Dave Aronson

Current

• Secure Coding Standards Contributor at CERT
• Senior Lead Software Engineer at BAE Systems
• Senior Lead Software Engineer at DigitalNet

• Toastmaster at Toastmasters International
• President at Aronson Consulting Enterprises (Self-employed)

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2 more...

Past

• Senior Developer at Secure Software
• Senior Software Engineer at Cryptek Secure Communications
• Senior Software Engineer at 3Com

• Senior Software Engineer at Call Technologies
• Senior Software Engineer at CommWorks
• Senior Software Engineer at UTStarCom
• Software Engineer at Template Software
• Software Engineer at Level 8 Software
• Software Engineer at Telemet America
• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering at R&K Engineering
• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering at R & K Engineering
• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering at R and K Engineering
• Consultant at COMTEK Services
• Lead Software Engineer at Mead Data Central
• Software Engineer at Lexis-Nexis
• Lead Software Engineer at LexisNexis
• Assistant Programmer/Analyst at BDM
• Intern at USTechnologies
• Statistician (summer job) at Mellon Institute Computer Engineering Center (MICEC)

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16 more...

Education

• Toastmasters International
• Northern Virginia Software Symposium
• RadiantOne course

• DigitalThink
• Bentley Systems
• Stratus Computer Corporation
• Arcadia University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• The George School
• self-taught

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7 more...

Recommended

11 people have recommended Dave

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer Software

Dave Aronson’s Summary

Software engineer, with Secret clearance and about 24 years of experience in a wide variety of languages, systems, techniques, and problem domains, plus academic and hobby use of many more. Additional skills in leadership and communication, including developing and conducting training.

NOW LOOKING FOR A SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (or training) POSITION (or contract) in the Washington DC area (within a reasonable commute from Fairfax), as I am due to be laid off on June 19.

See resume at http://www.davearonson.com/ for details.

Dave Aronson’s Specialties:

Heinlein wrote that "Specialization is for insects." I take a Zen approach by specializing in not specializing. Instead, I learn new things at most any opportunity, often on my own time, dime, and drive. See http://www.davearonson.com/ for my resume and other details. The past several years have mainly included Linux/Unix, XTS/STOP, C, Python, networking, and security. Other highlights include C++, Java, SQL, XML, HTML, Javascript (including AJAX), Windows, Mac OS X, and databases.

Dave Aronson’s Experience

• Secure Coding Standards Contributor

  CERT

  (Government Agency; Computer & Network Security industry)

  January 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)

  Volunteer contributor to the Secure Coding Standards.

• Senior Lead Software Engineer

  BAE Systems

  (Public Company; BA.L; Defense & Space industry)

  August 2004 — Present (5 years)

  Engineer, and teach about, our high-security operating system, data guards built on it, related software, security, and software engineering. (Use C, C++, XML, shell script, Word, PowerPoint, HTML, and XML, under Windows, Linux, and STOP OS.) Nominated several times for Chairman's Awards for Innovation and Transferring Best Practices; won (Super Bronze level) once.
  
  - Help create new version of Secure Trusted Operating Program (STOP) OS & related apps & frameworks
  
  - Wrote frameworks to guard realtime protocols, and route messages securely among processes on one system; one now sold as product
  
  - Used these frameworks to create guards
  
  - Co-created multi-level secure file server
  
  - Create and deliver classes, demos, etc., to management, colleagues, and current/potential clients, re products, security, CISSP prep, etc.
  
  - Write other docs/manuals (design, API, end-user, test, etc.)
  
  - Founded Toastmasters club; served as President
  
  - Coached team on engineering Best Practices

• Senior Lead Software Engineer

  DigitalNet

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  August 2004 — Present (5 years)

  Same jobs as BAE; was hired by DigitalNet (as Senior Secure Systems Analyst). Shortly thereafter, BAE bought DigitalNet, titles were "aligned", and I eventually got some promotions.

• Toastmaster

  Toastmasters International

  (Non-Profit; 10,001 or more employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  April 2003 — Present (6 years 4 months)

  Not really a "work" position, but LinkedIn doesn't provide any good way to denote positions in other organizations. It doesn't have over 10,000 employees, but over 10,000 members.
  
