Cristian PRUNDEANU
Software Engineering Manager
Sw Architect and Technical Team Lead

cristian@prundea.nu
http://cristian.prundea.nu

*** What I can do for you
* I have the experience and knowledge to lead a team and drive a project from idea stage all the way through planning, development, testing, global deployment and maintenance.
* I can architect and execute embedded Linux, mobile, and cloud-based applications and high reliability, data intensive solutions. I understand and can lead projects in the full range from UI for cloud management apps to internal architecture to hardware interfacing firmware.
* I can communicate effectively both up and down, design and document workflows and APIs, act as IC or PM as needed, and deliver development, testing and devops infrastructure. I understand low latency, secure network communication and distributed data processing.

*** Recent experience
As a Principal Application Engineer with Arm, I led development and deployment of custom and green field IoT solutions, secure device and data management for large customers (including secure boot and over-the-air updates) and integrating our embedded edge gateway services in Linux-centric environments. I also led a robotics research project for exploring indoor SLAM approaches.

At Qualcomm, as Software Lead I designed and delivered an embedded Linux networking framework (userspace and some kernel) for intelligent gateways (QoS, data collection, field updates).

Before that, I was involved in leading low latency networking projects and real time communication.

*** What I love to work on
* Project architecture and dev team lead; particularly interested in C/C++ cross-competency projects (IoT, ground and aerial robotics, ML/AI, AR/VR, networked swarms, 3D vision, etc.)
* Scripting infrastructure and glue/tools in bash

*** Why should you pick me?
* Motivation - the greatest known factor to high productivity and output quality. My work is my passion (and robotics in particular has always been my favorite field). This drives me further and better than anything else to deliver outstanding results.

* Experience. I started writing software while in 7th grade. Many years and a BSCS degree later, I haven’t stopped learning and working to expand and improve my abilities. I have been in roles requiring management and technical leadership for more than 15 years, and can foster inter-team collaboration due to my familiarity with areas adjacent to software.

* Attitude. I believe in hard work, attention to detail and leading by example. I don’t shy away from any challenge. I value team multipliers (training, creating tools, automation, docs, etc.) and drive a positive environment resulting in solid and productive teamwork.

*** What else I can do
* Software Architecture and Project Management
* Software Engineering and Development
    Operating Systems: Linux, Windows, IoT/RTOS/embedded variants
    Languages: C/C++ (expert), Shell/bash (expert), Lua (very good, would need to refresh), HTML/JS/CSS (very good), Python (good), Ruby (good and enjoy using it), SQL (enough to get things done), ASM (very good);
    able to quickly learn any language, whether object oriented or low level/specialized
* Tools, Libraries: Git, Qt, Redis, Gerrit/Jenkins, Jira
* Scripting, Build Automation, Continuous Integration, DevOps
* Embedded Systems, Real-Time Applications and Firmware
* High Availability / Critical Systems, Data Intensive Workloads
* Secure Network Communications; Data Encryption
* Small Database Design; Data Analysis and Distributed Data Processing
* Low Latency Network Design and Administration
* Hardware and PCB Prototyping (design, execution and testing)
* Fluent in English, German, Romanian; also French speaker
* Related interests: Robotics, RC/unmanned aviation, 3D Vision, Augmented and Virtual Reality, AI learning

*** Education and Awards
* Bachelor’s Degree (BSCS), 2000
  “Politehnica” University Timișoara, Romania
  Major: Computer Science, Software and Hardware

* Military training: Officer Rank, 2004
  Officer Academy for Communications, IT and Electronic Warfare
  Romanian Branch of NATO Army, Sibiu, Romania

* English speaker's certificate, advanced level
  Soros IHLS in Timișoara, Romania

* German speaker's diploma (Sprachdiplom), highest level, 1995
  Ministry of Culture Germany
  Tested at graduation from the "N. Lenau" Theoretical German High School

*** Experience and Work History
* 04/2017 – 01/2022: Principal Application Engineer. Arm / Pelion, Austin, TX
Architected and executed green field reference applications to showcase usage of cloud-based IoT device and data management in multiple verticals (led design and execution for mechanical and electronics, firmware modules, promo video production, and integration of edge gateway into custom solutions). Coordinated inter-team effort (hardware, cloud, Mbed OS, docs, sales teams) to develop and deploy reference IoT designs.
Designed and helped oversee Arm’s hardware prototyping workshop. Pioneered 3D printing at Arm for IoT device enclosure prototyping and small volume manufacturing. Led research project for robotic SLAM (indoor mapping and location tracking).
Development Lead for various components of a custom IoT edge gateway framework (embedded client, secure FOTA, custom BLE protocol translators, implementation of LwM2M standards, watchdog mechanism, cloud side stress testing).
Delivered custom solutions for large corporate customers (build/deploy framework and server configuration for managed apt repo, secure network transactions, MacOS build system, CI and test automation). Served as Engineering Point of Contact for Swedish customer ABB (led design and implementation of proxy traversal and authentication, secure containers).

