Home
CV / Resume

Visit our blog:
Aliens in the Apple

Contact me:
benh...@gmail.com

+1 347 314 3624

Postal address:
290 St James Pl
Garden Apt
Brooklyn, NY 11238
United States

I have also discovered a truly marvelous proof of Hofstadter’s Law,
but unfortunately this margin is too narrow to contain it.

Ben Hoyt’s CV / Resume

Intro: I currently work for Oyster.com in New York City, so I’m not looking for work at the moment, but feel free to get in touch with Brush Technology if you need a software project done.

Go to: Summary | Skills | Experience | Education | About me | References | PDF

Summary

I’m a software engineer with eight years of experience designing and developing web applications and embedded firmware. I’m fluent in Python, C, C++, HTML+CSS, and English. I learn quickly, care about detail, and love computers and mathematics.

Skills: what I do...

• Develop web applications that perform well and are easy to use. I’ve used various databases, and I’m familiar with scaling and caching issues.
• Create embedded firmware for data loggers, control systems and other electronic devices, using 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers. I’m familiar with many comms protocols, such as CAN, J1939, SPI, and IP.
• Write desktop tools and automated test software.
• Administer web servers and networking tools on Windows or Linux.
• Communicate and document effectively and relate well to people. I also design, write specifications for, and manage projects.

I’m fluent in Python, C, C++, HTML+CSS, and English. I’ve also done a fair bit in C#, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, and various assembly languages.

Experience

At Brush Technology I’ve been a software engineer and co-director since August 2006. Some of the things I’ve done are:

• Co-founded and designed the microPledge crowd funding website, and developed about a third of its codebase (in Python and PostgreSQL). microPledge implements secure financial transactions, advanced Ajax-based voting, and it scales to thousands of campaigns and users.
• Designed and implemented Gifty, a website that helps couples make wedding gift registries (again using Python and PostgreSQL). Promoting Gifty gave me experience with internet advertising and e-commerce.
• Embedded programming in C++, automated testing in Python, and developing GUI tools for Hamilton Jet’s large-scale jet control systems.
• Cellular telemetry firmware and GPS interfacing using 8-bit and ARM7 micros for Baycity Technologies and ILR.
• Co-authored several small open source projects including a Python-based build tool and a row-object mapper for web.py. Wrote articles for our programming blog, for example, on Knuth, protothreads, and bloatware.
• Managed projects and staff, and am heavily involved with the company’s business planning and decisions.

At Harvest Electronics I was a software engineer from October 2002 to July 2006, and I:

• Designed and developed the web and admin interface for their solar-powered weather stations – the clean UI and weather graphs really made Harvest’s product stand out. I wrote software to interface to the GPRS modems and administered associated databases and web servers.
• Wrote embedded firmware in C and assembler for MSP430 and ARM7 micros, including low-level boot loaders, serial and radio comms, digital audio, and I/O control logic.
• Developed various network and serial comms tools in C, C++, and Python. Worked heavily with the Win32 API.

At VMSL (between years at university, summers 2000 to 2002) I developed embedded firmware in C and HC11 assembler and tested software for their vending machine controllers.

Education

I have a B.E. in electrical and computer engineering, and graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2002 with first class honors, GPA 7.9/9. For my final-year project I designed a small stack-based CPU in VHDL.

About me

My dad taught me how to program by teaching me the Tao of Forth. Two of my first projects were writing a Forth compiler in x86 assembly, and then writing a small 32-bit OS in my Forth. I love things small, fast, and light – and that’s paid off, especially in my embedded work.

Other than that, I edited and designed a small-scale magazine. I’m into unicycling, typography, and piano. I aim to keep the commandments, but you may find me breaking the conventions.

References

• Michael Hope, software engineer who led the team at Hamilton Jet. Now director of Seabright Technology.
• Peter Munn, owner of Harvest Electronics.
• Derek Cressy, mechanical engineer and long-time friend. His mobile number is +64 27 482 2155.