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Robert Mykland |
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Curriculum Vitae |
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Palm OS Information Page |
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Technical Resources Page |
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Curriculum Vitae |
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Address: 4701 Soquel Drive Suite A, Soquel, CA 95073 |
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Voice/Fax: (831) 462-4268 |
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Internet: mykland@mindspring.com |
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Skills |
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A proven record of staffing and leading winning teams. |
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A proven record of managing projects from conception to delivery. Have managed 24 major projects to successful completion. |
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Design experience in object oriented design (11 years), MS-Windows applications (10 years), real-time embedded systems (8 years), network servers and "groupware" (7 years), SCSI hosts and targets (7 years), UNIX applications (6 years), multitasking and multiprocessing kernels (5 years), motion control devices (5 years), Palm OS (4 years), web and internet applications (4 years), MacOS (4 years), ODBC (3 years), DCOM and ActiveX (2 years). |
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Software languages: C/C++ (16 years), Pascal (4 years), Java/J++ (2 years), Lisp (1 year), and a dozen other high level languages; assembler: 80x86 (10 years), 680x0 (9 years), 6803 (4 years), 29K (3 years), PowerPC (2 years), R3000, Z80, 8051, and several other RISC and CISC processors and microcontrollers. |
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Hardware design experience with 80x86 (2 years), 680x0 (2 years), 6803 (3 years); PC, AT, Microchannel, and NuBus designs; precision op-amp circuits (2 years); high power bipolar and MOSFET switching amplifiers. |
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Training experience: One of four people worldwide certified by Palm Computing to teach their developer seminars; one of three people certified to deliver advanced level training in Computer Associates' Opal programming tool. |
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Author of the book Palm OS Programming from the Ground Up, Osborne/McGraw-Hill 2000 as well as numerous professional articles and specialized technical writing assignments. |
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May 1998 to Present: |
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President/Owner |
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Mykland Engineering, Soquel, CA |
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Software engineering and management consulting firm |
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Our contracts to date: |
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For Lick Observatory, managing the completion of the software component of the $2.6M Echellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI), the first of the second generation instruments for the Keck 2 telescope, the largest optical telescope in the world. |
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For Pulse MD, a framework for developing medical applications in Palm OS. |
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For Zayante, Inc. (owners of the FireWire specification) management consulting on business infrastructure: web presence, intellectual property & source control, problem tracking, etc. |
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For Evaluex, a Palm OS application for real estate appraisal automation. |
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For Applied Physics Systems, Inc. (leading manufacturer of superconducting magnetometers), development of a user interface for their latest product, a high speed magnetometer sensor |
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For Computer Associates, Inc. engineering, technical, and training services involving their Jasmine and Opal products. |
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February 1997 to May 1998: |
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Technology Director |
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Computer Associates/Infresco Corporation, Sarasota, FL |
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Manufacturer of host and database integration and presentation software |
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Chief Architect responsible for the development of three products as part of Opal, which is an object-based system integration tool: Opal Database, Opal's database integration component; Opal Server, Opal's mid-tier server product; and Opal Mobile, the Opal development environment for the Palm OS. Review and hiring responsibility for a staff of twenty. Delivered these three products within very aggressive time and budget guidelines. These products are object oriented and are written in C++. The product supports 16 and 32 bit Windows clients, Windows NT servers, and Palm OS 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. |
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May 1996 to February 1997: |
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Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering |
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Mindwave Technologies, Inc., Sarasota, FL |
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Manufacturer of database tools for the World Wide Web |
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Responsible for all engineering and development related matters in the company. Successfully sold the company to Infresco Corporation, a division of Computer Associates, in February 1997. Delivered two generations of competitive products into a rapidly growing and highly competitive market within an eight month time frame. Our products were bundled into Computer Associates' Opal product. These products were written in C++ and ran on 16 and 32 bit Windows clients and Windows NT servers. |
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June 1993 to May 1996 |
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Director of Engineering |
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Diagsoft, Inc., Tampa, FL |
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Manufacturer of the QAPlus line of diagnostics for personal computers |
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Responsible for the engineering of all non-Intel-based products, including Peace of Mind for the Macintosh and custom work for Radius, Power Computing, DEC, and others. Delivered 3 products to manufacturing, performing significant work on them myself, within 10% of the projected due date, on extremely aggressive schedules. Advised IBM, DEC, HP, Apple, and Radius on personal computer hardware design and quality control issues. Extensively researched cutting edge technologies such as the PowerPC, PCI, PReP, CHRP, Open Firmware, FireWire, PCMCIA, SCSI III, and MP. Development was primarily for the Power |
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Macintosh in C++ using Metrowerks CodeWarrior. |
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March 1992 to May 1993: |
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Director of Technical Operations |
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Computer Curriculum Corporation |
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Manufacturer of Educational Multimedia Software and Systems |
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Review and hiring responsibility for a systems engineering staff of eight. This staff is the top-tier problem solving organization, dealing with the most difficult problems encountered in over 5,000 Novell and AppleShare networks internationally. Managed a budget of $1.1 million. Built a Sales Engineering group that helped to land over $30 million in new business in the first six months of its existence. Built an in-house training program for the field service force that was rated an unqualified success by field service management. Streamlined field service methodologies with modern tools and diagnostics. Streamlined and centralized the dissemination of technical documents to the field. |
