Resume

I’m not currently seeking employment, but thank you for your interest!

Chris Danford

cdanford@u.washington.edu
http://www.chrisdanford.com

Objective Statement

I’m a software engineer who seeks challenging projects that will push my programming and software engineering skills to the next level. As evidenced by my work and freelance experience, I’m self-motivated and have fun tackling large and challenging projects.

Work Experience

Software Development Engineer – Customer Service Applications

2010 – present. Amazon.com. (http://www.amazon.com)

Development Lead – Pump It Up Pro game series

2006 – 2010. Fun In Motion Inc. (http://www.piupro.com)

Shipped: Pump It Up Pro (arcade), Pump It Up Pro Fitness, Pump It Up Jump (arcade), Pump It Up Pro 2 Fitness, Pump It Up Pro 2 (arcade)
Managed a team of 6-8 (1 software developer, 2 artists, 5 content creators), set schedules, maintained feature lists and bug reports
Responsible for communicating with partner companies (Korea, England, US) about features, bugs, and hardware development.
Worked on the companion stats tracking web site: http://www.fimtracker.com. Players touch a RFID card to their dance pad, the game accumulates stats and associated IDs, syncs to the web site’s back end, and displays stats/graphs/leader boards/achievements to users.
Technologies: C/C++ game code (Win/Mac/Linux), Python scripts, Django/Python web front-end.

Development Lead – In The Groove game series

2005 – 2006. Roxor Games Inc. (http://inthegroove.roxorgames.com)

Managed a team of 6-9 (1-2 other developers, and several content creators), set schedules, maintained feature lists and bug reports
Responsible for communicating with partner companies (Norway, several in the US) and publishers (Sony, RedOctane) about features, bugs, and hardware development
Shipped: In The Groove (arcade), In The Groove PC/Mac, In The Groove (PlayStation 2), In The Groove 2 (arcade), In The Groove 2 Fitness
ITG2 arcade was ranked in Play Magazine (trade publication) as #2 in operator earnings in a 2006 edition.
In The Groove 2 was featured in People Magazine in an article about weight loss through games.
Technologies: C/C++ cross-platform game code (Linux for arcade, Windows/Mac for home, PlayStation 2 console), based on previous StepMania Engine work.
In The Groove was acquired by Konami in 2006.

Software Development Engineer – Windows Deployment

2003 – 2005. Windows Core OS division, Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com)

Helped develop the new package-based infrastructure for Image-Based Setup (new in Vista)
Helped develop the UI framework that powered Setup.exe, Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, and AutoRun
Created a new progress notification system/UI and coordinated with numerous other package owners to integrate this system
Completed performance optimizations and additional features in Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) in Windows XP SP2 (saved ~30 seconds for every Windows machine that has applied XP SP2)
Technologies: C/C++, Win32, ATL

Founder, Project Manager, Lead Developer – StepMania (open-source game engine)

2001 – 2003. StepMania (http://www.stepmania.com)

StepMania is an open-source music/rhythm game featuring 3D graphics, a Lua-based scripting system, numerous other plug-in interfaces, a complete in-game song editor, and support for many different input methods.
My duties include managing the efforts of 40+ casual project contributors (~15 developers, ~15 artists, and other miscellaneous helpers), writing/reviewing specs for new features, helping implement these new features, writing documentation, and maintaining relationships with dozens of fan sites.
As of 2001, the project is 50,494 lines of game code, 312 C source files, and thousands of graphics/sound/resource files.
As of 2001, the project hovers around 20th on the list of most active projects on SourceForge (2nd most active open-source game overall).
Game downloaded over 3 million times as of 8/4/2009.
StepMania.com receives 3+ million monthly page views, accepts user-submitted songs and has discussion, ratings, reputation systems.
Technologies: C/C++ cross-platform (Windows/Mac/Linux/Xbox), integrated Lua scripting engine, Win32/Cocoa/X, Direct3D/OpenGL, DirectSound/WaveOut/CoreAudio/ALSA, LibAvCodec/DirectShow, libTomCrypt.
Web technologies: PHP, Javascript, AdSense, Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Google AdManager, Facebook Connect, Facebook Application Platform, vBulletin, Amazon EC2, S3, CloudFront.

Teachers Assistant – CSE457: Computer Graphics

03/2002 – 06/2002. University of Washington (http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/457/02sp/)

Wrote homework problems and corrected written homework.
Held office hours 3x weekly and answered questions about projects and homework.
Improved skeleton code and was head TA for the final project: Animator.