  - July 2008 to June 2009: Assistant VP of Education, BAE Lunchbreak Toasters
  
  - July 2008 to June 2009: VP of Education, Fairfax Toastmasters
  
  - July 2007 to June 2008: President and Sponsor, BAE Lunchbreak Toasters
  
  - July 2007 to June 2008: President, Fairfax Toastmasters
  
  - June 2007 to Present: Webmaster, BAE Lunchbreak Toasters
  
  - May 2007 to Present: Assorted positions, on-camera and off, "Mastering Business Communications" (District 27 Toastmasters TV show)
  
  - July 2006 to June 2007: Governor, Area 63 (roughly Fairfax/Burke/Centreville area)
  
  - July 2005 to June 2006: Assistant Governor, Area 63
  
  - November 2003 to June 2005: VP Membership, Fairfax Toastmasters
  
  - June 2003 to Present: Webmaster, Fairfax Toastmasters
  
  - All other times: just plain ordinary member

• President

  Aronson Consulting Enterprises (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 1990 — Present (19 years 4 months)

  Support clients, and develop shareware and freeware. (Used C, C++, Python, HTML, JavaScript, Pascal, and BASIC, under Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and MS-DOS.)
  
  - Write assorted shareware, freeware, and Open Source packages, such as Units of Measure, screen savers, and utilities for BBSes, text manipulation, and running Toastmasters clubs
  
  - Highlights of projects for clients:
  
  = Installed, upgraded, and repaired PCs
  
  = Installed and upgraded software (custom and COTS)
  
  = Fixed, enhanced, and secured web-based group email redistribution application, and oversaw its integration into another company's project management system
  
  = Wrote basic flat-file manipulation routines
  
  = Wrote testing/configuration software, and configured Windows 2000 server, to use Brooktrout TR114 NetAccess fax boards
  
  = Wrote resumes, web sites, technical documents, configuration files, and small custom utilities

• Senior Developer

  Secure Software

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  August 2003 — May 2004 (10 months)

  Developed tools to find security flaws, and other security data, in other software. (Used C, Java, Python, XML, i386 assembler, Subversion, and CVS, under FreeBSD, Linux, Windows, and Darwin / Mac OS X.)
  
  - Fixed and enhanced decompiler, and memory/utility libraries
  
  - Wrote Python scripts to detect use of files and mobile code in Java code
  
  - Wrote design documents for those scripts
  
  - Wrote Python script to detect use of Windows registry keys in C/C++ code

• Senior Software Engineer

  Cryptek Secure Communications

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Computer Hardware industry)

  March 2001 — October 2001 (8 months)

  Engineered software to support IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) compliant VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) using proprietary encryption devices. (Used Visual C++, Visual Basic, UML, and Objecteering CASE tool, under many versions of Windows and Unix.)
  
  - Wrote program to monitor encryption devices, report failures, save sniffer logs, and either reset device power or failover to backup
  
  - Wrote requirements, use cases, design documents, and prototypes, for revised VPN management console
  
  - Wrote test cases for current version of VPN management console
  
  - Researched top ten IPsec-compliant VPNs and presented competitive analysis to boss and colleagues
  
  - Wrote program to adjust some TCP/IP parameters on PCs running any 32-bit version of Windows

• Senior Software Engineer

  3Com

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; COMS; Telecommunications industry)

  August 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 7 months)

  Created and enhanced software for UM (Unified Messaging), other telephony, and internal use. (Used C, C++, XML, shell scripts, and proprietary Service Creation Environment scripts, under Unix/Linux and Windows.)
  
