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Chris Freyer's Resume

This page details my professional history. If you'd like to know more, feel free to contact me. A slightly more formal (but not identical) version of this document is available as a PDF or a DOC.

Contact Methods
email Chris@TheFreyers.net
cell 904-514-4862
Facebook chris.freyer.3
LinkedIn cfreyer

Education Summary

MS, Computer Science. August 2020

University of North Florida College of Computing, Engineering, and Construction School of Computing. Thesis: Feature Extraction and Shape Classification using the Freyer Edge Protractor.(reference)

Upsilon Pi Epsilon

International Honor Society for the Computing Sciences. Florida Epsilon chapter (UPE website). Member #2000042169UNFLA.

BS, Marketing. December 1989

Auburn University College of Business, Department of Marketing

Professional Summary

Software Development Engineer. Amazon.com.

August 22, 2011 -

Senior Software Engineer. Taleo Corporation.

Sept 13, 2010 – August 19, 2011

Earned a challenging position on Taleo's Infrastructure team as a Senior Engineer with architecture responsibilities. Responsible for implementation and delivery of a Blackberry mobile application offering goal management and feedback management features. Also responsible for evaluating, deploying, and load testing various service-oriented architecture components to be used in a future SOA platform.

Tasks

  • Designed & coded the business logic inside a Blackberry prototype application (persistence, communication, error handling, data marshaling, etc.).
  • Created a binary communication protocol using Google Protocol Buffers and Caucho Hessian that reduced HTTP communication bandwidth by 80%
  • Designed & implemented a Java EE middle tier application. This proxy converts binary requests from the Blackberry application into XML requests to the company's back-end systems. The application includes a complete Apache Axis web service stack with WS-Addressing, WS-Security, and WS-SecureConversation modules.
  • Installed & configured several WSO2 SOA products
  • Participated in strategy decisions affecting the company's mobile platform

Senior Manager, Engineering. Northgate Arinso

March 29, 2004 - Sept 10, 2010)

I accepted a full-time position with Opence Inc. on March 29, 2004 to pursue leadership opportunities that were not available to me as a contractor. Opence was acquired by Convergys on October 29, 2004. Convergys' HR Management division was acquired by NorthgateArinso on June 1, 2010. I continued in the same capacity after both mergers.

I was fortunate to work in many capacities from software development, to team leadership, to product management, to research and development. I attended Convergys' Emerging Leaders program for staff development, and used the skills I learned there to great effect on both business and technical levels.

My technical work revolved around the creation of three call center products: a VOIP-based IVR1 system, a case and contact tracking system, and a payslip viewer. All three systems were used in production by multiple clients and users. Technologies included: Java, PHP, Asterisk, Oracle, MySQL, Jabber, Linux, Solaris, SVN, WebLogic, Dokuwiki, Mercury Quality Center, Microsoft SharePoint.

Tasks

  • Managed distributed staff (onshore, offshore) with various collaboration tools--instant messaging, software defect tracking, wikis, etc.
  • Established growth and development goals for team members and provided constructive feedback on progress
  • Conducted necessary design/work/review sessions with developers, QA staff, and support personnel
  • Wrote internal marketing and technical literature to support products
  • Gave product and technology demonstrations as needed
  • Determined scope, complexity, and cost of change requests
  • Acted as liaison to our customers
  • Reported status of projects to leadership
  • Coded and provided troubleshoot assistance in multiple languages and environments

Java EE Contractor. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida

November 5, 2001 - April 1, 2004

I was a member of the data architecture team that was responsible for the data tier of a web-based benefits enrollment application. This was an IBM environment that used DB2, AIX, WebSphere 4.0, VisualAge 4.0, and Websphere Studio Application Developer. Other tools in the environment were Merant PVCS and Mercury Test Director. The project followed the RUP methodology and used UML as a documentation paradigm. Used Rational Rose for object modelling.

Tasks

  • Designed Java Data Access Objects to manage data requests
  • Developed tables according to clients normalization standards
  • Architected a Java-to-XML binding framework using Castor
  • Performed design reviews, code reviews, and JAD sessions
  • Mentored junior developers on Java, DB2, source control, project management, etc…
  • Presented status to management on a weekly basis
  • Provided production support as needed

Java EE Contractor. Homeside Lending

July 2001 – November 2001

Homeside Lending is now Washington Mutual. I co-developed a J2EE-based loan tracking system to replace an overworked Microsoft Access application. The software monitored the status and location of various legal documents and tracked worker productivity. The environment consisted of IBM WebSphere 3.5, IBM VisualAge for Java 3.5.3 and Merant PVCS. The software discipline was J2EE (JSP & Servlets) with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0. Significant client-side Javascript was involved.

