Resume for Michael J. Sepcot

Updated: February 2009

Experience

Leapfrog Online - Evanston, IL

July 2007 - December 2008: Software Engineer

Developed, deployed, and maintained web-based applications and support programs using the Ruby on Rails framework.
Utilized Agile development practices and the Scrum methodology to gather requirements, code, test, and incorporate end-user feedback into the software development life-cycle.

September 2006 - June 2007: Web Developer

Worked with the application development team to develop and integrate advanced back-end code.
Took the lead in translating comprehensive design layouts into PHP/XHTML/CSS pages.

SPSS, Inc. - Chicago, IL

January 2006 - September 2006: Associate Quality Assurance Engineer

Wrote programs and worked with development teams to increase the testability of products.
Worked with object-oriented technologies to improve the efficiency, breadth, and depth of the testing process.
Participated in the evaluation, testing, and certification of state-of-the-art products.

May 2004 - December 2005: Web Developer

Created and maintained corporate web pages across http://www.spss.com ensuring pages meet Section 508 compatibility requirements.
Created, maintained, and documented internal web applications using Macromedia ColdFusion, Microsoft SQL Server and Office products.

Hollywood Video - Elk Grove Village, IL

2000 - 2003: Shift Leader

Chosen from among my peers to represent the Elk Grove Village store in a company wide effort to improve customer relations.

Education

Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago, IL

January 2009 - Current

Masters of Computer Science with Specialization in Software Engineering
Expected Graduation: December 2009

Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago, IL

August 2002 - December 2005

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with Honors
Grade Point Average: 3.3/4.0
HEALD/NEXT Scholar

Alpha Sigma Phi, Alpha Xi Chapter

Chapter Marshall - 2004
Chapter Fundraising Chair - 2003
Pledge Class Treasurer - 2002

Job-Related Events

RailConf 2008

May/June 2008 - Portland, OR

RailsConf 2008 was a four-day conference dedicated to Ruby on Rails application development and problem solving. Key topics I came away with were:

The use of Presenter Classes as an abstraction layer to keep the state of views.
Alternate Object Relation Mappers, such as DataMapper, can help with integration of legacy data.
Security gems and plugins, such as Tarantula, are available to automate form fuzzing and other security related tasks.
Lightning Talks and the 23 Hacks presentation re-enforced the idea of coding for yourself will help improve your skills as a developer.

Essential Rails

September 2007 - Des Plaines, IL

Essential Rails was a hands-on, interactive workshop for people new to Ruby and the Rails framework. The goals of the class were to teach the following:

Ruby essentials and syntax (and made especially easy for those from a C# or VB background)

The Rails "stack" and the HTTP pipeline

Open source tools and applications (Subversion, MySQL, SSH, and more)

Rails conventions and (gasp!) configuration

REST and what it means in Rails

ActiveRecord and migrations

ActionPack: ERb, forms, templates, partials, layouts, and helpers

Test-driven development with Rails

AJAX with Rails

Hosting and deployment basics

Real-life lessons learned

-- From the "What will I actually learn?" section of the Essential Rails web site.

Related blog post: Essential Rails Class Notes

Microsoft - Ready for a New Day: Launch Tour 2007

February 2007 - Chicago, IL

This event was designed for IT Professionals and Developers. It was meant to showcase the new features available in Windows Vista ™, 2007 Microsoft ® Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. While there I attended the Executive Keynote and all of the Developer Sessions:

Microsoft Office and Windows Vista: Better Together for Developers
Building Differentiated User Experiences with Windows Vista
Building Connected Applications with Windows Vista
Connecting and Extending the Microsoft Office Client Applications
Building Key Business Applications on the 2007 Microsoft Office Server Platform

Related blog post: Ready for a New Day Recap

Search Engine Strategies 2006 Conference and Expo

December 2006 - Chicago, IL

SES is promoted as the premier event for search engine marketing and optimization. While there I took part in numerous presentations from search engine optimization fundamentals to working with dynamic web sites and social networks. Here is a quick list of the session I attended:

Search Engine Friendly Design
Landing Page Testing and Tuning
Fun With Dynamic Web Sites
Successful Site Architecture
Images and Search Engines
Flash and Search Engines
CSS, AJAX, Web 2.0 and Search Engines
Blog and Feed (RSS) Search SEO

Related blog post: Search Engine Strategies 2006 Recap

Web-Based Projects

Segmentation Site Platform - Ruby on Rails, CSS, xHTML, XML, PostgreSQL, Mongrel

Created a platform to replace multiple one-off applications that would deliver varying products and incentives to customers in an effort to increase conversion rates.
Utilized the Rails Plugin architecture and created drop-in Memetrics multi-variable testing and Address Scrubbing modules that can be used in future Rails projects.
Wrote a custom Mongrel Handlers to add streaming capability to an XML feed.

