Charles J Heaton

*** * **** **

Apt. *-*

Waterbury, CT 06702

Phone: 203-***-****

ac7hic@r.postjobfree.com

Ability Summary

I began my love of programming as a 12-year old in Junior High School in 1962, thanks to an uncle who was a programmer for IBM and Honeywell mainframes. I hand-coded small FORTRAN programs which my uncle would correct, input into the mainframe and suggest my next small project. I did this from 7th through 9th grade. At Haverford college, which had no computer department (small school, 1967-1971) I double majored in Physics and Mathematics, minoring in Music Composition. It wasn't until the microcomputer revolution that software became my career. I started with BASIC and various microprocessor's assembly code programming, moved on to C, became a C++ enthusiast early on (after experimenting with Objective C), and finally became a 'Java Evangelist', Java being my favorite language since the early days when the Java systems were no too great, performance-wise.

I have not had much experience with web programming. My whole career involved stand-alone business applications and hardware control systems (as in, robotic hardware). While proficient in C and C++, Java (using Netbeans and sometimes Eclipse) has been my main focus, even after leaving the workforce.

As it has been a while, and any possible references are long gone, and as I have recently decided to 'get back in the game', I developed some applications to use as a portfolio to demonstrate my skills and knowledge, which I would love to describe and demonstrate in person.

Employment History

Senior Software Engineer

09/2004 - 10/2008

Tomtec Inc

1000 Sherman Ave, Hamden, CT

I was the primary developer for the control software, database and user interface for a new product, the 'Formatter'. This is a robotic laboratory instrument use to semi-automate the formatting of microplates from sample vials and diluent wells. This software included 1) EPROM base code (written in C, using a cross-compiler) to control motors, sense microswitches, etc, 2) the (SQL compatible) database tracking all aspects of the system (configuration, machine usage, errors, user interventions, etc.) and 3) the user interface on the connected Windows computer. Communication between the Micro and the Formatter was through internet using a small server embedded in the instrument that converted ethernet-based messages to serial port in/out data). The DB and GUI was all written using Java. The database used was initially HSQLDB (a pure Java SQL database system), and then replaced by MySQL. This was an extremely interesting and satisfying 4 year project.

Software Developer

06/2000 - 10/2001

Towers Perrin

Valhalla, NY

Part of a team developing a product used in-house at Towers Perrin. This system was used to create reports for customers (other companies) the evaluated and compared their benefits package (health, life, death) with other similar companies to determine thei9r competitiveness with the company's industry. Developments included C++ and Excel (BASIC for Apps).

Senior Software Engineer

09/1985 - 05/2000

Pitney Bowes Inc

37 Executive Dr, Danbury, CT

Part of several software teams over the 15 years at Pitney Bowes.

The first project was a 'universal' manifesting system. for use by shipping/receiving, supporting various carriers (USPS, UPS, FEDEX, Roadway, etc), using C under MS-DOS. Received a sole-developer patent for a memory management technique that allowed this continually growing application to work under the limited resources supported by MS-DOS.

The next project was helping to create the control software and also parts of the user interface for their mass-mailing machines (call 'inserters The development was in C++ under Windows.

The third project was for a customer bill presentment/payments system, in the days before such things became ubiquitous. The system involved multiple computer systems linked together. I was responsible for the communication between the machines and a partially remote debugging system integral to the development. The whole system was intended to be marketed to other companies desiring such capabilities. This developments was in a combination of Java and C++, under Windows.

Senior Software Engineer

12/1984 - 09/1985

Perkin Elmer Inc

710 Bridgeport Ave, Shelton, CT

Developed the 'calculator' component for software controlling and analyzing data from a thermal test instrument. This involved calculating important material values (melting point, etc) from the data stream coming from the instrument, using numeric integration and other mathematical techniques.

Senior Software Engineer

11/1983 - 11/1984

Bunker Ramo

Trumbull, CT

Created component to distribute workload from multiple banking workstations to multiple printers using the C language under the UNIX operating system.

Senior Software Engineer

10/1979 - 11/1983

Konan Corporation

Phoenix, AZ

Developed all software components needed to integrate the newly available 'Winchester' hard drives with various microcomputer systems, using the in-house developed hard drive controller, in conjunction with 'personality' circuit cards specific to each system bus. This development included the on-board micro-code (bitslice architecture), modifications to the various operating systems (CP/M, Apple-DOS, PC-DOS, etc) as needed, and end user configuration and setup applications. I was the sole developer on the project using BASIC, Pascal, various micro-assemblers (6502,8080,6800,8080,etc).

Computer Programmer

06/1977 - 10/1979

Altair Computer Center

none, Phoenix, AZ

Developed a custom application for use by Cotton gin facilities to track product from contracted growers (raw cotton) through the process of creating the end product (cotton bales). Previously, all record keeping was done on paper via standardized log books and other forms. This application was created with close cooperation of the potential customers and was developed on the Altair 8800 micro using Altair BASIC.

Education and Training

Issuing Institution

Location

Degree Received

Course of Study

Florida Atlantic University

Boca Raton, FL

Master's Degree

Mathematics

I competed about 60% of the requirements for the M.S. but did not complete the program

Haverford College

Haverford, PA

Bachelor's Degree

Physics

Honors & Activities

While at Pitney Bose, I developed a memory management system that allow the DOS-based application (a manifesting system for shipping/receiving rooms) to continue to grow, I received a sole-developer patent for this memory management approach (approximately 1986).

Additional Information

In full-disclosure, the reason I have been out of the workforce for periods of time is for legal problems. While a criminal record may be a deal breaker for some employers, not to mention the fact that I am older than the typical candidate, I cannot over emphasize my passion and enthusiasm for all aspects of software development from analysis and design, implementation, testing and debugging, documentation creation, customer training, and so on. I know that I will be a strong asset for any employer willing to overlook these flaws in my background.

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