Unfortunately, the company experienced financial problems (here and here) and released many of its contract employees soon after. I was not able to finish the project.

Tasks

  • Performed business process reengineering.
  • Created a prototype application to facilitate discussion and requirements gathering.
  • Developed JSP pages with DreamWeaver.
  • Implemented business logic in java and SQL stored procedures.
  • Conducted analysis and performance comparison of object-relational mapping tools.

Senior Software Engineer. Encore Development

January 2000 – July 2001

Encore was software development company known for doing the "heavy lifting" for its clients. I participated in virtual project teams to complete web application projects for large clients. Typical project life cycle included requirements gathering, prototyping, scoping, estimating, development, QA, documentation and system integration. Client projects included work for Blue Cross Blue Shield, JM Family Enterprises, Homeside Lending , and HealthScreen America (closed). Environment varied based on projects, but included Microsoft Windows 2000, IIS, Visual Source Safe, and SQL Server; Sun Solaris and Java, BEA WebLogic, Inprise JBuilder. Technologies included XML, XDR, XSLT, XPath, HTML, DHTML, XHTML, JavaScript, ASP, COM, JScript and VBScript.

Tasks

  • Modeled business processes as UML diagrams.
  • Generated prototype websites with DreamWeaver and Photo Shop.
  • Used Interdev (ASP) or JBuilder (JSP) to implement web front-ends.
  • Implemented business logic in VB/COM+ or EJB.
  • Mentored other developers as required.
  • Configured web and application servers to support projects.

Software Engineer. Nations Bank / Bank Of America

June 1998 – January 2000

The final segment of my bank employment lasted approximately 18 months. At that time, I was a Software Engineer helping to develop CreditWeb, an ASP-based web application for the bank's commercial credit centers. I had already built several websites, so my web development skills were beneficial to the project. The software replaced an aging Power Builder application. The environment included Windows 98 and NT, IIS, Visual Source Safe, Elsinore Technologies’ Visual Intercept, Dynalivery Parallel Crystal, Visual Interdev, Visual Basic, ODBC, SQL, and Sybase ASE.

Tasks

  • Implemented getAccess, a Corba-based enterprise security product that enabled single sign-on.
  • Coded the “Total Credit Exposure” module of the application using ASP and Visual Basic.
  • Managed several IIS application servers
  • Implemented a service that allowed Crystal Reports to be rendered in parallel on a report server and sent to a client with minimal latency.

C++ Software Developer. Barnett Technologies

August 1996 – June 1998.

The middle segment of my banking experience lasted almost two years. I changed my career direction to software development. I was unseasoned, so this job really opened my eyes to making applications production-ready. I helped develop and support a 16-bit Windows application used by commercial credit customers. It let them perform various banking operations from their offices: stop pays, electronic funds transfers, balance inquiries, etc. The development environment was Windows 3.1 and 95, Borland C++, Booch Components, RogueWave zApp Studio, Install Shield, PVCS, Elsinore Technologies’ Visual Intercept, and the Btrieve database.

Tasks:

  • Performed internal interviews to understand new software requirements
  • Coded and debugged with Borland C++
  • Tracked bugs with Visual Intercept
  • Trained customer support personnel
  • Provided second-level telephone support to customers
  • Improved InstallShield code to support various upgrade paths
  • Performed on-site client visits to help repair software installations.

Market Information Officer. Barnett Banks, Inc

September 26, 1994 – August 1996.

The first segment of my banking experience lasted almost two years. Barnett Banks, Inc. was the holding company for the various legal entities that comprised Barnett Bank. It was also home to the company executives. I was employed as a Market Information Officer to help the bank do “whatever it takes” to keep Barnett in control of the Florida market. My previous market segmentation experience was a plus here. The technical environment was composed of Windows 3.1/95 and OS/2 workstations and a Novell Netware server. Programming environments included Borland C++, DB/2, SQL, Attachmate Extra, SQL, FOCUS, SPSS, Mainframe SAS, PC SAS, Borland Paradox, Microsoft Access, DataWatch Monarch, Data Junction, COBOL, and MapInfo.