Leapfrog Online Promotions (Multiple Applications) - Ruby on Rails, CSS, xHTML, XML, PostgreSQL, Mongrel

Enhanced administrative functionality to allow product owners to create and update order and product data in real time.
Generated on-demand reports for Orders Placed/Returned, Collected/Refunded Tax Breakdowns by State, Customer Service Dispositions.
Integrated with third-party services to perform multi-variable testing, generate dynamic rebate forms, and handle payment transactions.

MyEasyRewards - PHP, CSS, xHTML, JavaScript, MySQL, Python

Implemented the design and back-end functionality of the web site. This included converting PowerPoint design mockups into functioning xHTML/CSS.
Created an automation script to process user information along the fulfillment path.

SPSS Collateral Library - ColdFusion, CSS, HTML, SQL Server, IIS

Developed a database driven application that provides salesmen with immediate access to hundreds of documents to help a customer make a decision regarding SPSS products.
Used Windows Integrated Authentication settings in IIS for access to the administrative portion of the application. Authentication process tested with Internet Explorer 6 and Apple Safari.

SPSS CSS Style Changeover - ColdFusion, CSS, HTML, JavaScript

Initiated and implemented a complete redesign of the corporate web site. This included completely redesigning the SPSS.com style sheet, taking advantages of the CSS 2.1 specifications to move the corporate site from a table-based layout to a CSS based layout reducing the load time and storage on the corporate server.
Performed integrity checks with Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla Firefox on the Windows platform and Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer 5.x on Apple OSX.

SPSS Events - ColdFusion, CSS, HTML, SQL Server, Microsoft Excel

Created a form based event management system with integrated Direct Marketing campaign tracking for WebEx events.
Added an administrative Data Pull page that exports registration information from a Microsoft SQL Server to an Excel spreadsheet.
Globalized the Events section by creating template pages that load the appropriate country events and localized strings in response to user selections.
Added live parsing of the SPSS Events RSS feed to the United States Events listings.

HawkTour - HTML, Flash, CSS, JavaScript, XML

http://www.hawktour.net - Redesigned the team web site; including changes to the layout, content, and style sheet. Created a new Flash introduction on the main index (since replaced) and a Flash teaser movie to demonstrate the capabilities of the HawkTour project.
Created a web-based demo using XML for data storage, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for DOM manipulation on top of an HTML shell.

Software Projects

HawkTour - Java, Object-Orientated Design

Worked with a team to create a mobile - user guided - context aware, content delivery system utilizing the benefits of pervasive computing. Team leader for Mapping and Presentation teams.
Worked extensively on the mapping system. Implemented coordinate system translations to convert between sections of an image to display and the available size of the drawing panel.

SSH Client - Python (Command Line, Windows specific)

Developed a working SSH Client from the Internet-Drafts of the SSH Version 2.0 Transport Layer, Authentication, and Connection Protocols.
Implemented the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange method for secure session key generation and the RC4 (arcfour) Stream Cipher for secure data communication.
Included an implementation of the SHA-1 Secure Hash Algorithm and the MD5 Message Digest algorithm.
PDF copy of the Python SSH Client code

SPSS XML Differ - Java, Object-Orientated Design

Created a language independent XML diffing program for SPSS generated XML files. By being language independent, the program allows for comparison between baseline XML files in one language and test files in another (i.e. English baselines and Traditional Chinese test files).
Using object-oriented technology, I was able to create a basic XML differ that could be extended to compare XML files generated by any application allowing for its use across the company.

SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys 2.0 - QA Analysis

Performed general user interface and installation/upgrade migration testing.

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