An innovative and highly motivated individual with a passion for information retrieval and visualization.
Interests include making tools and services easier for everyone to use and integration of disparate resources.
Work Experience
May-August 2007 internship
- Took a complex and novel maps feature from vague concept to a complete specification and a functional prototype
- Performed data mining and statistical analysis on a database of all United States yellow pages listings to better understand the data and surface interesting and useful information
Program Manager Intern, Windows Live Search’s Instant Answers
May-August 2006 internship
- Major project was the creation of a new, complex instant answer
- Initiated new practices and otherwise contributed ideas, research, and work towards other areas within instant answers and related teams
Software Design Engineer, A9.com Inc. (search technologies)
September-December 2005 internship
- Major contributor to OpenSearch, a burgeoning Internet standard for search syndication
- Wrote OpenSearch documentation and tools, begun engaging the developer community, and otherwise evangelized the technology, now used by Google, Microsoft, and others
Associate Software Engineer, Feedster Inc. (feed search engine)
January-May 2005 internship
- Implemented a website-wide redesign using standards-compliant code, improved the user experience, wrote/revised copy, added features, and responded to user feedback
- Participated as an active member of the team, contributing ideas and aiding in decisions
Self-Employed, Fagan Finder (search and Internet tools)
2001-2005
- Highly acclaimed by experts and casual Internet users; included in various publications (books, magazines, etc.)
- Features included a meta-translator, search engine blog, and web page investigator; profitable from 2003 until the end of active development
Other Experience
- UWhub, an search engine for the University of Waterloo; self-initiated (May 2005-May 2006)
- Puzzlepieces, a personal weblog (2002-present); actively reading and searching through blogs since 2001
People and Communication Skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with a strong ability to get along with others and work as a part of a team
- Participates well as either as a group member, a leader, or working under someone else’s direction
- Aptitude for translating complex and/or technological concepts and presenting them so that others can understand them
Computer Skills and Internet Knowledge
- Web development including PHP, (X)HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XSLT, and integration of all of these
- Beyond standards, to usability and accessibility
- Recent or past programming includes Visual Basic, Java, and C#; experience with several operating systems and familiar with various office, graphics, and other software
- Expert in web searching and the search industry, weblogs/syndication, and other Internet resources; knowledge kept up-to-date on a daily basis
- Interested in structured data such as GIS, people, events, and their intersections
Education
- Candidate for Bachelor of Science, Honours Science and Business, at the University of Waterloo
- On the Dean’s Honours List for most completed semesters