Daniel Kegel

Senior software engineer with 20+ years total experience in embedded systems, server, desktop, and cloud development. Comfortable working at all levels of the system from bare metal on up.

Languages: C/C++, x86/amd64 assembly, Python, shell, Java, Golang, Javascript
Platforms: Linux, MacOS, Windows; server, desktop, embedded
Tools: ASan, Valgrind, Meson/CMake, Github/Gitlab/Buildbot, docker, qemu, strace, ...
Techniques: test driven, cross-platform, open source, pair programming, CI

dank@kegel.com :: www.kegel.com :: github.com/dankegel

Experience

May 2020: open source contributor

Contributed enhancements and code reviews to meson and zlib

Aug 2012-Apr 2020: Senior Platform Engineer, Oblong Industries

Set up CI for dozens of projects with 2000 builders on Linux/mac/win, ppc/x86/arm
Created automated build/release workflow to greatly reduce post-release surprises
Ported build systems from Make to Automake to CMake to Meson
Wrote tools to give developers easy repeatable local builds
Contributed small bug and doc fixes to open source projects, e.g. googletest, grpc, lxd, scancode, jinj2-cli, and vcpkg.
Created Ubuntu PPAs with workarounds to problems I ran into in python and pip

Promoted shortly before coronavirus forced company to drop my department. My supervisor wrote:

Dan always went above and beyond the call of duty. He not only met expectations with every project but would make all the tangential bits better as well in the process. His attention to detail is incredible.

2010-2012: Software Engineer, startup, confidential

2003-2010: Software Engineer, Google, Santa Monica, CA

Helped organize port of Google's codebase to 64 bits, for which I was promoted to staff engineer
Filed two dozen bugs against gcc
Interviewed hundreds of candidate software engineers
Minor contributor to Google Chrome (300 commits 2008-2009)
Contributed lsdistcc and numerous commits to distcc
Managed port of Google Picasa to Linux using Wine

2001-2003: Senior Engineer, Ixia Communications, Calabasas, CA

Took the Ixia Linux SDK from a rough prototype to a finished GPL-compliant embedded Linux with GNU cross-development tools.
Set up a nightly build and regression test environment
Discovered and fixed toolchain problems
Supporting non-Ixia developers using the SDK
Created coroutine-based parallel scripting language for gigabit load generation
Wrote briefly popular Crosstool toolchain build script + patch repo
Filed a dozen-odd bugs against gcc, and a fix or two.

1999-2001: Senior Developer, Disappearing, Inc. / Omniva, San Francisco, CA

Designed and implemented the following aspects of the Omniva server:

Nonblocking queued architecture capable of handling thousands of simultaneous clients using only a handful of threads; the queued design protects against deadlocks.
Crashproof stable queues providing stable storage within a single keyserver, and serving as the basis for crashproof mirroring of keyserver contents to hot remote servers.
Stackable protocol code allowing HTTP tunnelling and/or SSL encryption (using OpenSSL) of client sessions.
A custom SNMP agent (using UCD-SNMP) providing keyserver and mirror health monitoring.
An SNMP subagent library and a custom MIB compiler generating C++ wrapper objects to make SNMP coding easier, www.kegel.com/snmp.

My supervisor wrote:

Dan is one of Disappearing Inc.'s key assets. He has a deep commitment to our product and a sense of ownership over its technology. His ability to create a full keyserver from a clean sheet of paper is a testimony to his value to our organization.

1995-1999: Senior Programmer, Activision, Santa Monica, CA

Developed portable multiplayer networking api for 14 games on the Win95, Linux, MS-DOS, and MacOS platforms, and game servers on Linux.
Invented NAT hole-punching, a technique for transparent gameplay through firewalls and Internet connection sharing devices
Created central crash server showing live crashes from user systems
Developed technique for lag avoidance in multiplayer code for Interstate '76
Led the last month of work on Mechwarrior 2: Titanium

My supervisor wrote:

Dan has been responsible for most of Activision's technical innovation during [1996].

1993-1995: Software engineer, Knowledge Adventure, Glendale, CA

1992-1993: Electrical Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

1989-1991: Electrical Engineer, Mars Observer Project, Caltech, Pasadena, CA.

Publications

NAT and Peer-to-peer networking (1999), RFC 5128: State of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Communication across Network Address Translators (NATs)
The C10K Problem - old notes on how to serve lots of clients with a single server

Education

BS, Engineering and Applied Science and Biology, 1986, Caltech

Other Activities

Proficient in written and spoken German
Mentored a number of young engineers at various companies
Acted as industry customer for seven terms of UCLA CS130 students
Currently serving on LADWP's LA100 Advisory Group for NCSA
Served as a minor expert witness on ISDN in 2000, and on gmail forensics in 2011.
Served on Sun's JSR-51 committee
Contributed 162 commits and 1492 bug reports to the Wine Project, an open source implementation of the Microsoft Windows API.
Wrote Winetricks, a popular script that applies workarounds for common problems with Wine

:-)

Last update: 27 May 2020
Copyright 1996-2020 Dan Kegel
This document may not be copied, sent to any prospective employer, or placed in any online job bank without the author's explicit permission. It lives at www.kegel.com/resume.html.