Software Test Engineer, Developer – Consumer Appliances Division

06/2001 – 09/2001. RealNetworks (http://www.realnetworks.com/)

Worked on the team that developed the software for the software for HP’s iDec home entertainment device. http://dec.hp-at-home.com/
Wrote a web tool to manage test cases and automatically feed testers with assignments. The tool handles daily build verification tests, periodic regression cases, and pre-release test passes. Used by a team of 10 testers and 8 developers.
Wrote a Perl test harness to simulate user input via an IR remote to facilitate longevity testing.
Worked with the RealPlayer for PlayStation 2 group to create mach interfaces and visualizations using Direct3D and 3DStudio MAX.

Software Test Engineer, Developer – E-Commerce Division

06/2000 – 01/2001. RealNetworks (http://www.realnetworks.com/)

Created test plans for new internal projects, including maintenance tools, reporting tools, and the transition to a new data model for a database of 160 million unique users (400 GB of data).
Wrote shell and Perl scripts to automate daily procedures and reporting.
Wrote KickBack, an automated testing tool that simulates consumer behavior on the Real.com web site, then verifies that submitted information is correctly represented in the database.
Created web-based tools for data maintenance and managing e-mail campaigns.

Network Administrator, Database Developer – UW Alumni Association

11/1999 – 06/2000. University of Washington Alumni Association (http://www.washington.edu/alumni/)

Headed project to convert a network of 35 Mac users to Windows PCs.
Installed, configured, maintained Windows NT Server, IIS, Proxy Server, Exchange Server, VPN, and network scripts.
Programmed custom Outlook 2000/Exchange forms.
Converted old Mac FileMaker databases to MS Access.

Network Administrator, Consultant, Administrative Assistant – Kitsap Physical Therapy

1992 – 1997. Kitsap Physical Therapy (http://www.kitsappt.com/)

In charge of purchasing and maintaining computer networks at 7 different medical clinics.
Paying bills/invoices and maintaining deposit/check register (>$150K monthly).
Creating product/services brochures and clinical/fitness handouts.

Webmaster, Writer, Programmer, Editor, Founder – Videogamers.com

10/1997 – 06/1999. http://www.videogamers.com/ Assigned jobs and organized content written by others.

Reviewed video games and benchmarked computer hardware donated to us by gaming and computer companies.
Created graphics, navigation interface, content structure, and wrote many Perl scripts.
Maintained connections with the PR departments of major companies in the industry, including Sony Computer Entertainment, GT Interactive, Activision, Acclaim, and Creative Labs.
Videogamers.com was acquired by Fandom, Inc. in Jan 2000. Fandom declared bankruptcy 6 months later.

Freelance Projects

StepMania

http://www.stepmania.com
http://sourceforge.net/projects/stepmania/
Described in more detail above.

UWfiles.com

http://www.uwfiles.com
UWfiles was a very popular SMB file share search engine for searching shares inside the UW campus network. Front-end and multi-threaded spider were written in PHP.

UWvcr.com

http://www.uwvcr.com
UWvcr was a web digital video recorder with a PHP front-end and distributed back-end of Linux capture hosts. The number of channels that can be simultaneously recorded from is limited only by the number of computers in the system. Shows were only available for download inside the UW campus firewall.

Participated in tens of usability studies and playtests at Microsoft

Participated in year-long Real People Real Data study at Microsoft. As part of the study, I was the focus of a Microsoft-sponsored documentary on how college students use technology.
Beta tester for Windows 98 and 2000.
Numerous one-day software usability sessions and Xbox playtests

Education

University of Washington, Seattle WA

Game Development Certification 1 year series – completed 2003

Advanced game/graphics techniques like volumetric stencil shadows, projected texture, A* path finding, and network play.
Gained insight into gaming industry from industry-veteran course instructors.

University of Washington, Seattle WA

B.S. in Computer Science – graduated 2003

3.72 cumulative GPA
400 level classes: Computer Graphics, Computer Animation, Databases, Networking, Artificial Intelligence, Compiler Design, Operating Systems

North Kitsap High School, Poulsbo WA

High School – graduated 1999

3.98 GPA
Placed a 5 (highest possible) on the Calculus BC advanced placement exam.
Worked on an independent study project to create a massively-multiplayer role-playing game using a Win32/DirectX client, TCP, and a Linux server.
Outstanding Senior Award