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March 1989 to February 1992: |
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Calera Recognition Systems, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA |
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Manufacturer of Optical Character Recognition Software and Systems |
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Engineering Manager |
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Review and hiring responsibility for a development staff of five and a systems administration group of two. Delivered 12 products to manufacturing, all within 10% of |
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the original due date, most on very aggressive schedules. All projects were within budget guidelines. Managed development of WordScan Plus, a retail software-only |
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OCR product for Windows 3.0 that was awarded the PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award, the PC Week Analyst's Choice Award, and a Byte Award of |
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Distinction. Managed the development of WordScan Plus for the Macintosh, a Macintosh product that was rated four and a half mice by MacUser Magazine. |
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Design Verification Manager |
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Review and hiring responsibility for a design verification group of sixteen and a systems administration group of two. Responsible for software quality assurance, |
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documentation quality assurance, and source control for all products. Built this group from two to a peak staff of sixteen working in two shifts testing four products in |
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parallel. Instituted strict engineering scheduling in the department. Developed a relational database to store test algorithms and their results, and for comparing these |
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results to identify the most effective tests. Developed a method for numerically predicting when a product will be ready to manufacture based on bug detection and |
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correction trends. Responsible for generating successful test procedures for Calera's first software-only product, first foreign language product, and first Macintosh |
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product, which was rated five mice by MacUser Magazine. |
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Senior Software Engineer / Project Leader |
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Designed the fastest OCR engine in the world. This device is capable of recognizing up to 28,000 words per minute. Led a team of seven on this project and was the chief architect. The original two card version was delivered in six months. Wrote the multiprocessing protocol which synchronized the four AMD 29K-based recognition boards and the 68020-based I/O board (5,000 lines of C, 68020 assembler, and 29K assembler). Ported the recognition code to the 29K based recognition engines (400,000 lines of C) and wrote a new I/O interface for this code (5,000 lines of C and 29K assembler). Wrote the real-time kernel and support |
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functions for the 68020-based I/O board (10,000 lines of C and 68020 assembler). |
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Designed firmware for a Macintosh peripheral device. This was a midrange 68020-based OCR engine with a SCSI interface. Wrote the real-time kernel and target SCSI driver for this product (5,000 lines of C and 68020 assembler). |
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Designed firmware for a PS/2 card. A retail Microchannel OCR board. Wrote the boot ROM for this 68020-based card and the install program for the product (5,000 lines of C, 80x86 assembler, and 68020 assembler). |
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November 1987 to February 1989: |
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ViewStar Corporation, Berkeley, CA |
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Manufacturer of Document Storage, Retrieval, and Workflow Systems |
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Staff Systems Engineer |
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Designed an optical mass storage server. The operating environment for this server is MS- DOS and NETBIOS compatible networks. Workstations communicate bidirectionally with the server via NETBIOS. Delivered on time on a demanding schedule. Selected and qualified WORM drive and WORM jukebox vendors. |
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Wrote file management software that works on SCSI CCS compatible WORM drives and beats MS-DOS 3.3 hard disk speeds for files up to 500K. The jukeboxes required significant real-time control code to interleave disk access and robotic movement. This server was 25,000 lines of code written in C, Lisp, and 80x86 assembler. |
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Designed a large format electrostatic print server. This server handled A to E sized images. This server was 10,000 lines of C, Lisp, and 80x86 assembler. |
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August 1983 to October 1987: |
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Compumotor Corporation (Parker-Compumotor), Petaluma, CA |
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Manufacturer of Motion Control Systems |
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Software and Electrical Engineer |
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Designed first generation digital servo drives. These products, a brushed and a brushless drive, were the first commercially available all-digital servo systems. Compumotor had the opportunity to break into the closed loop motion control market provided a prototype brushed servo drive could be produced from scratch in two months. Worked very long hours to meet this deadline. Developed the single point tuning algorithm which allows customers to tune a drive in minutes instead of hours. Designed the controller board hardware and firmware (10,000 lines of 6803 assembler); adapted the 200V 15A MOSFET amplifier board from another design, arbitrated the motor selection process, and trained repair personnel on how to troubleshoot the drive. |
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Designed an automated manufacturing engine. This product allows you to draw a picture of an object using AutoCAD and uses this input to direct a lathe or similar device to cut that object out of a raw block of material. Five motion control boards plugged into an IBM PC/XT class chassis arbitrate among themselves while contouring in up to five user-definable dimensions. Designed the coprocessor board hardware and firmware (15,000 lines of C, 8085 assembler, and 80x86 assembler). Designed the industrially hardened package. Qualified vendors for the system components. Installed the first two units. |
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Designed an industrially hardened indexer. Designed the fully optoisolated hardware, wrote the firmware in 8088 assembler, and designed the convection cooled package which had to survive a 60C ambient using 70C parts. Oversaw the manufacturing startup. |
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Education |
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B.A., Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1983. |
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Hobbies |
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-Founder of the Art and Technology Society, a 200 member international organizationdedicated to exploring and acting on the synergy of art and technology. |
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-Founder of The Rocket Project, a 20 person organization dedicated to demonstratingthe economic feasibility of space colonization by launching a satellite into orbit |
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using less than $10,000 in commercially available components. |
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- I also enjoy reading, martial arts, home improvement, and backpacking. |
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