Matt Hickey

Email: matt@tidalpool.org

Web: www.tidalpool.org

I have been a web programmer for 15 years. In that time I have been exposed to a broad range of technologies, including over a decade of work with Perl, SQL, Javascript and HTML. I have worked on teams, led teams, and worked alone. I am a fast learner and excellent in a pinch.

Skills

Languages

Perl, SQL, Javascript, Python, Ruby, Lisp

Tools

Apache, mod_perl, Mason, Template Toolkit, jQuery, Backbone, RequireJS, NodeJS, XML, HTML, CSS, JSON, SOAP, XML-RPC, Amazon AWS, Google App Engine, Geocoding, Google Maps

Concepts

Object oriented and functional programming, test driven developement, agile developement, MVC, SOA, AJAX

Databases

SQL (MSSQL, DB2, Postgresql, Informix, MySQL), MongoDB, BerkeleyDB

Adminstration

Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, including systems with many users

Experience

CollegeNet Software Engineer - Portland, OR - 1999-2011

At CollegeNET I worked with our online college application product. I created the majority of our administrative functions to support college administrators. This included an integrated messaging system with several components:

  • A mail client capable of replacing a school's in house mail handling system. It was optimized to allow many users to handle one high traffic address, such as admissions@school.edu. It also integrated with the application stream, allowing users to send large mailings, each customized to the recipient.
  • A customer relations management (CRM) system, allowing schools to track ongoing information about their applicants, donors, etc. Though integrated with a our college application offering, this system could also source data from customer files. The mail client also interfaced with this system, allowing customized messaging to arbitrarily many people.
  • A system to allow our customers to tie events in the lifecycle of a college application or a CRM record to customized automatic messages. For instance, an administrator could configure a message to be sent automatically to students who are accepted to the school. Or conditionally send several messages based on the content of a student's application. These messages can be customizd by the data in the record that created the event.
In order to support these abilities, and because the company was not interested in using existing products, I created a message queue/asynchronos worker system. This used an sql database to allow one set of agents to create jobs and another set of agents to handle jobs. The system included web based interfaces to monitor and repair issues. It could automatically increase the number of workers based on backlog, and each type of job could be customized in priority and frequency. Queues could be customized to allow first in, last in and random discovery of jobs. Because the message queue and customer data were in the same database, large jobs could be created very efficiently by creating jobs as the result of a query.

These systems have handled millions of a college applications, customer records, and messages. They are a major part of an offering that earns CollegeNET millions of dollars each year.

Whitehorse Studios Web Developer - Portland, OR - 1998-1999

In this position I created web applications for a variety of clients. I was the primary programmer for our largest client, Sequent.

Teleport Internet ServicesCGI Programmer - Portland, OR - 1997-1998

I provided CGI support for Teleport users.

Education

Portland State University Portland, OR - Current

Part time computer science student

Reed College Portland, OR - 1994-1996

Left after 2 years to pursue opportunities in the software industry (Reed has no computer science department).

Mount de Sales High School Macon, GA - 1990-1994

Graduated with honors, including "Star Student" for highest SAT in the class.

Hobbies

I live on and maintain a 30 foot sailboat. Though cramped, this allows me to combine the joys of home ownership with the possibility of sinking far from land. My wife and I recently completed a trip from Portland, OR around Vancouver Island, BC, and south to San Francisco Bay.

Space limits my other hobbies, which include photography, hi-fi audio, electronics and tube amp construction, Orchids, Bamboo, making wine, beer, and cider, and collecting wild edible mushrooms.

References
Available on request