Alf Orion Watt
San Francisco, CA

alf@istumbler.net

Gitlab | GitHub | Linkedin | Stack Overflow | Blog | @istumbler | Voicemail: (415) 449-0905

This is my full Curriculum vitae, for a less exhaustive version please see my Resume.
Curriculum vitae
Sr. Engineering Manager, Infotainment — Lucid Motors
Lucid Motors, Newark, California
February 2021 – May 2023
Lucid Motors is a luxury mobility company that is reimagining what a car can be.
Managed team responsable for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Over the Air update User Experience for Lucid's luxury electric sedan, including certifications and hands on debugging of complex audio and network issues.
Recognized the need to enable developer productivity; organized and planned a Software Developer Tools and Support team to develop easy to use tools to address the challenges of the Autosar software development environment including ARXML, signal simulation and emulation solutions along with demonstrating best practices for CI/CD, unit and integration testing.
Researched customer OTA anomalies utilizing data analytics and reporting tools to review and analyze different data sources to determine root cause of user facing UX issues.
Managed a diverse and accomplished team of Android Automotive engineers working on key shared libraries to support the Lucid Infotainment system; recruited, retained and promoted high performing engineers while providing feedback for continued growth and development.
Designed, managed implementation and delivery of Lucid's in-vehicle user information system which delivers timely, up to date and relevant information to new customers including the owners manual and release notes.
Engineering Manager — Mobile Telemetry
Mapbox, San Francisco
February 2019 – February 2021
Mapbox SDKs collect anonymous data about the map and device location to continuously update and improve your maps.
The Mapbox Mobile Telemetry team is responsible for development and operational excellence of the Mobile Events SDKs used in over 45,000 mobile apps for Android and iOS to collect more than 300 Million miles of anonymized, aggregated road and telemetry data every day. These Open Source frameworks for collecting anonymous telemetry to help improve Mapbox's data products while carefully preserving user privacy.
Led, recruited, hired, and grew the Mobile Telemetry team from two engineers to a total of six iOS and Android engineers to sustain and improve existing products and quality process.
Researched, designed, specified, and implemented an error containment and reporting system for iOS SDK to enable all Mapbox Mobile SDKs to send back automated live service error reports along with detailed analytics, allowing the team to improve the reliability and quality of all products.
Designed and managed implementation of a flexible configuration service, allowing all Mapbox SDKs to run experiments, manage rollout of new features, and enables a new "High Definition" collection of much higher resolution sensor data.
Documented and instituted an issue management process modeled on my experience working with Apple's development process. With goal of improving quality, driving timely resolution of issues and improving team velocity. This allowed the team to track new features and changes from proposal through implementation, integration and verification steps in preparation for future ISO 9001 process compliance.
Senior Software Engineering and Leadership Consultant
iStumbler Labs, San Francisco
April 2015 – February 2019
iStumbler Labs designs, produces, and publishes software, offering complete product design and development services plus a suite of our own products.
Launched iStumbler as a commercial product, with an integrated store and more than 100 other new features and enhancements.
Made sharing a Wi-Fi network super easy with SmartJoin.us, and the SmartJoin app for iOS and tvOS.
Published localrouter.net which find your local Wi-Fi routers web interface, as well as local web servers in just seconds.
Implemented the Voyance Client Agent for Nyansa Inc. which adds the client view of network performance including configuration details and multiple performance counters.
Brought Oscium's WiPry 5x W-Fi Spectrum Analyzer to macOS with iStumbler Release 102.
Provided iOS Connectivity Engineering at Automatic Labs to support a custom in vehicle ODB-II/CAN adapter.
Helped Eva Automation (now Bowers & Wilkins) define their in home Wi-Fi media streaming strategy.
Created iStumbler Labs and published a number of OpenSource frameworks and tools:
Appeared on Mac Geek Gab to discuss Wi-Fi, including this one weird tip that will improve Wi-Fi reception. Was subsequently given the heraldic title "Chevalier Blanc du Wi-Fi" (CBW) by the French publication Techniques de l'ingénieur.
