========================== RAHMAL H. CONDA =========================== CONTACT INFO: ====================================================================== Website: www.rahmalconda.com E-mail: rahmal@rahmalconda.com Phone: 510-393-3381 Address: 600 William St. Unit 436 Oakland, CA 94612 OBJECTIVE: ====================================================================== Driven Senior-level Software Development Lead with an entrepreneurial spirit and a demonstrated proficiency for facilitating a broad range of enterprise-level development initiatives, seeking a position at an innovative, energetic start-up where unconventional ideas are valued, an obsessive work ethic is rewarded, and contributors share in the spoils of success. PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY: ====================================================================== * Accomplished leader, with notable success providing direction and vision to a team of developers in both start-up, and corporate environments. * Over 10 years of extensive experience in Object-Oriented Design and Development, n-tier web technologies and architectures * Intimate knowledge of distributed architectures, with a notable talent for designing soap, RESTful, and RPC-based web services. * Extensive experience with Agile methodologies, specifically scrum, extreme programming (XP), and Test Driven Development (TDD). * A solid educational foundation that includes an M.S. degree and several Professional certifications. * Over 4 years experience building high-avaiabilty, database-driven, n-tiered web applications in Ruby on Rails. * Considerable experience scaling RoR web applications, in Linux-based architectures, with a focus on performance, service quality. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: ====================================================================== Senior Software Engineer Context Optional (Adobe Systems) 11/2011 Ð Present Senior-level Software developer at an industry-leading social marketing startup, recently acquired by Adobe Systems. Primarily focused on building second generation of Context OptionalÕs Social Marketing Suite. Leveraging best-in-class web technologies (Rails 3.1, MongoDB, KnockJS, HTML5, Coffeescript, Sass/CSS3). * Designed and helped develop single-signon for distributed web application suite. * Personally lead effort to deploy CI to streamline and automate testing of new application platform. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Principal Software Engineer Badgeville 06/2011 Ð 11/2011 One of two Principal Software Engineers, reporting to the Backend Team Lead. Working in successful, industry-leading Gamification and CRM start-up. I direct and participate in architecture and development of BadgevilleÕs web services, that allow clients to build a social game systems into their web properties. * Developed, scalable, distributed, service-based web application, using MongoDB, and Rails 3. * Lead recently launch ÒSocial FabricÓ project, adding broader use of the social graph and real-time notification system, using redis, and juggernaut among other technologies. * Participate in performance optimization, and coaching of recent graduate, junior developers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chief Architect/Engineering Lead TripTrace.com (a.k.a PlaceBook) 06/2010 Ð 06/2011 Principal Software Engineer and Web Engineering Specialist, reporting to CTO. Original hire, and first software engineer (fifth employee), directing development from project inception, facilitating creation of entirely new, multi-layered web application, and overseeing all engineering functions of a startup company providing location and travel-based tools and services. * Architected, developed, and deployed scalable, n-tiered, service-based web application suite from the ground, starting with a concept and basic requirements. * Responsible for daily operations of all critical systems including web and application servers, database, and solr index. * Supervise all engineering functions encompassing, application development, front-end web design, systems architecture, third-party service integration * Plan, design, and build out critical application features, based on company launch goals, and timeline. * Major contributor, with development time spent equally on back-end, front-end, database, and web services. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Principal Engineer/Team Lead (Independent Contractor) StrongMail Systems (Social Media Group) 2010 - 3MOS Took over as the Principal Software Engineer, reporting to CIO, on a project to implement performance best practices into the flagship rails application of the companyÕs social media team. The web application was beginning to feel the strain, as new customers were added to the system. * Determine load limits in regards to scalability, through profiling and benchmarking. * Increase efficiency of current application by tweaking the system and refactoring load intensive modules to use design patterns that provide performance gains. * Design and implement performance optimization solutions derived from tests and profiling. * Using a combination of Rails, JQuery, and FusionCharts, I designed and developed a web module that represented a dashboard that both summarized and visually presented marketing campaign tracking data. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead Ruby Developer (Independent Contractor) Sears Holdings/ManageMyLife.com, Chicago, IL 2010 - 3MOS Participating in Design, Development and Deployment high-availability, data-driven web property owned by Sears. Leading architecture design of new RESTful web services platform, and public APIs to allow Sears to propagate e-commerce functionality across web properties. * Guiding development and deployment of mission-critical n-tiered, Rails-based Web Applications. * Leading discovery, strategy planning, and implementation of Services Oriented Architecture from inception. * Take turns with other lead developers leading iteration meetings and daily scrums. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Solutions Architect/Lead Developer (Remote/Telecommute) ZipZoomAuto.com, Houston, TX 2009 - 3MOS Development Lead and Software Architect reporting directly to the CEO and Founder at a Startup that had just reached a critical growth point. Responsible planning architecture strategy, defining development practices around Agile software development methods, and taking point on performance tuning projects. * Directed a broad initiative to scale the existing architecture and plot out a long-term growth strategy. * Guided development projects with special attention paid to performance tuning and optimization. * Utilizing Scrum methodologies and best practices to facilitate iterative development and collaborative project participation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead Developer/Senior Software Engineer CashNetUSA.com, Chicago, IL 2006 - 2009 Senior level Development Lead reporting to the Vice President of Research and Development in a fast-paced, highly successful, industry-leading online payday loan provider. Responsible for leading development, and driving system performance, with an emphasis on service quality, and revenue generation. * Supervised development and maintenance efforts for CashNetUSA’s primary website, web applications, and the internal customer and loan management portal used by our customer service and collections units. * Contributed to architectural decisions, and managed and coordinated website deployments. * Magnified company’s national and international exposure and increased revenue through facilitation of licensing in new states such as Texas and Florida, as well as the launch of UK and Australian websites. * Enlarged customer base and amplified corporate visibility by creating Spanish-language sister site. * Accelerated team growth through technical staff recruiting, internship programs, and training initiatives. * Lead internal development teams and external partners to drive development projects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Lead Orbitz worldwide, Chicago, IL 2004 - 2006 Lead the Release Management, Configuration Management and Quality Assurance teams, within the second largest online travel organization. Pioneered the standardization and optimization of the quality assurance and release processes, saving thousands in website down-time and lost man hours, as well as reducing time to market for key initiatives serving to boost competiveness and drive profitability. * Supervised and provided guidance to over 80 staff members, consisting of release coordinators, QA and configuration management engineers, and systems administrators, working locally and overseas. * Spearheaded the launch of new programs onto six well known, high-traffic travel websites. * Defined and enforced software change policies, using those policies to review and approve proposed software changes. Senior Software Engineer Lead small development teams design and develop highly critical enterprise applications that drove the back-ends of several successful, high-traffic websites. * Acted as owner and primary point of contact for management and clients for projects. * Mentored and trained junior-level developers, leading them in development projects. * Invented the Mask Processing Framework, saving our client over $2M in development costs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Integration Lead Specialist CNA Insurance, Chicago, IL 2002 - 2004 Promoted to lead the Integration Team at the 7th largest commercial insurer in the U.S., spearheading the largest integration project CNA had ever undertaken at the time. * Designed and lead the integration of mission-critical, third-party enterprise application into a legacy architecture that managed CNA’s policy and financial systems * Oversaw the development of a web services platform that allowed collaboration of several information systems, and provided centralized enterprise services to several key web applications. Application Development Specialist * Designed and Developed Windows Applications through full development life cycle. * Developed and supported Windows based Client/Server Applications. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft Applications Instructor Trinity Learning Center, Chicago, IL 2003 - 2004 Volunteered to teach technology classes at a non-profit organization offering educational programs to the under-privileged and under-employed. * Instructed several medium-sized classrooms of adult students. * Led hands-on development of Windows applications in simulated business environments. * Successfully taught Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Access 2000, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Introduction to desktop computing. * Chosen as "2003 Instructor of the Year", by students and faculty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Software Engineer IIT Research Institute, Chicago, IL 2001 - 2002 * Developed and developed software and graphical user interfaces for locomotive simulation applications. * Designed database management program that generated statistical data and reports for simulation database. * Completed requirements, design, development, and testing phases. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IT Consultant CyberGami Systems, Chicago, IL 2000 - 2002 Primary technical liaison, brought on to assist in the launch of IT Start-up. Fueled company growth, through acquisition of new clients, and recruiting technical staff. First consultant, in direct communication with all clients, consulting with them on various high-level technical projects. * Worked zealously to generate new leads, and bring in more business, as well as maintain a low client attrition rate, through “gold standard” customer service, and superior IT development. * Created requirements documentation, prototypes, and proof of concepts for potential development projects. * Developed, marketed, and sold client software, that was contracted or internally produced for the purpose of wide distribution. * Consulted with several small businesses, organizations and schools to increase their IT performance, carrying out such tasks as business application and database development. * Design and website design, construction, and administration. * Lectured several ‘beginners’ computer literacy and productivity courses for teachers and administrative staff. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead RF Engineer Lucent Technologies, Naperville, IL 1999 - 2001 Performed cost analysis, implementation and deployment of wireless communications networks, for industry-leading telecommunications corporation. * Traveled to remote sites across the U.S., managing RF Teams as large as 30 employees. * Wrote time and cost projections for impending projects. * Served as remote technical support for operational networks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Information Systems Analyst Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Chicago, IL 1998 - 1999 * Supported implementation a city-wide Intranet for teachers to create computer-based learning aids. * Trained teachers and school administrators in techniques to utilize information technologies. * Maintained technical systems throughout the school district. * Set up security measures to prevent students from interfering with administrative tools. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Assistant INFAC Research Lab, Chicago, IL 1996 - 1998 * Saved the department $80,000.00 by configuring unused desktop PCs, to be used as application servers, taking on functions planned for new, expensive machines. * Developed and implemented a "Back Propagation" simulator, for use in detecting and predicting patterns in laboratory data, saving thousands in lab resources and man hours. * Developed and supported mainframe-based COBOL applications during Y2K upgrade. CORE COMPETENCIES: ====================================================================== Software Development & Project Management * 4 years experience developing and deploying high-avaiabilty, N-tiered Rails Applications. * 10 years professional experience in Object-Oriented Design and Development. * Over 5 years experience in hacking Ruby applications. * 2 years of TDD/BDD (Test/Behaviour Driven Development) experience (Cucumber, RSpec). * 4 years experience facilitating iterative development in an Agile/Scrum environment. * Experience on high traffic websites, Caching, Performance Tuning/Optimization. * Experience developing RESTful web services and public API's. * Experience with Cloud deployments (Amazon EC2 and Heroku). * Intimate knowledge of Distributed Architectures, with experience in Soap-based web services and Application Integration. * Experience with Document Stores and NoSql databases, (CouchDB, MongoDB). * Well versed in Design Patterns, especially within the Ruby & Java programming languages. * Strong jQuery, Prototype, and Ajax/Javascript experience. Team & Leadership: * Accomplished Team Lead, with experience providing direction to a team of developers. * Track record of increasing responsibility in team and project management. * Broad leadership and team building capabilities, attracting and hiring new talent, directing developers across projects, and mentoring junior staff. * Advocate for continual improvement, championing revenue-generating initiatives, and amplifying team performance. * Experience influencing projects, delegating key tasks, and coordinating with executive-level management. * Proven abilities in decision-making and strategic planning, aligning projects with company goals. EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS: ====================================================================== * M.S. in Computer Science, Governors State University * B.S. in Computer Science, Governors State University * I.T. Project Management Certification * Sun Certified Developer for Java Web Services * Sun Certified Java Programmer for Java 2 Platform * RConfig Gem featured on RubyInside * TopCoder Design Contest Winner, HelperTableManager TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES: ====================================================================== Operating Systems: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian, Red Hat), UNIX (Sun Solaris, AIX), Windows Server, Mac OS X ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, CouchDB, Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, FoxPro ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Web/Application Servers: ModRails (Passenger), Nginx, Apache, Lighttpd, Mongrel, FastCGI, LiteSpeed, Thin, Tomcat, JBoss, WebSphere ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Web Frameworks: Ruby On Rails, Sinatra, Merb, Drupal, Django, Spring, J2EE, Struts, Seam ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Programming Languages: Preferred: Ruby (Rails, Sinatra, Rake, RubyGems, RSpec, Cucumber, Capistrano, Chef, Redis, Resque), Ajax (Javascript, JSON, jQuery, CoffeeScript, BackBone.js, KnockoutJS, XML, CSS), Web Services (REST, SOAP, API's), Experienced: Java (EJB, JSP, Servlets, JINI, JMS, JNDI, JDBC, AspectJ/AOP), .NET (C#, VB.net, ASP.net, ADO.net), Visual Studio (VB, ASP, COM/DCOM, ADO, OLE, Visual FoxPro), HTML (XHTML, DHTML), MISC (UML, C/C++, Python, Perl, Bash Shell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Interests: Agile Development, Ruby On Rails, Web Services, Application Integration, Release Management