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Resume/CV: Justin Mason

Web: http://jmason.org/ -- Email: cv08@jmason.org

OVERVIEW

I combine software development best practices commensurate with over 15 years of professional experience, with extensive "real-world" systems administration, internet security, UNIX and open source knowledge.

Specialities include: Perl, UNIX, Linux, open source, dynamic languages, anti-spam, anti-phishing, adversarial classification, C, C++, HTTP, SMTP, mail, internet security, EC2, S3.

SKILL DETAILS

Programming languages, libraries and frameworks:

Standards and protocols:

Internet-oriented software development:

Software engineering techniques:

Software development techniques:

Systems administration and infrastructure:

EXPERIENCE

Project Management Committee Member, Apache SpamAssassin Project (July 2004 - present): Deciding the architecture, development, goals and direction of the open-source Apache SpamAssassin project. see http://spamassassin.apache.org .

SDE, Amazon.com (Dublin, Ireland) (Jul 2009 - present): Writing software to automate large-scale network deployment and operation.

Software Engineer, NewBay (Dublin, Ireland) (Dec 2008 - Jul 2009): Working on server farm deployment automation, and large-scale object storage.

Software Engineer, PutPlace (Dublin, Ireland) (Nov 2007 - Dec 2008): Scaling PutPlace's solutions using Amazon's EC2 and S3 web services; implemented a one-click deployment system to deploy fully production-ready grids of EC2-hosted servers.

Technical Advisory Board Member, MailChannels Corporation (2007 - present): Advising MailChannels on anti-spam issues on an infrequent basis.

VP, Apache SpamAssassin (July 2006 - July 2008): Chairman of the Apache SpamAssassin Project Management Committee, and a vice-president of the Apache Software Foundation.

Consultant, Vast.com, Inc. (telecommuting) (Feb 2006 - Nov 2007): Implemented a machine-learning classifier to differentiate between web pages of different vertical markets at high speed, accurately; developed new scaling code for the Vast backend using Amazon's web services (EC2, S3, SQS and SimpleDB).

SSE, McAfee, Inc. (telecommuting) (Dec 2002 - Feb 2006): Working for McAfee's enterprise anti-spam department, developing the McAfee SpamAssassin SDK, based on the Deersoft SpamAssassin engine with proprietary enhancements, and on backend systems used to generate and publish high-accuracy anti-spam rulesets. This was the anti-spam software used in McAfee's high-end groupware and appliance product line.

Consultant, Deersoft (telecommuting) (Sep 2002 - Dec 2002): Commercial version of SpamAssassin, providing proprietary features and speed and efficiency increases. My code quintupled the speed of the core SpamAssassin engine, through use of a more efficient parallel string-matching algorithm. Deersoft was acquired by McAfee in Dec 2002.

Maintainer, SpamAssassin (June 2001 - July 2004): Creator and maintainer of the open-source SpamAssassin spam filter, http://spamassassin.org . I released the first version of SpamAssassin in 2001. See the "OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE" section below for more details.

Head of Software Engineering, Netnote International (Dublin, Ireland) (May 2000 - Sep 2002): Reorienting the "Webnote" internet appliance product towards use as a public internet kiosk; design and implementation of telemetry, new metering systems such as decrementing smartcards and coin- and bill-payment, and kiosk network management systems. Porting the software from QNX to Linux, using GTK+/GNOME and some KDE elements. Built up to a 5-person software team.

Chief Architect, Netnote International (Dublin, Ireland) (Jan 1999 - May 2000): Design and implementation of the software for the "Webnote", a low-cost internet appliance; embedded system work using C on QNX, embedding a HTML 3.2 web browser, touchscreen support, TCP/IP and PPP, and a graphical OS into 4Mb of flash memory space. UI design was a major factor in this product, as it was aimed at first-time computer users.

Senior Software Engineer, Iona Technologies (Dublin, Ireland) (1997 - Jan 1999): Design and implementation of the "Wonderwall" firewall proxy server for Iona's product range. This product allowed CORBA invocations across the internet and through internet firewalls, while allowing firewall administrators to selectively block or permit access to specific objects or methods. It was implemented in C++ on Solaris, Linux and Windows, incorporated its own CORBA IIOP implementation, HTTP server, and SSL support. Secure programming techniques were used throughout. I also designed and implemented HTTP tunnelling and SSL support in OrbixWeb, Iona's Java implementation of the CORBA standard.

Systems Administrator, Iona Technologies (Dublin, Ireland) (1993 - 1997): I was Iona's sysadmin while the company grew from 10 people to over 150; by the latter stage I was head of a 3-person team. The position involved looking after the physical network cabling, running the UNIX systems and networks, dealing with helpdesk issues, setting up a multi-site email network with SMTP, ensuring the uptimes of the core servers, backups, ensuring user details, mail spools and shared filesystems were available across the range of OSes used, and running Iona's main internet servers, net connection and firewall.

Software Engineer, Iona Technologies (Dublin, Ireland) (1992 - 1993): Joined Iona Technologies as one of their first employees, implementing a Motif-based GUI for a UNIX printer driver in C on SunOS 4.1.1.

OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE

In addition to the commercial software development experience detailed above, I am the author of a number of free / open-source software projects.

Apache SpamAssassin, a mail filter to detect and block unsolicited bulk email. Since I created the first version in 2001, it has been a runaway success. By now it is deployed by thousands of sites protecting somewhere around 100 million users world-wide, is the #1 open-source spam filter, winner of several awards including the Anti-Spam category in Datamation's Product of the Year 2005 and 2006 Awards, an InfoWorld Bossie Award in 2007, and a Linux New Media Award 2006. It is probably the most widely-used spam filter in the world. More info at http://spamassassin.apache.org .

PLP (the Public Line Printer system). A drop-in replacement for the UNIX "lpr" line printer spooler system, with features oriented towards providing support for networked printers, and improved security. I took over maintainance of this from its original author, and updated and supported it for a year and a half; during my stewardship it eventually had over 10,000 users in over 100 sites, including BASF, the Burlington Coat Factory, and McMurdo Base, Antarctica. PLP was included in SuSE Linux, among other Linux distributions, for several years.

Sitescooper, an application which downloads news sites on the web and converts them into a format more suitable for reading on handheld computers. Written in Perl. More info at http://sitescooper.taint.org .

WebMake, an XML-based content management system for websites, written in Perl. More info at http://webmake.taint.org .

IPC::DirQueue, a disk-based many-to-many task distribution queue module for Perl.

Spicylinks, an automated summarising weblog aggregator for link-oriented weblogs, in Perl.

AFFILIATIONS

I am a Member of the Apache Software Foundation, Vice President of the Apache SpamAssassin project, and a registered developer on the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Until last year I was a member of the IEEE and ACM.

PUBLICATIONS

INTERESTS AND OTHER PROJECTS

My interests include: SCUBA diving (PADI Advanced Diver certified), reading, graphic design, copyright law, free software, and the ongoing evolution of the Internet and the web. I moderate a number of internet communities, such as the Irish Internet Users' forum, an internet mailing list for discussion of the issues surrounding internet use in Ireland, Planet Antispam, a weblog syndication system for bloggers writing about anti-spam issues, and Twit.ie, an aggregator for the Irish Twitter-using community. I write a weblog at http://taint.org/ , which won Best Technology Blog in the 2009 Irish Blog Awards.

EDUCATION

1989 - 1990: BA degree in Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; did not complete degree.

1983 - 1989: Holy Faith / De La Salle College, Skerries, Co. Dublin, Ireland; received Leaving Certificate with 5 honours, 3 passes.