Who Should Microsoft Hire? Greg Ratajik!

EXPERIENCE:	9/2001 – Current - Senior Architect (CONFIDENTIAL) IPI IPI is a large insurance inspection company with a very small IT staff. That IT staff runs and develops all aspects of the company’s technology. My primary area of responsibility is all Web and Reporting development for the company. I architect, design, develop, deploy, maintain, and administer all of the various web sites for IPI. My work has included: Development of a new Audit system. I was the lead architect that designed the new system, and led the 6 person development team in the development of the software. Our quick execution on this system allowed us to enter a new market place, and has substantially increased our revenue over the last year. Development was in ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET, and .NET Web Services. Development and release of two .NET/C# web sites. Designed and developed a complex web-based reporting system that is the new standard reporting system for IPI. Developed a data-entry and management system for Field Staff. Both of these systems are being used as the basis of all future web development at IPI. These projects use ASP.NET, C#, ADO.NET, XML, and wrappers around a legacy COM middle-tier. Responsibility for the development of, and enhancements to, an existing ASP web site (VBScript, XML/XSLT, VB, C++, COM, ATL, and SQL Server). While portions of this work are given to other team members, I am ultimately responsible for the various web sites and perform most of the development tasks. Development and release of a Crystal-reports based web printing system, which results in dynamic PDF’s being displayed to the user. I used ASP, VBScript, ATL, Crystal Designer 8.5, and Crystal Enterprise 8.5 to develop this web-based system. Maintenance of several other systems, including a fat VB Client and a COM middle tier.

	10/1995 – 9/2001 - Chief Architect Affinity - Columbia, SC Titles included Lead Programmer, Systems Architect, Senior Systems Architect, and Chief Architect. While at Affinity, I was successful in many different roles, ranging from: a lone developer working on a project; being a team member on a medium size team; team lead of small to medium sized teams; and leading multiple teams on large projects. I had a track record of designing and developing high quality, innovative software, on time and to spec, as both a developer and team lead. I was very involved in the basic R&D and prototyping of the innovative new technology the company developed, led many of the Architectural directions the company took, and was very involved in leading and developing many software systems created at Affinity. Some of my many successes during the 6 years spent at Affinity include: R&D into a web-based loan system, using ASP, VB, Microsoft DNA/MSMQ/MTS, COM+, and SQL Server 7. This prototype system was used to explore a new way of doing web technology at Affinity, and served as the template for future web development projects. Developed and deployed a VB/Outlook 2000-based E-Mail Notification System. Development of an eCommerce product for closed-loop decisioning, using Visual C++ 6.0, MFC, ISAPI, and UDB. I was the lead Architect and developer on this small, three man team. We successfully built this B2B system, leveraging the existing lending system, allowing third-parties to obtain loan decisions via the internet. Development and deployment of a distributed, high-volume printing system. Used COM/DCOM, ATL, MFC, and Visual C++ 6.0. Development Lead and Senior Architect for the Citibank project. Developed a workflow sub-system using C++, ISAPI, and ODBC. Also managed the project, with a total of six team leads and 32 people reporting to me. Worked on the "NG" (next generation) project. I was trained and led by a trainer/consultant for 8 months in OO-methodologies and techniques. Use-cases, scenarios, object models, state diagrams and object interaction diagrams were used to construct a new distributed architecture. Development of the resulting prototype system was done in Visual C++ 5.0, based on the OMT model we created. Led a team of developers in the creation of a prototype for a Visual OAR Editor (the OAR is the language I created to develop Kiosk screens). Created a new prototype version of the Kiosk, to allow Affinity to sell Video Ad space on the ALM. This prototype added sound and video to the Kiosk, and was used at several trade shows to demo the new technology. Developed, from the ground up, an innovative Loan Kiosk System. This included the development of an initial prototype and proof of concept for the technology, the development of a new 4GL language for touch-screens on the Kiosk, development of the client software, and architectural and design involvement in the communications and server software. The success of this project drove the company for the next 6 years, both technically and financially. Two patents were based on this work (6,105,007- Automatic financial account processing system, and 5,870,721 - System and method for real time loan approval).

	8/1993 - 10/1995, Lead Programmer IBM/Keane - Boca Raton, FL (Dec’94 to Oct 95) Lead programmer, IBM POS/PSP Internal Tools. Wrote Several pieces of software, including: a Video Jukebox (used as a video Kiosk in the IBM Boca Lobby, and was shown at computer trade shows such as COMDEX); a distributed compile system, via TCP/IP; CMVC 2.4 modifications (C++); and GroupChat, a TCP/IP based chat program. Many of these projects began as research into new areas, yet ended up becoming company-sanctioned projects. (Nov’93 to Dec’94) Lead Programmer and Component Owner, in PSP OS/2 Development, for Fixtool (the OS/2 Corrective Service Facility. Fixtool is IBM’s software for applying fixes to OS/2, LAN Requester, LAN Server, DB2/2, and several other products)

	10/1991 - 8/1993 - Lead Programmer PMSC - Columbia, SC Responsible for OS/2, C, and PM development for V 1.0 of the Life Administrations System. Started as a junior programmer and ended leading a team of four ‘C’/OS/2 programmers to develop the project. Work included development of OS/2 PM dialogs, base architecture of a multi-platform client/server system, development of common API and function libraries, and integration of PC and mainframe modules.