Hi my name is Roman
Hi, I’m Roman, a software engineer with 4 years of industry experience and over 10 years of freelance development experience. I’ve honed my skills working for companies like Tesla and John Deere, specializing in embedded operating systems and automation scripts.
This is my blog where you will find software engineering career posts, SaaS ideas, open source projects, and an occasional book review.
Experience
Software Engineer at John Deere
December 2021 – June 2024
- Enabled Windows based dotnet tool to compile, run and test on Linux leveraging CMake
- Designed an in-house process to automate changelog procedures to eliminate merge conflicts — reducing release delays
- Improved pre-processor tool, utilizing Python and Regex, increasing input flexibility and build reliability
Vehicle Software Engineer at Tesla
Fall 2021 Internship
While at Tesla I had the pleasure of working on a vehicle firmware team. My primary tasks included adding core features and eliminating bugs in firmware validation software. Additionally I would validate over-the-air software update pipeline & firmware for vehicle control modules. I also participated in design & development of automation test suite for firmware validation with a goal of significantly reducing workload for my team members. In addition to my primary tasks — I’ve actively participated in coordinating software requirements with suppliers, utilizing Polarion, to overcome chip shortages.
Software Engineer at John Deere
Summer 2021 Internship
During my second summer with Deere I was a part of Core Technology Research & Development team for Agriculture & Turf Division. My primary task was to develop engine control module data analytics tool for detecting abnormalities in vehicle operation. Additionally, I’ve lead decision analysis process for selecting CAN bus gateway components and implementing the device. This gateway is needed to effectively evaluate purchased engines in test vehicles.
Summer 2020 Internship
Additionally I have…
Electronic Warfare Tech at California Air National Guard
March 2016 – Sep 2020
As an Electronic Warfare Technician at 129th Rescue Wing located at Moffett Federal Airfield, CA I have operated and maintained avionics electronic countermeasure systems on spec-ops aircraft. Part of my job entailed downloading & uploading of classified aircraft software, performing real-world threat testing, and troubleshooting variety of electronic systems in a time critical environment.
In addition, as a non-commissioned officer and an Airman Leadership School graduate, I have trained and supervised field service team members and oversaw a Motorcycle Safety Program for over 300 airmen.
More information about 129th Rescue Wing (official website).
Avionics Technician at United States Air Force
June 2012 – March 2016
During my 4 years of service in the United State Air Force I inspected, tested, troubleshot, and repaired fighter aircraft defensive systems. This position entailed removing & bench checking aircraft electronic modules in addition to maintaining testing equipment (DMM, oscilloscope, signal generator, debug software etc).
Bulk of my work concentrated on isolating electrical and radio frequency malfunctions down to a component level and performing repairs to include frequent soldering.
Freelance and Volunteer Work
I picked up my first programming book (PHP & MySQL) in 2008 — because I was curious to learn about how YouTube worked behind the scenes — and continued to code ever since. In the past 10+ years, I’ve worked on a variety of volunteer and freelance web projects starting with redesign of City of Portland web site (formerly known as portlandonline.com) and followed by many projects over the years.
Between 2012-2015 I’ve maintained a large PHP/SQL code base for three travel websites (wedding-travel.ru, orient-travel.ru, and continental-travel.ru). In 2017-2018 I designed and implemented a Client Management System (CMS), primarily using PHP, for a small business focused on providing chauffeur services to their clients. In addition to standard CMS features (admin panel, database, client cabinet, payment system etc), I’ve streamlined parts of their business by automatically generating required documents in PDF format (receipts, invoices, travel itineraries etc).
Software Engineering Career Tips
How NOT to apply for jobs on LinkedIn
Thinking of applying to jobs on LinkedIn? While it’s a must-have tool for software engineers, not every feature is as useful as it seems. Let me share some LinkedIn tips with you.
Should you have a LinkedIn as a Software Engineer?
Example of a project to put on your resume
Here is an excellent example of a project that I would recommend putting on a resume. It’s the kind of project that gets recruiters intrigued while providing a wealth of material to discuss during technical interviews.
Projects
Can you run Immich on an RPi?
Since I use a variety of devices, transferring files between them is always a bit of a challenge. I also prefer to avoid commercial cloud hosting services whenever possible. This was my first time experimenting with a self-hosted solution like Immich, and it’s been a rewarding experience so far.
Directory of Software Engineering Blogs
Recently I have been on the hunt for small time software engineering (SWE) blogs and they have been a challenge to find. Active blogs written by individuals in my space (that are not stale) are hard to find. As a result I created my own software engineering blog directory: sweblogs.fyi
Scheme Interpreter Written in Python
Scheme is a powerful functional programming language with fun syntax. Because Scheme has no loops – you have to think recursively. Check out my Scheme interpreter written in Python.
Tag Cloud
analytics android ats book review bookworm business career career fair cheating cpanel cpp cron cs college directory dns fall intern first software job gh actions goaccess golang google hns hosting html htmx ideas idea validation immich internship iphone john deere json LinkedIn motomo networking noah kagan open source php privacy projects quick apply recruiting resume rpi saas scheme self-hosting server access log smtp software engineering sql startup static sites summer intern swe blogs swe internship swe job swe manager typescript web2 webdev websockets wordpress