Residence: Union City, CA
Citizenship: United States, native
Contact: ron@ronsoft.com, http://www.ronsoft.com

I have more than 25 years in the computer field. In that time I've developed a broad range of skills - the following is a summary.

• Programming
  Java (Sun certified, book author), C, C++, UNIX shell languages, Perl, sed, awk, lex, yacc, PostScript, Pascal, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, assembler, etc.
• Java Platform
  J2SE 1.0.x - 1.4.x, NIO, Servlets, JSP, JDO, JMS, JNDI, JNI, J2EE, JavaBeans, EJB, collections, threading, reflection, applets
• XML/Web Services
  JAXP, XML, XSL, XSLT, XSL-FO, SOAP, Xalan, Xerces, Crimson, DTD, XML Schema, DOM, SAX
• Application/Web Servers
  Apache, Tomcat, JBoss, JSP, Struts, PHP, WebLogic, iPlanet, SSL, HTTP, CGI
• Architecture/Modeling/Design
  UML, OOD/OOA, Together/J, patterns, requirements, system architecture, scoping
• Project Lead/Management
  Project Management, Agile Processes, full product lifecycle, planning, hiring, team building, execution, trouble-shooting, fire-fighting, launch
• Development
  IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, Ant, vi, make, gmake, jdb, gdb, javac, jikes, gcc
• Database
  PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, DB2, JDO, JDBC, schema design, setup/config
• Operating Systems
  Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, SVR4, AIX, IRIX, HP/UX, DEC OSF/1, SCO, FreeBSD, BSD 4.2/4.3, MS Windows, MacOS
• Networking
  TCP/IP, NFS, RPC, SMTP, POP/IMAP, HTTP, RMI, LAN, UUCP
• Graphical Interfaces
  X Windows, Xlib, Xt, Motif, AWT, Swing, Intuition
• Writing/Speaking/Teaching
  Published Java author (O'Reilly & Associates), created and conducted training courses, mentoring and coaching. Frequent speaker at Java User Groups and conferences domestically and internationally.
• Level-headed
  I keep my head when all about me are losing theirs

• Ronsoft Technologies, Union City, CA
  
  President, 7/2001 - Present
  Ronsoft is my professional services consulting company. Notable projects:
  • Complete in-house design and development of a travel website (www.europeasap.com) using Struts, JDO and PostgreSQL.
  • Design and development (in Java) of a distributed XSLT styling engine packaged as a SOAP web service for embedding in a corporate client's product.
  • Implementation of a high-volume chat system for a game site (www.electrotank.com) based on the NIO design pattern published in my book. In production, this site has easily supported 5,000 user connections with a single multiplexor thread.
  Various other consulting and training engagements. Occasional speaking engagements about NIO and JDO.
  
  
• NetRequisite, San Francisco, CA
  
  Senior Member Technical Staff, Architect, 7/2000 - 8/2001
  Principal team member for a consulting services company specializing in server-side technologies.
  
  Senior Member of Technical Staff, Architect, 7/2000 - 4/2001
  I served as Chief Architect and Project Manager to build a web site for a startup client named HeadCounsel. I gathered requirements, designed the system from scratch and marshalled the resources to get the site built and launched. The production site was launched in six months, on time, with an intervening preview launch at 3 months. My engineering team peaked at about 10 people.
  
  Consultant, 5/2001 - 7/2001
  Consulted with a client named OnDemand on various topics, including implementing new functionality on their web portal product. Performed an evaluation of the current architecture and made recommendations for future enhancements.
  
  
• Tomorrow Factory, South San Francisco, CA
  
  Software Architect, 7/1999 - 7/2000
  Core technology team member at an early stage internet startup (employee #9). Solely responsible for evaluation, specification, design, implementation and launch of a high volume, high availability web site in support of globally distributed desktop software. The site provided data on demand for software and configuration updates as well as capture of large volumes of transaction data. Implementation was entirely Java based. Architected the server system and led the server team.
  
  
• Bank Of America, San Francisco, CA
  (Contracted through International Programming Service)
  
  Senior Software Engineer, 7/1998 - 6/1999
  Senior member of an engineering "Swat Team" assembled to develop core technology for the next generation Internet Home Banking system at Bank Of America. Responsible for creating low level objects for object persistence, session management, database access, email routing, project build control, etc. The team effected major architectural and functional changes in all areas of BofA's online banking system. This included adding new features to the current system while designing and building the infrastructure for the follow-on system. I was involved directly or indirectly with nearly every aspect of the project.
  