* 09/2011 – 04/2017: Staff Software Engineer, Software Lead. Qualcomm Atheros, Austin, TX
Software Lead for the Smart Gateway Team (embedded Linux firmware Intelligent Gateways with “StreamBoost” dynamic QoS and data collection, using OpenWRT).
Architected and led development for StreamBoost internal messaging and several user space components (master controller, service state machine, REST API backend, flow management, bandwidth measurement, data persistence) and a sample code framework to accelerate new component development. Contributed major improvements in performance, stability, UI, and release quality. Lead the full documentation effort for StreamBoost. Architected and deployed distributed data processing tools in Python and multiple-repo build system with web management.
Designed company-wide software development workflow and cross-team interactions.
Engineering PoC for any StreamBoost related topics from several major router OEMs (DLink, NetGear, Zyxel, TPLink). Co-architected board farm used for automated testing (now adopted by software development teams across the company).
Led inter-team collaboration with external customer teams and the Qualcomm Linux team to provide support and Linux kernel networking and driver code for partner IoT device development (like the Google WiFi meshed network product).

* 06/2009 – 09/2011: Senior Software Engineer, Team Lead. Bigfoot Networks, Austin, TX
Architected and led development of main Windows application suite to monitor and control the Linux-based RTOS running on the gaming NIC product line, including sub-projects (standalone networking and performance monitoring application, build system automation, installers for main product line). Redesigned and implemented new revision control (using Git) and software repository infrastructure.

* 09/2006 – 01/2009: Senior Software Engineer. NetStreams, Austin, TX
Managed remote team for design and implementation of the RTOS audio subsystem (hardware drivers, data streaming and processing, input-to-network and network-to-speaker audio data paths) for the IP Video flagship product line.
Redesigned the network synchronization module, with vast performance improvements. Developed the system’s networked GUI in Lua.
Implemented software biquadratic filter for digital networked speakers, using C. Lua proof of concept for an authenticated Internet radio (vTuner) client.

* 12/2000 – 09/2006: Software Architect, Design, Consulting. Self Employed
Software projects in 3D graphics and architectural design (CAD), software security, hardware-based IP protection, data encryption, and communication. Responsible for project planning, quality specifications and resource management. Remotely maintained client’s corporate network with Linux and Windows servers. Designed corporate web sites. 

* 02/2002 – 08/2005: Software Engineer, Network Administrator. A-Soft SRL, Romania
(as part of Saratoga Group Romania) Continued the Linux/Network administrator position at Saratoga. Additionally, was assigned software projects for large clients such as Magnum Germany, Bosch, Voith and Volkswagen. Areas covered include industrial applications (sensor testing and monitoring), hardware interfacing, production cycle management and hardware component driver development.

* 10/1999 – 04/2001: Software Engineer. JF Polisoft SRL, Romania
Engineering software projects in the 3D animation/graphics field. Also responsible for software testing and quality assurance of the developed projects.

* 04/1997 – 02/2002: Sr Linux & Network Administrator. Saratoga Computer Networks, Romania
Set up and maintained Internet backbone and access points; set up the nation-wide first laser network link; handled escalated customer support; designed, developed and deployed Linux database and software projects, to improve customer handling, improve security and Windows-Linux network connectivity, and automate system administration/monitoring and billing cycle.

* 08/1995 – 07/2000: Intern, Software Engineering. “Politehnica” University Timișoara, Romania
Designed and implemented a windowed event-based UI system, to be used as a C++ library. Built a robotics subsystem to calculate possible moving paths based on environment mapping. Implemented the first version of an interactive OCR system used for handwriting. Architected and implemented a graphical network mapping tool supporting multiple device types and groups. Implemented a scheduling and management system for on-call staff distribution.

* 01/1991 – 07/1995: Programmer, Contracting. Schnell SRL, Romania
Created a sorting application for the management of small user databases. Worked on various hardware design projects (layout of electrical interconnections and PCB). Developed a character printer driver for Motorola 68K processor machines, to provide Romanian alphabet compatibility.

*** Projects and Hobbies
* Top 0.2% StackOverflow contributor - http://stackoverflow.com/users/2245910
* Experience with woodworking and 3D printing (aside from leading the 3D printing initiative at work, I’ve built my own 3D printer from parts and successfully printed working, pre-assembled hinges, mechanical assemblies and various other objects)
* Enjoy Solidworks design and modeling (designed and 3D printed/laser cut various small projects, such as a high speed geared spinning top, a spring-powered concept toy car, and a light-up chess set)
* Developing an innovative keyboard-less customer management system for the longest outdoor shooting range in the Waco area (customers check in and out using only their driver license)
* Developed a kids’ game for practicing basic math, which works on Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and Mac from a single code base
* Developed a versatile RC auto pilot ecosystem designed from the ground up (including PCB layout and in-house production)
* Developed a cloud hybrid storage solution with end-to-end encryption and built-in redundancy
* Developed multi-platform apps for stock trading (portfolio, ticker graphing, day trading calculations)
* Developed web app for competitive Number Sense training and used it to mentor winning middle school students for PSIA competitions
* Set up (physical installation + configuration) of voice-controlled home automation, using a ZWave network and Home Assistant on an RPi controller
* Configured router-level network filtering and remote access for home network
* Long term Minecraft server maintainer/admin