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Brian G. Neal
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Software Engineer
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:Email: bgneal@gmail.com
:Address: *Available on request*
:Mobile: *Available on request*


Professional Experience
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Rockwell Collins, Inc.
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**Cedar Rapids, Iowa - July 1999 to Present**

At Rockwell Collins I am a Principal Software Engineer, primarily working on
communication products in a real-time, embedded systems environment.
Here are some highlights of my work experience:

* Implemented a DSDV-based network routing protocol for an airborne, ad-hoc
  network. 
* Primary architect of a SATCOM protocol message processor. The design was reused
  on several subsequent programs within the department.
* Championed the use of open source software within the department. Created an
  open source model for code sharing across teams within the department.
* Participated in flight testing at China Lake Naval Base.
* Experience with porting prototype code to a new hardware platform, 
  maturing the code in the process. 
* Extensive debugging, software-hardware integration, and performance optimization
  experience.
* Designed and implemented a network ingress protocol for an airborne, ad-hoc
  network. 
* Lead engineer for a team of 9 programmers. Led the team through requirements
  analysis, design, coding, and integration efforts.
* Primary author of a software requirements document for a large
  software radio waveform. 
* Created operating system and architecture abstraction libraries used on
  multiple programs within the department. 
* Considered to be one of the department's C++ experts.
* Mentored programmers in C++. Acted as an advisor to trainers developing in-house 
  C++ training.
* Our team won the Rockwell Collins Chairman's Team Award in 2005.
* Regularly participated in issue resolution with other software, hardware, and
  systems teams. 
* Performed cost-accounting and scheduling duties for a small software team.
* Led several software-hardware integration efforts.
* Written device drivers to interface with cryptographic hardware, serial ports, GPS
  units, compass & inclinometers, and motorized gimbals.
* Wrote code to load cryptographic keys into hardware crypto-unit. 
* Created PC-based simulations of routing protocols.
* Created PC and Python based tools to aid in integration, testing, and debugging.
* Leader of the in-house Python users' group.
* I have represented Rockwell Collins at industry meetings and working groups.


Commonwealth Edison
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**Braidwood, Illinois - June, 1992 to July, 1999**

* Maintained and created simulation models of nuclear power plant systems for
  six full-scale operator training simulators in FORTRAN, C, and C++.

* Interfaced power plant equipment to training simulators using various
  real-time embedded systems; utilized serial, shared-memory, and TCP/IP
  communications.

* Designed and implemented a three-tier client/server database system to
  manage maintenance requests for the simulators. 

* Received Individual Excellence Award in 1996 for creating a simulator
  computer to plant process computer interface under a very compressed
  schedule.

* Developed various tools for instructors to test simulator operations.

* Developed embedded software in C on a custom VME board to control
  thousands of I/O points in a power plant simulator.


Non-Professional Work
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I have recently become fascinated with all things involving Python and web development.
In my spare time, I have created and deployed a small community website based 
on Python and Django. I am constantly reading about, experimenting, and implementing 
projects in Python. I have made several small contributions to Django and other 
open source projects and hope to do more as my experience in this area grows.


Technical Skills
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:Programming Languages: 
   Near expert in C++, proficient in Python, C, & Javascript.
   Familiar with PHP, Ada, Perl, Fortran, various assembly languages,
   shell scripting, & SQL.

:Operating Systems:
   GNU/Linux, INTEGRITY, VxWorks, Windows, LynxOS, pSOS+, OS/9

:Technology Areas:
   Real-time and embedded systems, web development, networking, device drivers,
   object-oriented design, CORBA

:Web Development:
   Python, Django, Javascript, jQuery, HTML, CSS, MySQL, Redis, Memcached, PHP, SQL

:Tools:
   Subversion, Mercurial, Git, Apache, Rational Rose, DOORS, many GNU/Linux
   tools, Vim, Rational Clear Case, MS-Office


Education
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:1990 - 1991: University of Iowa, M.S. Computer Science
:1985 - 1989: University of Northern Iowa, B.A. Computer Science, Physics Minor


Hobbies
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Web development, Python, open source software, instrumental surf music, live music,
PC gaming