Resume

Michael McDonald


San Francisco, California
Last updated: August 22, 2007



Objective

Looking for consulting work in a variety of areas related to Web-based businesses.

Entrepreneur, Web developer and usability / information architecture guru. Experienced at bootstrapping start-ups, evolving large-scale Web architectures, agile software development, marketing, customer relationship management, project management, ... I'm like a startup co-founder for hire.

Sorry, I am not interested in an employee position. I am using consulting to fund and grow my own bootstrap businesses.


Skills

Methodologies:    XP, TDD, Scrum, design patterns, enterprise messaging, client/server, ...
Programming Languages:    Java, Ruby, PHP, Perl 5, C/C++, SQL, PL/SQL, Expect, bash, ...
Programming APIs:    Facebook, Matrix, AWS, Servlets, Hiptop, Jini, Jakarta, RMI, concurrency, Cygwin, ...
Operating Systems:    OS X, Solaris 8, Fedora Core Linux, Windows, ...
Web Technologies:    HTML, Noel, PHP, CSS, XML, JavaScript, ...
Development Tools:    Eclipse, JDK, ant, cvs, GNU development tools, JavaCC, index cards, ...


Work Experience

Founder / CEO

Sept 2007 - present
San Francisco, CA
  Animist

Finally started my dream company, building Web-based solutions for productivity and everyday empowerment. The first product is Animist Notes, a deceptively simple note-keeping service.
 

Partner

August 2007 - present
San Francisco, CA
  EsperFonto

Partnering with EsperFonto to rebuild the site as an affiliate font search engine.
 

CEO

May 1999 - present
San Francisco, CA
  Worldisround

I single-handedly developed and maintain Worldisround, a service for sharing travel photos (450,000 visits/month, 6,500,000+ photos and growing). Duties include:
  • Evaluating products and technologies.
  • Planning, modeling, and implementing an enterprise Java back-end (140 KLOC).
  • Solaris and Oracle database administration.
  • Scalability and fault tolerance planning.
  • Site information architecture and usability engineering.
  • Internal search engine development (replaced Inktomi Search with custom Lucene engine)
  • Image processing.
  • Secure merchant transactions and accounting system.
  • Scalable backups and storage solutions.

 

Webmaster

October 2003 - May 2006
New York, NY
  Esopus Magazine

Design and maintenance of website from scratch. Implemented secure subscription system in PHP. Management of a series of graphic designers and integration of their work into the website.
 

President

May 2001 - May 2007
San Francisco, CA
  Animist Software

Started another chat software company on the side, this time alone and built from the ground up. Business, Web design, Java applet & server development, marketing, customer support, etc.
 

Java Developer / Research Associate

Sept. 1997 - Aug 2000
Ann Arbor, MI
  Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education

Worked in a software engineering team on a suite of Java-based educational applications used to teach scientific inquiry to high school and middle school students. Developed a filing system that saves students' data to a remote server (via RMI). Developed access control and administration utilities for teachers and administrators. Developed and integrated high-performance Table API for large data sets. Responsible for refactoring entire application base (35 KLOC.)
 

Vice President

June 1998 - Nov. 1998
Ann Arbor, MI
  Catseye Productions, Inc.

Cat's Eye Productions incorporated as Catseye Productions, Inc. and I became the Vice President. I was solely responsible for technology, software development, Web site, and logistics, as well as marketing, customer support, and sales duties. I left the company to pursue a freelancing career.
 

Sole Proprietor

April 1997 - June 1998
Ann Arbor, MI
  Cat's Eye Productions

Cat's Eye Productions originated as a Web design and hosting company. My services were aimed at large retail customers but I could only reach the local start-up market, so I abandoned Web design after a couple months. Cat's Eye Productions then became a Java software solutions business, selling Java chat software developed in a joint venture with another developer. Throughout my experience with Cat's Eye Productions I filled several roles:
  • Java software development: I designed the Cool Megachat Java client (versions 2.0 and 2.1) for the MegaChat Server.
  • Web development: Keeping up with emerging technologies and browser compatibility; choosing if, when, and how to use new Web technologies. Designed company Web site using my own 'HTML programming language'.
  • Webmaster: Apache Web server maintenance, content management, secure CyberCash transactions.
  • Graphic design: Adobe Photoshop. CHI, UCD, and aesthetic design.
  • E-commerce: Marketing, accounting, online sales, customer support.

 


Education

College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
B.S.E Computer Engineering, Sept. 1994-July 1998

Concentration Courses:
 
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Interactive Computer Graphics
  • Software Engineering
  • Project Management
  • Operating Systems
  • Theory of Computation
  • Data Structures and Algorithms in C++

  • Presenting Data and Information, Edward Tufte


    Contact Info

    Snailmail Address:   Michael McDonald
    1587 15th St. #405
    San Francisco, CA 94103
    E-mail:
    Personal Homepage: http://www.kelek.com
     
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