Tim Ruddick

tim@ruddick.com

Bio

Tim Ruddick develops database protocol network sniffers for DB Networks' products. Prior to DB Networks, Mr. Ruddick developed an Oracle TNS/TTC network proxy, and server and client protocol stacks for WireCache Inc's Accelerator product.

Tim was a Senior Software Engineer at UUNET Technologies in the R&D and Database groups, where he designed and implemented large, high-performance backend datastores and network tools to support UUNET's Internet backbone and massive Dial-up Access Network.

Tim was a Software Engineer and I.T. generalist at AIM Marketing, a music-marketing company, where he wrote multi-user data-entry and reporting applications, while making sure the computers ran smoothly and there was always dialtone on the phones.

Skills

• Unix and Linux Programming (Fedora, Debian, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.)
• Written and verbal communication
• System Architecture
• Team leadership
• C++ (including STL, Boost, exception safety, optimization, resource management, debugging, etc.)
• Database Design (SQL, relational, object-oriented, semantic, B-trees, etc.)
• Network Programming (clients, servers, protocol analysis, TCP/IP, Ethernet, 802.11 [WiFi], firewalls, proxies, relays, Net8, etc.)
• Multi-threaded Programming (concurrency in C, C++, Java, and others)
• Performance Enhancement (profiling to evaluate performance, code tuning to improve CPU, cache, memory, mutex, disk, and other bottlenecks)
• Object Oriented Design
• Python, Perl, TCL (standalone and as embedded scripting languages)
• SQL (Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, SQLite, MS-SQL Server, and others)
• Java (Ant, JDBC, concurrent programming, etc.)
• XML (including DTD design)
• UML
• Web technologies (Apache, HTTP, HTML, CSS, PHP, etc.)
• System Administration (network infrastructure, VPNs, backups, spam filtering, etc.)

Experience

• DB Networks, Poway, California (2009 - Present)
  Co-Founder, Software Architect
  • DB Networks sells Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) products.
  • In C++ on Linux, design and build network capture and protocol analysis servers for Oracle (Net8), MS SQL Server (TDS), and HTTP. The capture code easily handles 4Gbit/sec on mid-range hardware without packet loss. The analysis code reassembles TCP streams in realtime (using TCP port, sequence number, etc.) to monitor database activity. [C++, Linux, STL, Boost, Multi-threaded Programming, Oracle, TCP/IP, DAM, TNS, TTC, SQL, TDS, Database Design, Cryptanalysis, Network Protocols, Object Oriented Design, TCL]
• WireCache (formerly NextGig, Inc.), San Diego, California (2001 - 2009)
  Software Architect
  • WireCache sold network hardware and server software to optimize database performance.
  • Reverse-engineered Oracle's TNS/TTC (Net8) protocol. There exist other Oracle client-side implementations (third-party JDBC drivers, for example), but I know of no other Oracle server-side protocol implementation. [Oracle, TCP/IP, TNS, TTC, Net8, SQL, Cryptanalysis, Network Protocols]
  • Implemented client and server network proxy, protocol stacks, and SQL parser for the WireCache database accelerator. This allowed the accelerator to appear to clients exactly like an Oracle database. [C++, STL, Boost, Linux, Multi-threaded Programming, Oracle, TCP/IP, TNS, TTC, Net8, SQL, Lex, Yacc, Cryptanalysis, Network Protocols, UML, Object Oriented Design]
  • Designed and wrote tools to analyze Oracle network traffic and produce reports including all SQL seen on the wire, time spent executing queries, and other useful details and statistics. The network capture and analysis are non-intrusive and completely safe to use in any production environment. [C++, Linux, Mac OS-X, Perl, Oracle, TCP/IP, SQLite, Information Design, Network Protocols, Database Design, Object Oriented Design, Multi-threaded Programming]
  • Designed and wrote a tool to replay SQL extracted from network traffic, creating reproducible tests from real-world sample data. [Java, Ant, JDBC, Oracle, SQL, TCP/IP, XML, SQLite, Object Oriented Design, Multi-threaded Programming]
• UUNET, Fairfax, Virginia (1995 - 2001)
  Senior Systems Programmer/Architect
  • UUNET (now a Verizon company) was one of the world's largest providers of Internet services to businesses.
  • Completely redesigned and rewrote a network query protocol and custom database server in C++. Improved system uptime from 4 hours a day to 24 hours a day, and data insertion rate from 400 rows per second to 10,000 rows per second. As of 2001, this database logged 30 million inserts per day, contained half a terabyte of data, and was growing exponentially. [C++, Unix, BSD/OS, STL, Perl, HTTP, XML, TCP/IP, Database Design, Object Oriented Design]
  • Designed and wrote a complete client/server database package used to reconcile telecom vendor invoices. As of 1997, data gathered by this system was saving the company more than $1 million per month. [Database Design, Sybase, SQL, MS-Windows, Unix, C++, MS-Access, GUI Design, Information Design]
  • Reverse-engineered the binary data format used by UUNET's Unix-based legacy accounting package. Wrote Perl libraries to generate reports from this data, saving twenty employee-workdays per month. [C++, Perl, Unix, Cryptanalysis]
  • Designed and wrote a C++ class library to provide persistent data storage objects using Sleepycat Software's Berkeley DB embedded database library. This library provides containers and iterators modeled after those in the C++ Standard Template Library (STL). [C++, STL, Object Oriented Design, Database Design]
• AIM Marketing, Old Bridge, New Jersey (1990 - 1995)
  Software Engineer, DBA, System Administrator
  • AIM marketed Rock, Pop, Metal, Adult Alternative, AOR, and other genres to radio stations and retail outlets for clients in the music industry. Much of the software used at AIM is now in use at The Music Syndicate.
  • Solely responsible for designing and implementing all technical aspects of the company. If it plugged into the wall, it was part of my job. [Database Design, Unix, MS-Windows, Computer Hardware, Telecom Hardware, Network Protocols, GUI Design, Object Oriented Design]
  • Designed and wrote tools to generate geographical marketing reports, which clients cited as the best in the business. These reports used latitude, longitude, and zipcode information to calculate nationwide broadcast antenna coverage areas and correlate them with retail outlet sales information. [Database Design, Information Design, Algorithm Design, Cartography, Statistics]
  • Designed and wrote the company's primary multi-user database application. On a tight budget, set up and maintained the hardware to run it. This application was used both for data entry by 20 people and for data mining. It stored several years of nationwide radio airplay and retail sales statistics, and synchronized this data among a number of remote sites. [Database Design, Unix, MS-Windows, C++, FoxBase]
  • Personally set up and maintained all computer hardware, including a SCO Unix server with 24 serial terminals, a 16-node Windows network, several networked printers and fax devices, and a 32-line digital-hybrid phone system. [Unix, MS-Windows, System Administration, Computer Hardware, Telecom Hardware]

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science (1990)
  University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
  Concentration in Artificial Intelligence
  Minor in Philosophy

Interests

• Music, photography, audio compression, cryptography, cartography, linguistics, information design, graphic design

References available upon request.