This page contains my current resume.  You can download a PDF copy, or enjoy the text before you.  A few changes have been made from the PDF, such as obscuring my email address so I don’t get as much spam.

Mark Mzyk

mmzyk at this blog programmersparadox.com
www.programmersparadox.com
8628 Swarthmore Drive
Raleigh, NC 27615
(919) 412 – 4567

Summary

I need to work with people who share my passion for writing software and who will help me elevate my skills to the next level, all while producing great software that helps others.

My focus is on developing web applications, specifically back end code, although if the need arises I have no qualms venturing into front end code.  I read voraciously to increase my knowledge and attend conferences and user groups so I can learn from those who know more than me.  I have a strong desire to understand how code works and am not satisfied by believing in magic.

Education

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC
B.S. in Computer Science, May 2007
B.A in English with Honors, May 2007

Experience

Software Engineer
iContact (Morrisville, NC): March 2010 – Present

I work in a PHP application, with a focus on the backend. As part of an agile team, my primary responsibility is maintaing the email sending stack.  My current work includes developing scalable code to prevent spammers from exploiting the system.  I also helped create iContact’s Twitter and Facebook integration offerings.

Software Engineer (Contractor)
Lenovo (Morrisville, NC):  November 2009 – March 2010

I helped developed a custom Linux UI to drive multimedia applications for the Skylight product.  My work involved integrating Google Desktop gadgets, written in Javascript, with multimedia applications, written in Python.  I communicated with teams in America and China to resolve bugs, while maintaining the schedule for product launch.

Developer
More Better Labs (RTP, NC):  October 2008 – December 2009

I developed the back end for http://encourage.ruzuku.com, a web application that integrates with Twitter to generate word of mouth for ruzuku.com.  The application was written using Ruby and the Sinatra framework.

Software Engineer
Lulu.com (Raleigh, NC):  May 2007 – August 2009

I worked in a PHP legacy application, developing new features and fixing bugs hidden by complex code.  I worked on the integration of Apache Solr, a search engine written in Java, with Lulu’s existing infrastructure.  As a result of the project, the cost of full reindexes dropped by 100% and user engagement with search on Lulu increased 20%.

I worked in Python to develop a payment service that integrated with Lulu’s main commerce code using Thrift for cross language communication.  I wrote XML to communicate with third party credit card services, while enabling a clean encapsulation of credit card handling code from the rest of the system.

A major challenge was working to implement better testing practices across the company.  To help this along, I prepared a presentation focusing on test driven development best practices and delivered it to the engineering team.  My focus was on creating more human readable tests to serve as better documentation for the legacy code, while moving the company towards true test driven development.

Software Engineer (Intern)
Lulu.com (Raleigh, NC):  May 2006 – August 2006

I took the existing PHP API and ported it over to Java using SOAP and Apache Axis.  I completed the work early and went on to fix bugs in the main PHP application while working across the various engineering teams, depending on which bug needed attention.

Activities

Societies:  Phi Beta Kappa; Phi Kappa Phi; Upsilon Pi Epsilon
Conferences:  BarCampRDU, 2008, 2009, 2010; No Fluff Just Stuff, 2008
RubyRX, 2009; Developer-Day, 2009, 2010
Conference Organizer:  TEDxTriangleNC, 2010
Book Reviewer:  Career 2.0