DavidJOrman

David J. Orman

Email: <david.orman AT SPAMFREE corenode DOT com>

FreeNode IRC Nickname: ormandj

About Me

I'm a 23 year old living in Hawai'i, specifically on Oahu. I run a small (12,000 sq foot) underground datacenter built inside of a WW2 fallout shelter. I also work for the State of Hawai'i to keep my days occupied as a "Data Processing Systems Analyst" (I work on the finance/accounting for the state government, written in OS/VS COBOL, on SYSTEM/370 mainframes. Yes, we still have punchcard input. Yes, we still manually load tapes. No, don't ask. Wink ;)

I graduated from University of Texas at Dallas in 2004, and promptly moved to Hawai'i to open my business. I had only visited once before in Janurary, but absolutely loved it here. I graduated with a MIS degree, as I was more interested in learning business principles in school than technical information (as I learned programming in various languages in my spare time - more on that later.)

I'm a pretty active person, I put in 12-14 hours a day working, a few hours having fun outside and "geeking" out with the computer, and the rest into sleep. I'm going to be slowing down the work soon, so will have more available free time, which is one of the reasons why I am interested in contributing to the Ubuntu project.

My main issue with Ubuntu has been the general focus on desktop systems. While this is probably in the best interest of Ubuntu, I'd like to see the server-side kept up to speed. After submitting some bug requests due to mySQL 4.1 being production ready since October of last year, and still not being linked (libmysql14) to applications in Breezy (4.0/libmysqlclient12 is used), it was suggested I go the MOTU route to work into a position where I could help polish Ubuntu's server side. As I do own a datacenter, I'm fairly familiar with the server-oriented side of an OS. I'd like to see up-to-date-with-stable packages across the board for LAMP deployments, and ideally most general server deployments. Ubuntu has a LOT of promise in this front, and I'd like to actively help get it to the finish line, instead of just whining and posting bug reports about outdated packages. I'd prefer to get things done.

I'm a fairly decent C/C++ programmer, although only with console-programming experience, I never got into GUI much as a server guy. I'm proficient in COBOL as mentioned (haha, great help for linux!) I'm also starting work on Java programming. I'm decent with shell scripting/perl hacking, good with php/SQL/etc. I'm a pretty well-rounded person I'd like to think. I don't really excel in any one area of programming, but I'm decent at a lot.

Where my strength lies is in my server-based background. I've been managing servers since I was 15 working for a local school district. I've converted countless Solaris servers over to linux/freebsd based systems. My datacenter is all Ubuntu (as hard as it might be with the current package issues.) (Well, excluding colocated machines.)

I feel all of the above qualifies me to at least assist in working on the packages pertaining to the server-side of Ubuntu, hopefully bringing it into the modern era. Wink ;)

Packages I Take Interest In

Any/All server-related packages which could use help. This includes php5 being linked against libmysql12 instead of 14, dovecot still being .99 when 1.0-x is generally advised, and so on. These are the things that matter to me and my business, and these are some of the biggest areas I see Ubuntu lacking in. I'd like to get the work done. Smile :)

Availability

I am available from approximately 1800 GMT-10 until 2200 during the week. On weekend, hours of availability fluxuate depending on my activities, but I will generally have between 5-10 hours to dedicate to Ubuntu if necessary. I would estimate 20-30 hours a week would be possible for my involvement, depending on need. If less is needed, then I will go outside and enjoy the sun a little more. Wink ;)


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DavidJOrman (last edited 2008-08-06 16:19:14 by localhost)