Projects

Current Projects:

Django-YaBa:

You're currently looking at it. The premise of this blog application is for people to be able to have a decent option for blogging that's not as bloated as Wordpress or MovableType. I've searched and I've searched, but finding a decent, full featured, blog appliction written in Python (with or without Django) that covers the majority of

what WP does just doesn't seem to exist. Django-Yaba seeks out to resolve the gaping hole. Will it ever actually fill it completely? Who knows, but I'll have fun in the meantime.

Status: In progress

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JIRA Remote Manager:

Much like Confluence Remote Manager, this will instead wrap the JIRA Remote API. For those not in the know, JIRA is a bug tracking software application from Atlassian. I don't plan on wrapping this with pyGTK this time around, and instead intend to keep things simple. I'm just going to build a simple command line tool to do the job. If there's a clamoring for some form of GUI, maybe, but I'm not sure. Building the GUI, ugly as it was, for CRM was painful.

Status: Concept/Prototyping

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HateOnYourJob:

This is an application I built using Python and Django. The premise was based around an article I read, where people were tweeting stupid things on Twitter, and getting fired for it. Note to all you people out there, if your boss follows you on Twitter, don't make fun of him on Twitter. He'll probably notice, just a thought. Anyways, HOYJ was built as an anonymous place for people to hate on their job, without worrying about getting canned. The design was done by my friend Mike at The Able Few. He did an amazing job on it!

Status: Beta

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Past Projects:

Confluence Remote Manager:

This was an application I built with Python and pyGTK to wrap up the majority of Confluence's remote API. You can manage users, content, and search your Wiki all without ever opening a browser. Makes a great troubleshooting tool for those times you break a page, and it can't render anymore. Just load the markup via XMLRPC, and undo whatever nastiness you did! Also great for bulk adding users via CSV.

Status: Complete (enough)

My Resume

Mark Rogersf4nt@f4ntasmic.com

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Skills

• Proficient in Linux operating system (Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, Debian)
• Proficient in a variety of scripting languages (Perl, Python, BASH)
• Comfortable with C based programming languages
• Knowledgeable in Windows operating systems
• Exceptional customer service abilities
• Strong organiz
  
  ational skills
• Extensive knowledge of a wide variety of Linux and Open Source applications such as:
  
  • Apache Web Server
  • J2EE Containers: Resin, Tomcat, and Jetty
  • PHP Applications (Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)
  • Source Control: Git and Subversion
  • Python based applications
  • Database Servers: EnterpriseDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL

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Accomplishments

• Developed this site using Django. The code used to build this is available at GitHub openly, and is designed to be used by anyone. Please see my blog post about Django-YaBa.
• Developed Hate On Your Job using Django as well. For more information on it please see blog post titled "Hate On Your Job".
• Contributed code to the Pylot Project
• Developed a remote Confluence editor named Confluence Remote Manager using Python and PyGTK
• Created a variety of shell scripts to assist me in my day to day system administration life
• Created a Django based application to perform automated deployments of J2EE Applications. For more information please see "Django Simplifying Life"

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Education

Westwood College Bachelor of Science in Game Software Development Education experience included:

• Advanced Programming
• Cross-Platform Game Development
• 3D Game Engine Architecture
• Algortihm Analysis and Design
• Assembly Language
• Game Software Testing and Debugging
• Software Requirements and Design
• Team Product Development

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Work Experience

Imaginary Landscape, Chicago, Illinois - June 2009 to Current http://www.imagescape.com Developer

• My current role involves development with Python. We primarily specialize in making websites using the Django framework. However this does include various other technology and tasks such as:
  
  • Developing with the Python based framework, Paste.
  • Writing web scrapers to obtain content from other web based locations
  • Minor database administration
  • Planning development tasks, and projects

Contegix, St. Louis, Missouri - October 2007 to June 2009 http://www.contegix.com Technical Engineer:

• Currently working as a 'Shift Lead'. This includes leading, training, and managing a small group of engineers
• Troubleshoot a wide variety of customer server issues such as:
  
  • Applications not running properly
  • Dealing with traffic floods (DDoS)
  • Design solutions to help customers scale applications
  • Firewall Rules
• Install and configure applications for customers such as:
  
  • Apache Web Server
  • J2EE Containers: Resin, Tomcat, and Jetty
  • PHP Applications (Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)
  • Source Control: Git and Subversion
  • Python based applications
  • Database Servers: EnterpriseDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL
  • Atlassian applications (Confluence, JIRA, Bamboo, Crowd, etc)
  • LDAP Solutions: Fedora DS, OpenLDAP, ApacheDS

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Charter Communications, Fenton, Missouri - August 2007 to October 2007 http://www.charter.net Technician

• Perform cable installations in customer's homes.
• Installs include cable modems, digital TV, DVRS, and telephony
• Troubleshoot cable issues

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Dish Network, St. Charles, Missouri September 2006 - August 2007 http://htttp://www.dishnetwork.com Technician

• Install Satellite TV and Internet services in customer's home
• Worked with customers to determine best service options for them
• Extensive use of power tools for running cable
• Trained new technicians
• Troubleshoot non-working systems

About Me

Myself:

Hey, my name's Mark, but I often go by 'f4nt' in the online world. It's a really long story, so to cut it short, I used to really like a band name 'fantomas'. However, I was like 13 or 14 at the time, and thought l33t speak was freaking awesome. I was also lazy, and thought fantomas was far too long of a name, so I changed it to f4nt. Then after a few years of using it, and working at PlanetQuake where people got to know my name a bit, I was stuck with it.

Anyways, I'm a recent graduate of Westwood College Online, with a bachelors in Game Development and Software Programming. Oddly, you'd think with a degree like that I'd be avidly into game development right now, but on the contrary, I'm more into more 'boring' development lately. The Confluence Remote Manager is my latest project that I've been working on for instance. Wiki management via RPC doesn't sound quite as exciting as 3D game development, but oddly, it really is. I think I'd rather be a general programmer that develops small applications to fit small needs, rather than a niche developer for entertainment purposes. Call it philisophical if you will. Besides, I get to share as a 'boring' programmer, where everything in game development is locked up in proprietary code, patents, and NDAs.

Family:

I've been happily married to my wife Kristie for approximately 4 years now. I honestly would be ridiculously lost without her. I'd likely not have the job I do today, or the skills I have without her shoving me forward constantly. It's been a crazy trip so far, and I can only hope it goes on forever (or until she kicks it, and I remarry with some 18 year old, and buy myself a red convertible.. mid-life crisis ftw :)). Also we have 2 adorable cats, because kids take longer to potty train.

Work:

I recently workd for Contegix,who provides manage Linux dedicated hosting. I had the position of 'shift lead' over the other engineers. I was there for over a year and really enjoyed the work I did there. I was able to help customers with complex problems, developer solutions, write programs, create scripts, automate tasks, and play with cool tech all the time.

Now I work for Imaginary Landscape, which is a Python based web development company that mainly focuses on Django based applications. I moved from St. Louis up to Chicago in order to take on this job. At the time of this writing I've been with them for about a week, and it's been pretty amazing so far. It's my first real development job, so there's a helluva lot for me to take in still. That and I'm still getting acclimated to the city as well.

For more information, see my resume.

Contact Me:

I'm available via a myriad of means:

• Work Email: markr AT imagescape DOT com
• Personal Email: f4nt AT f4ntasmic DOT com
• Follow Me on Twitter