  
• Enlighten Software Solutions, San Mateo, CA
  
  Senior Software Engineer, 6/1996 - 7-1998
  Hired on a three month contract, then relocated to California to join Enlighten full time. Became responsible for all engineering aspects of the company's flagship Distributed Systems Manager (DSM) product. Fixed bugs, added new features, shepherded releases, mentored junior people. Evaluated, analyzed and prototyped new technologies for all components of DSM such as user interface, communications, database, object models, etc.
  
  
• Unisys Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT
  (Contracted through Execusoft)
  
  Software Engineer, 6/1992 - 3/1996
  Operating system development and support (UNIX SVR4). Troubleshooting and resolution of critical customer problems. Frequent "fly and fix" on-site visits both domestically and overseas. Coded, tested and implemented kernel and user level fixes under severe time and resource constraints. Interfaced with customers and support personnel worldwide. Extensive debugging and problem analysis. Performed training of other Unisys employees, formally and informally. X Windows server development and standards compliance work, after moving to a different group.
  
  Teacher/Author, 2/1995 - 10/1995
  During a period I was laid off from Unisys (3/1995 - 8/1995) I developed and taught two different courses, in Salt Lake and at several overseas locations. I also did some consulting for Unisys in Australia. This work was performed separately from my regular Unisys employment contracts. In August, 1995 I returned to Unisys full time.
  
  
• Independent Consultant, Austin, Texas
  
  Consultant, 2/1988 - 4/1989
  Consulting engagements included Motorola and Novell. Duties included system administration, coding. education, etc.
  
  
• International Business Machines (IBM), Austin, TX
  (Contracted through Pencon)
  
  Software Engineer, 4/1987 - 2/1988
  Kernel work on AIX for the IBM RT PC (predecessor of the RS6000). Duties included device drivers, network diagnostics, new library code, troubleshooting, preaching the UNIX gospel to unbelievers.
  
  
• University of Texas At Austin, Austin, TX
  
  Systems Software Specialist, 10/1984 - 4/1987
  Staff UNIX Guru at UTCS. Administered a large, heterogeneous population of systems and associated networks. Installed, configured and administered machines used for research, course work, and department administration. Worked closely with professors conducting research and preparing books for publication. This was a time of rapid expansion at UTCS, the department nearly quadrupled in size during my tenure. I was involved in most aspects of equipment planning, acquisition and installation throughout the department. At the time of my departure I was the senior UNIX professional on staff.
  
  Computer Programmer Assistant II, 6/1982 - 10/1984
  Worked part time in the Computer Science department while attending classes full time as a CS student.
  
  
• South Coast Data, Houston, TX
  
  Senior Systems Analyst, 8/1979 - 8/1981
  Developed and supported online accounting systems for a Credit Union service bureau.
  
  
• United States Air Force, San Antonio, TX and Bitburg, Germany
  
  Computer Operations Specialist, 3/1975 - 3/1979
  Initial computer technical training waved based on test performance. Self taught programmer. Honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant.
  
  

• Java NIO, O'Reilly & Associates
  Ron Hitchens, 2002 - (author)
  The subject of this book is New I/O (java.nio) and advanced I/O techniques in the Java 1.4 environment. Java NIO was published in August, 2002.
  
• J2SE Best Practices, O'Reilly & Associates
  Various, 2003 - (coauthor)
  I contributed a chapter to this book on the subject of Java NIO best practices.
  
• Performance Tuning for Unisys U6000 SVR4 Unix, Self Published
  Ron Hitchens, 1995 - (author)
  This book was written as material for a professional development course I developed and taught at Unisys Corporation. Unisys bought my text to replace their own tuning guide.
  
• J2EE Design Patterns, O'Reilly & Associates
  William Crawford, Jonathan Kaplan, 2003 - (reviewer)
  
• Java Data Objects (JDO), O'Reilly & Associates
  Craig Russell, David Jordan, 2003 - (reviewer)
  
• Java in a Nutshell, 4th Edition, O'Reilly & Associates
  David Flanagan, 2002 - (reviewer)
  
• Java Cookbook, O'Reilly & Associates
  Ian Darwin, 2001 - (reviewer)
  
• System Performance Tuning, 2nd Edition, O'Reilly and Associates
  Gian-Paolo d. Musumeci & Mike Loukides, 2001 - (reviewer)
  
• Web Mining With Java, Wiley and Sons
  Tony Loton, 2001 - (reviewer)