Bio

I am a writer and industrial engineer currently living in Redmond, WA. When I’m not working, I enjoy playing board and video games, reading several books at once, writing short stories, and trying to teach myself to play music.

Recent Work

Since July 2008 I’ve worked as a contract worker for Microsoft. My first position was as a Software Engineer Trainee for their internal Network Security Development Team. There I helped develop forensics software to monitor and audit the corporate network.

As of February 2009 I have been working as a Software Test Engineer III as a member of the Zune PC Client team, doing test automation for the Zune Marketplace.

I am always on the lookout for new opportunities along the Coast, especially in software development, pre-sales engineering, and business analysis.

Volunteer Service

I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Primarily I taught computer studies at Mikunguni Technical Secondary School to students, staff, and faculty.

In addition to teaching, I provided technical support for several other Zanzibar schools, teacher resource centers, and the Ministry of Education.

I also collaborated with other IT volunteers to create and improve the availability of quality education materials and methodologies for developing nations.

Undergraduate Education

In May 2006 I earned my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California at Berkeley.

As a part of my studies I designed software solutions for various organizations, including databases and simulations. In addition, I helped develop optimization algorithms to improve logistics in several domains, including retail labor-hour allocation and disaster response. Meanwhile I worked freelance technical support.

I was a member of, and for a time webmaster for, the Institute of Industrial Engineers at Cal.

Free Culture Movement

I am a strong supporter of the Free Culture Movement. I understand that all creative works are built on the shoulders of the creative works of others, that no person can claim to have created anything without having been inspired, influenced, or taught by the works of those before them. I know that my writing is heavily influenced by what I read, and I try to give back to the creative community by releasing everything I write under the various Creative Commons licenses. I also know that I would not be the programmer I am today without having been able to learn from the code of others, and so I release all of my code under the various GPL licenses.