James Cameron's Resume

Summary

Availability

Current Role - From 2021

Siding Spring Observatory supports research for The Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA), consortium members of the Anglo-Australian Telescope, and several national and international telescopes.

Current Role - From 2009

Designed, prototyped, and implemented the low cost ambient light sensor subsystem of the OLPC XO-1.75 and XO-4 laptops.

Implemented production line tests for the OLPC XO-4 infrared touchscreen.

Key Skills

Detailed Skill List

• computer systems hardware engineering,
  • RF sensor networks, microcontroller programming, use of ARM, Microchip PIC and Atmel AVR architectures, breadboarding of prototype designs, low level device drivers, manufacturing tests, computer aided prototype testing, post construction documentation.
• software engineering,
  • requirements analysis, functional specification, top level design, detailed design, documentation reviews, rapid prototyping, user interface drafts, coding, revision and version control, unit testing, integration testing, performance testing, as-built documentation, user manuals, documentation management systems.
• software engineering languages and tools,
  • Z80, 8080, 8085 assembly, ANSI and POSIX C, C++, Sockets API (TCP/UDP), ANSI FORTH, Open Firmware, BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, X-Windows, OSF/Motif, VAX MACRO, PIC assembly, GTK, HTML, Bind (DNS), GNU emacs, PHP, Lua, Samba, Sendmail, Apache, awk, perl, perl CGI::, Debian packaging, procmail, grepmail, fetchmail & spamassassin, Python, Python GTK, and Pygame, diff, patch, git, darcs, & mercurial.
• software operating system environments,
  • UNIX, Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Raspberry Pi OS), macOS, OpenVMS (VAX/VMS),
• software maintenance,
  • problem report tracking, code structure analysis, problem reproduction, patch preparation,
• system analysis,
  • workflow analysis, data modelling, entity relationship diagrams, database design, translation from third normal form to implementation, backup methodologies.
• security auditing
  • cabling analysis, network packet tracing, response probing, log analysis, access pattern analysis.
• system configuration
  • operating system installation (Debian GNU/Linux, Red Hat Linux, HP Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS), network configuration (IP, DNS & BIND, DHCP, PPTP, PPP) response or port probing, log analysis.
• project management,
  • project task scoping, estimation of time to code, programming team technical leading (provision of common code), motivation of unpaid volunteers on open source projects, dispute resolution, effective communication, to-do list management, accurate time tracking.
• software support,
  • problem write-up, knowledge base searches, escalation to engineering departments, customer calming, procedure design.
• intellectual property,
  • software license terms and conditions, procedures for prevention of infection, provenance record keeping.

Open Source Community Work

• as contributor to Open Firmware, a Forth based system firmware environment,

• as contributor to Sugar, an early education desktop environment,

• as contributor to rural radio range testing of the One Laptop Per Child project,

• as maintainer of the PPTP projects for many years,

• as maintainer of the Netrek Vanilla Server project for many years,

• as contributor to many other open source projects.

• as originator of some minor open source packages.

Local Community Work

• technical consultant to Tooraweenah Community Technology Centre (2000-2013),

• committee member of Orana Region Amateur Radio Club, maintaining internet services and radio repeaters,

• radio communications operator in the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (2001-2007),

Previous Jobs

From 1996

• Open Source Technology Profession Leader, Asia Pacific,
• Software Security Response Team, Asia Pacific, (alone)
• Linux backline (level 2 support), Asia Pacific, (alone, then in team of three)
• Tru64 UNIX backline (level 2 support), Asia Pacific, (team of eight)
• OpenVMS team, Asia Pacific, (team of eight)

• Linux distributions, such as Red Hat, SUSE, and Debian,
• HP Tru64 UNIX, [formerly Digital UNIX, then Compaq Tru64 UNIX],
• HP Firewall, [formerly AltaVista Firewall, Raptor Firewall]
• OpenVMS on VAX and Alpha,
• Development tools.

Provided local web-based tools for departmental use:

• Telephone Directory, [C, direct to HTTP]
• Call Queue Backlog, [C, indexed file back end, direct to HTTP]
• Incoming call notification via Internet Relay Chat, [C]
• Fax server, [Linux, apache, efax and CGI scripts]
• Departmental roster, [C, direct to HTTP]
• PABX call queue monitor, [C, serial port to UDP packets]
• Call Queue Gateway, [Apache, PHP, FreeTDS, connecting to MS SQL]
• Team documentation Wiki, [Moin package with PHP scripting]

From 1992

• Member of a team that developed a Speed Camera Image Processing System, [South Australian Police Department, C, Oracle/Rdb, DECnet, OpenVMS]

• Member of a team developing Network Router Management Software, [DEC WANrouter 90, C, embedded]

• Performed initial design and quote preparation for an automated toll collection system for the Sydney Harbour Bridge,

• Provided DECforms consulting to a Canberra based company,

• Implemented a tiny web server for use in connecting legacy applications to the world wide web, [C, HTTP, UNIX & OpenVMS]

• Constructed a labour and materials cost tracking system for use within CSS using OpenVMS, Rdb, DECforms, and the tiny web server, [C, Oracle/Rdb]

• Provided web server implementation consulting to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, including network demonstrations and detailed design effort,

• Maintained the CSS departmental web server, proxy server, and web browsing tools, and;

• Implemented a Digital Firewall at a large media organisation.

From 1991

Member of a two person team satisfying small systems integration requests (WORKBUSTERS), implemented a conference room booking system to co-ordinate the use of 55 conference and meeting rooms. [COBOL, DECforms, OpenVMS]

Provided maintenance and operational support for a suite of financial systems used by Digital. [COBOL, OpenVMS]

From 1990

Member of a team that designed and implemented a dual currency financial transactions database that summarises accounting transactions from several source systems for further processing by other systems. [COBOL, Oracle/Rdb, OpenVMS]

Built an online telephone directory application optimised for rapid access via LAT connected terminals. [C, OpenVMS, decommissioned October 1999]

From 1988

Member of a team maintaining financial and accounting systems in support of Digital's business. Constructed a Financial Common Reference Database to be used by future accounting systems. [COBOL, in-house language, OpenVMS]

From 1982 to 1987

Programmer and system manager with Kilpatrick Green Pty Ltd., an electrical engineering contracting firm. Responsible for system management of a VAX installation, developed a financial data entry system, a grain terminal management system and an engineering labour production control system. [FORTRAN, RATFOR, OpenVMS]