derekville.net / derek@derekgathright.com / twitter.com/derek

3754 Grand View Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

913-226-6363

Technical Skills Summary

Programming Languages: Began programming with Basic in 1994, C++ in 1995, Java in 1999, JavaScript in 2000, PHP in 2002, Python & Ruby in 2005, ActionScript in 2006. Currently use PHP & JavaScript on a daily basis.

Markup & Formats: Proficient with HTML, CSS, XML, XSL/XSLT, XSD, XPath, JSON.

Operating Systems: Use OSX, Windows, & Linux on a daily basis.

Database Systems: Have used MySQL since 2002 & PostgreSQL since 2004. I am proficient with complex queries and using embedded languages (such as PL/PGSQL). I also have experience with non-relational database systems such as CouchDB.

Web APIs: Extensive Twitter API experience. Also familiar with many Google web APIs (such as Maps, translations, feeds) and Yahoo APIs (such as Flickr, YUI3, YQL). Have built fully functional document viewing/sharing applications using the Scribd API.

Libraries & Frameworks: jQuery, YUI, Prototype, YUI, Scriptaculous, Adobe Flex, Django, Ruby on Rails, Code Ignitor, Kohana, Palm WebOS SDK, IUI iPhone library, Google App Engine, Zend Framework

Additional Tools: SSH, Subversion, CVS, Git, PDO, ADODB

Employment History

Present
Nov. 2009
Yahoo, Inc - Santa Monica, CA
Front-end Engineer

Develop, and maintain Yahoo! Entertainment websites using PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and (X)HTML.

Properties worked on:

Nov. 2009
March 2007
Catholic Content, LLC - Lenexa, KS
Lead Developer

Architected & developed social media website mycatholicvoice.com. Evaluated and assessed software needs for development tools and web services. Interviewed & hired additional in-house development resources and managed development tasks with outsourced & contract resources. Developed multimedia transcoding queue and delivery platform for audio, video, images, documents, and downloads. Developed REST API interface for interaction with MyCatholicVoice. Designed relational database schema. Wrote specifications for development projects. Developed scaling procedures. Managed advertising platform and designed ad delivery network. Established working partnerships with companies such as Rackspace, Limelight Networks, Scribd, & Burst Media. Configured & managed development/production servers running on Red Hat Enterprise Edition 4, Ubuntu, and Windows.

Tools used: Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, SQS), Linux, Apache, lighttpd, MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP5, Kohana PHP framework, Code Igniter PHP framework, FFMPEG, jQuery, Memcached, Lucene, & ADODB.

July 2007
June 2006
Gragg Advertising - Kansas City, MO
Interactive Developer

Develop internal/client web projects & interactive marketing campaigns. Traffic analysis reports for client websites & email campaigns. Utilize SEO strategies to design search engine optimized websites. Maintain & troubleshoot employee computer systems and Linux based servers. Develop API clients to transfer data between Gragg and affiliate systems.

Tools used: Linux, Apache, PHP5, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, & MySQL

June 2006
Jan 2005
Nuvio Corp. - Overland Park, KS
Web Developer

Manage Nuvio's corporate website and 200+ partner websites. Acted as technical contact for Nuvio's engineering department. Developed user interfaces for Voice over IP services and company intranet. Designed, developed, & managed API interface for remote interaction with between partners and the Nuvio system.

Tools used: Linux, Apache, PHP5, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PostgreSQL, & MySQL

Education

1999 - 2004
University of Kansas - Lawrence, KS

Bachelors degree in Communication Studies

Certifications

  • Zend Certified Engineer - Passed Sept 25th, 2009

Projects

March 2008
Present
Tweenky.com
Founder/Developer

Tweenky is an open-source JavaScript Twitter web client.

Media Coverage

Tools used: Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3), Linux, Apache, PHP5, JavaScript, & MySQL

Code repository: http://github.com/drgath/tweenky/

Speaking Experience

  • 2010-04-21: "YQL: select * from internet" @ Yahoo. (Slideshare.net)
  • 2009-08-08: "jQuery: JavaScript that Doesn't Suck" @ PreDevCamp Kansas City. (PDF)
  • 2009-06-16: "Twitter Bootcamp" @ Enterprise Center of Johnson County. (PDF)
  • 2009-05-19: "Twitter Bootcamp" @ Enterprise Center of Johnson County.
  • 2009-04-21: "Twitter Bootcamp" @ Enterprise Center of Johnson County.
  • 2009-02-19: "Twitter Bootcamp" @ Enterprise Center of Johnson County.

Conferences / Events

  • Palm Developer Day (Apr 2010) - Attendee
  • JSConf (Apr 2010) - Attendee
  • SCaLE - Southern California Linux Expo (Feb 2010) - Attendee
  • PreDevCamp (Aug 2009) - Organizer. WebOS developer event that was attended by approximately 75 developers & designers and sponsored by companies including Sprint, Palm, and Adobe.
  • StartupWeekend Kansas City (April 2009) - Attendee, developer on the "TopChirp" project
  • ZendCon (Oct 2008) - Attendee
  • Yahoo! Open HackDay (Oct 2008) - Attendee

Organizations

  • StartupKC - Co-founder. StartupKC is an "umbrella group" within the KC tech community and we work to organize developer events & meetups. We've organized events such as BarCampKC, StartupWeekend, Highlight Midwest, PreDevCamp, "code diving" sessions, and have created the StartupKC co-working space.
  • KCJUG (Kansas City JavaScript Users Group) - Curator
  • SoCal.js - Curator