TTML (Nokia).

Enterprise Java: J2EE, EJB, servlets, JSP, JMS, JDBC, Xdoclet, templating (Struts, Velocity, etc.), logging frameworks (Log4J, Jakarta Common, etc.), search engine (Lucene).

Database technologies: MySQL, Oracle (7.x-9i), Postgres, InstantDB, JDBC, Hibernate, EJB QL, etc.

Application frameworks/tools: Ruby on Rails, Swing, Ant, PostNuke, JSwat.

Integrated development environments (IDEs): NetBeans, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, Emacs.

Revision control tools: Subversion, Perforce, RCS, CVS.

Bug/issue tracking: Bugzilla, TestTrack, ProblemTracker, others (performed extensive investigations).

Testing frameworks/tools: JUnit/HTTPUnit/jWebUnit, JProfiler, OptimizeIt Suite, Grinder.

Platforms: Linux, Windows, Solaris, HPUX, Unix, Cygwin.