Tasks

  • Purchased, scrubbed, and re-organized data from external sources
  • Queried internal data sources using SQL and various statistics packages
  • Merged and analyzed data sets to identify trends and patterns
  • Integrated data from many sources to provide demographic and marketing info to senior management
  • Helped identify the dimensions needed for data warehousing
  • Wrote small C++ applications to perform latitude/longitude distance calculations
  • Integrated statistical data into GIS software to produce data-bound maps
  • Designed, installed, and managed a 50-user Novell network

Computer Operations Manager. Humana Healthcare

February 1993 - September 23, 1994.

I was hired by Humana as a Software Developer because of my database experience. I worked with the Alpha Four database and created a tool which helped the company reclaim its overpayments to participating physicians 2. The system worked extremely well, resulting in a headcount reduction of 6 FTEs3.

I earned a promotion to Computer Operations Manager and became responsible for 3 employees, approximately 300 desktops, and a raised-floor data center consisting of AIX servers, optical storage units, UPSs, and a host of telephone equipment. I spent the next several months working with this equipment, plus bix blocks, punch-down tools, a small PBX, twisted-pair wiring, and Token Ring MAUs4 and CAUs5. It was a fantastic work experience, but I realized that my passion was software rather than hardware.

Research Associate. William Cook Advertising.

I conducted demographic research using Claritas's PRIZM market segmentation product. I used it to conduct database marketing campaigns. First, I found the right type and number of customers who were close to a store. Then, I purchased addresses on magnetic tape. Finally, I had them delivered to a local fulfillment house for printing, assembly, stuffing, and mailing.

I also used a desktop database called Alpha Four to manage my campaigns. We tracked our results via codes printed on the materials we mailed. Unfortunately, the agency lost its largest client (Winn Dixie) and many people had to be let go, myself included. Fortunately, I had a niche job and was the only one who could do it. I contracted with William Cook while job hunting, which worked out well for both of us.

Sales Associate. AC3 Computer Centers.

My second job after college was an attempt to get into the computer business. I didn't have enough experience to work as a software developer, but I could at least *sell* computers and be around the right people. This was a fantastic introduction to client management, sales leads, cold calling, and time management. I also received weeks and weeks of technical product training directly from Compaq, HP, Microsoft, and IBM. I used this time to improve my database skills (with DBase and Q&A), network skills (OS/2 Lan Manager and Novell Netware), and operating system knowledge (OS/2, Windows, AIX, and SCO Unix).

Engineered Product Sales. Hub Inc.

My first job after college. I went through a 90-day introduction to the Pipe, Valve, and Fitting business while located in Atlanta. Fantastic exposure to metals and refining, manufacturing processes, products and their vendors. I was trained in Engineered Products (pneumatically controlled valves, measuring devices, etc…) because I enjoyed the physics and mechanics of it.

Even though the company had a computer for creating and storing quotes, it did not handle the work I needed to do: flow and volume calculations, matching of valves to actuators, calculating safety margins, etc..). So I found myself writing Lotus 1-2-3 macros to do calculations on my home computer. Ultimately, I learned a lot about chemistry, physics, metalurgy, manufacturing, fluid dynamics, and mechanical contracting. And I really began to see the benefits of custom software.

Pre-College Efforts

  • Built a memory expansion device for the Commodore VIC-20 computer. Mostly consisting of wiring and mechanical relays plugged into a double-sided breadboard. Allowed manual bank-switching between up to four 16KB memory cartridges, giving the computer a max of 67.5KB RAM. A whopping 19X improvement!
  • Wrote a small memory manager. Programs that used it would display a text message on screen telling the user to switch to a specific memory bank and press return.
  • Wrote a text-based adventure game similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Used my bank-switching memory manager. Random movement for all "monsters" in the game. Visual map of dungeon showing player's location.
  • Built a speech synthesizer from a phoneme chip purchased from Radio Shack. Required electronics knowledge, circuit layout skills, breadboard etching know-how, and good soldering skills.
  • Wrote software in machine language and BASIC to make the speech synthesizer work. The program stored the phoneme sequences for words, and sent instructions to the speech chip based on sentences entered at the command line. (Built in 1982!)

Personal

Miscellaneous

Many of my personal endeavors have been recorded over time as newsgroup conversations, forum posts, letters to the editor, etc. I've attempted to catalog these conversations as a running commentary on my career.

  1. Interactive Voice Response ↩

  2. HMO's were new at the time and many healthcare companies had systems that were poorly suited to rejecting bills from participating physicians ↩

  3. Full-Time Employees ↩

  4. Multiple Access Unit ↩

  5. Controlled Access Unit ↩