Interim CTO
HelloBit, San Francisco
October 2014 - February 2015
Managed development of mobile application to facilitate remittance using Bitcoin.
Ran operations of web-hosting infrastructure, maintained and developed a Ruby on Rails web application to support the mobile application and provide a customer portal into the service.
Recruited and hired engineering staff, including resume evaluations, screening and interviews to find a suitable candidate to handoff technical operations.
Manager, Mobile Applications
Ruckus Wireless Inc., Sunnyvale
September 2012 - April 2014
Ruckus Wireless builds high performance Wi-Fi Access Points and management tools.
Built the Ruckus Mobile Applications suite from a set of small demonstration apps into a cross platform enterprise wireless management toolset.
Analyzed requirements, produced design proposals, estimated, scheduled and managed implementation or multiple mobile and embedded app programs across multiple platforms.
Delivered ZoneDiretor Remote Control after taking over the program at the late-beta stage, triaged launch bugs, coordinated with quality assurance, marketing and controller teams to deliver an industry leading Mobile app for monitoring the Ruckus ZoneDirector Controller.
Specified, designed and managed implementation of the Ruckus SmartWay Bonjour Gateway, which is integrated into the ZoneDirector Controller. SmartWay allows administrators to selectively proxy Multicast DNS Service Discovery messages from one VLAN to another, in order to better manage multicast traffic on wireless networks and still provide excellent user experience for applications which utilize Bonjour.
Lead prototyping and product definition effort for a revolutionary 3D site planning tool for Wi-Fi network deployments.
Designed, specified and managed development of Location Based Services provisioning tools, SPoT. Worked with newly acquired company to integrate their indoor position calibration application into our mobile apps portfolio and deliver excellent user experience for system implementors.
Managed development of a rapid Wi-Fi provisioning tool, Ruckus SWIPE which integrates into the Ruckus Carrier and Cloud management systems.
Evaluated contract service providers, negotiated contracts for both individual contributors and multi-year high value development service providers. Recruited, managed and developed local staff including multiple Sr. Mobile Application Developers, Jr. Application Developers, Interns and contractors. Attended and hosted multiple daily calls and meetings with local staff, offshore developers and remote offices.
Established and maintained high quality standards for the Ruckus Mobile Applications products and implemented and documented a rigorous process for design, development and release of multiple applications with high quality. Focused on providing my team of 22 developers, designers and managers the resources and support they needed to do their jobs and deliver work that we could all be proud of.
Wi-Fi Software Engineer
Apple Inc., Cupertino
April 2007 - July 2012
Apple Inc. launched the Wi-Fi Revolution with the iBook and AirPort Base Station.
Responsible for Wi-Fi User Experience on OS X from Snow Leopard (10.6) through Mountain Lion (10.8). Implemented improvements in feedback during network selection and connection processes, designed and implemented Wi-Fi Diagnostics to provide detailed diagnostic information to assist in debugging complex connectivity issues.
Worked closely with multiple teams: Wireless Hardware Engineering, Apple Care Support Teams, CoreOS Networking & Mac Applications. Developed software deployed in factory to improve RF testing process, analyzed support issues to identify areas in which the user experience needed improvements, coordinated development of diagnostic tools & provided supporting frameworks for wireless device management.
Managed multiple projects: Wi-Fi Diagnostics, Network Utility & several internal frameworks. Learned and implemented the Apple Development Process to manage priorities and release schedules; gathered requirements from customers, created brief white-papers and demos for reviews, developed implementation plans & schedules once approved, lead implementation and track schedule, progress, testing & bugs.
macOS Development Lead
imeem.com, San Francisco
October 2006 - March 2007
Proposed, specified and developed a desktop media player which used web services to populate its library of music, video and photos for full screen, remote-driven, presentation. Leveraged open-source technology to speed development while contributing new features back to the community. Personally demoed the product to an excited audience at Mac World 2007.
Lead a small team to maintain a hybrid Cocoa/C# messaging and social networking client for a media sharing & community startup. Added upload features with integration into iLife Suite for easy posting of photos and movies to the imeem.com web site.
Open Source Developer & Consultant
January 2001 - October 2006
Implemented an existing custom binary network protocol, image loading and cache management utilities in a Cocoa photo sharing client for a startup in San Francisco.
Developed Desk Lamp for OS X, currently in stasis Desk Lamp is a flexible desktop search tool which focuses the power of Apple's Spotlight search engine on your documents, projects and work flows. http://desklampapp.com
Designed, implemented and published iStumbler for Mac OS X. iStumbler is the leading wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing free and open source tools for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices, Bonjour services, and GPS locations with your Mac. http://istumbler.net/
Built and installed the first four radios for SFLAN, a project aimed at creating a member owned and maintained city-wide wireless network using long distance 802.11b links, and embedded linux systems. http://sflan.com/
Tested Cometa's wireless service platform against a pre-release Intel Centrino system for their initial rollout to dozens of Mc Donalds restaurants in Manhattan. Testing resulted in certification of the platform for Centrino mobile systems and involved checking a matrix of VPN connections with the captive portal system used to control access to public hotspots.
Provide IT & Consulting services to San Francisco VC firms, including off site backup and multi-site data replication. Deploy and manage linux file servers to provide central document storage, backup and small web applications tailored to specific business requirements.
Produced technical documentation using Docbook XML and XSLT style sheets to support my own development projects and a small wireless startup.
Provided consultation and training in Java, Web Development and Source Control best practices for a Credit Card Issuer. Encouraged the use of Open Source and Free Software to reduce costs and improve maintainability.
Server Software
LightSurf, Santa Cruz
March 2000 - December 2000
Played principal architect and technical lead for the LightSurf Media Application Hosting Platform, which manages photos, associated meta-data, user accounts, sharing, e commerce and fulfillment. The platform has an open API and is SOAP enabled for easy integration into existing systems.
Evaluated and implemented a server platform based on the most efficient and cost effective java application server products available. Utilized Open Source and Free Software to dramatically reduced licensing and hardware costs in an ASP deployment of LightSurf's flagship product.
Coordinated local and offshore development groups implementing Media Application Hosting Platform. Developed persistence API, supporting documentation and implementation requirements. Performed code review of contractor contributions and managed overall systems integration between server components.
Consulting Web Developer
NextCard, San Francisco
December 1999 - March 2000
Developed Administrative Tool kit allowing business owners to manage customer accounts, alter pricing strategies on the fly and provide real- time customer service and graphical reporting.
Internet Applications Technical Lead
Microsoft bCentral, San Francisco
November 1998 - September 1999
Provided architecture and technical leadership in a small team working on an application using mod_perl and Apache on FreeBSD systems.
Implemented a fast session cache in Perl, dramatically improving performance.
Software Engineer, Build Master, Quality Assurance Engineer
Perspecta, San Francisco
July 1997 - November 1998
Prototyped a user interface for editing a complex database modeling of conceptual and ontological relationships between keywords.
Developed an integrated cross platform build and install system for java server applications similar to ANT using Perl and XML.
CAD Technician
Red Tail Surveying Inc., Taos
June 1996 - March 1997
Drafting of survey plats, create and update document templates, create and update in-house database and in-house PC & Windows support and training.
Chair of Communications Committee
La Lama Neighborhood Association, Questa
May 1996 - December 1996
Coordination of available information after the Hondo Fire, maintaining of resident list and resource list, resource direction, newsletter, resource matching and answering the phone.
Lead Technical Support Representative
Howard and Friends Inc., Taos
September 1995 - March 1996
Technical Support for Howard & Friends and Howard & Friends for Networks, In-house PC network support, In-house Fax Server support, Technical Documentation, Priority Cases and Research.
Digital Imaging Technician
Electric Images Inc., Minneapolis
January 1995 - September 1995
Output of Macintosh graphics files to various digital printers. Color correction and image enhancement using Photoshop. Macintosh LAN management, with additional Netware 3.x connectivity.