  - Added IVM (Internet Voice Messaging, aka VPIM (Voice Profile for Internet Mail) v3, to UM platform; work led to credit in RFC 3458 (Message Context for Internet Mail)
  
  - Invented way to change sound file speed, preserving quality better than simple interpolation, but faster than Fast Fourier Transforms
  
  - Created scripts to allow UM platform to act as clients of voice advertising server
  
  - Maintained system for SMS notification of office voicemail
  
  - Co-created multitasking multithreaded email load test tool, simulating up to 1400 users per PC
  
  - Added Zmodem file transfer protocol to telnet/dialup terminal emulator
  
  - Troubleshot installations of Brooktrout TR114 fax boards, including creating diagnostic tools
  
  - Added more languages to text-to-speech server

• Senior Software Engineer

  Call Technologies

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  August 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 7 months)

  Same job as at 3Com; originally hired by Call Technologies, which 3Com then bought while I was there.

• Senior Software Engineer

  CommWorks

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  August 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 7 months)

  Same job as at 3Com; originally hired by Call Technologies, which 3Com then bought while I was there, and later (while I was still there) made part of its CommWorks subsidiary.

• Senior Software Engineer

  UTStarCom

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  August 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 7 months)

  Same job as at 3Com; originally hired by Call Technologies, which 3Com then bought while I was there, and later (while I was still there) made part of its CommWorks subsidiary. After I left, most of CommWorks was then sold to UTStarCom. This position is listed here for "findability" by former colleagues.

• Software Engineer

  Template Software

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; TMPL; Computer Software industry)

  January 1997 — August 1999 (2 years 8 months)

  Enhanced infrastructure software for proprietary object-oriented development environment. (Used C, SNAP (proprietary language), HTML, and SQL, under various versions of Unix, and Windows NT.)
  
  - Designed new data format for GIS support subsystem
  
  - Created library routines to read, write, and manipulate data in new format
  
  - Updated GIS conversion/filtering utilities from old format, enhanced them, and created new ones
  
  - Created object-relational mapping portions of legacy enterprise application integration product

• Software Engineer

  Level 8 Software

  (Computer Software industry)

  January 1997 — August 1999 (2 years 8 months)

  Same job as at Template Software. After I left, Level 8 bought them. This position, and other spellings (Level8, Level Eight), are included for "findability" by former colleagues.

• Software Engineer

  Telemet America

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  August 1995 — December 1996 (1 year 5 months)

  Wrote software for Orion financial news/quotes service, and sales of same. (Used C, Visual Basic, and SQL, with MS SQL Server, under Windows and OS/2.)
  
  - Fixed and enhanced software to send, receive, store, retrieve, and display quotes and news
  
  - Developed new sales contact system, and migrated data from old one

• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering

  R&K Engineering

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 1992 — July 1995 (3 years 5 months)

  Managed branch technical staff and supported facility tracking/planning capabilities. (Used C, SQL, Oracle SQL*Plus, Pro*C, Pascal, DCL, MS-DOS "batch", FORTRAN, REXX, dBase, NOMAD2, and Lotus 1-2-3, under MS-DOS, VMS/OpenVMS, Unix, Windows 3.11, and CMS.)
  
  - Developed highly flexible SQL query constructor and result parser for facility planning, tracking, and analysis system for IRS
  
  - Enhanced generic facility tracking and planning system
  
  - Wrote and executed data queries and data formatting/analysis programs, for Army, on both regular and as-needed basis
  
  - Enhanced and documented COBRA (Cost Of Base Realignment Actions) algorithms for Department of Defense
  
  - Investigated potential new technology, fixed technical problems, etc.

• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering

  R & K Engineering

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 1992 — July 1995 (3 years 5 months)

  Same job as R&K Engineering; alternate spelling included here for "findability".

• Branch Chief of Systems Engineering

  R and K Engineering

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 1992 — July 1995 (3 years 5 months)

  Same job as R&K Engineering; alternate spelling included here for "findability".

• Consultant

  COMTEK Services

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 1989 — April 1990 (1 year 2 months)

  March 1989 to April 1990: Consultant, COMTEK Services, Silver Spring MD.
  Supported MCI in McLean and Reston VA. (Used C, RMS, and DECforms under VMS on DEC VAXstation, and VOS on IBM S/88 (aka Stratus XA).)
  
  - Developed user interface of long-distance phone network monitoring and configuration system
  
  - Tested alarm propagation subsystem

• Lead Software Engineer

  Mead Data Central

  (Information Services industry)

  May 1987 — January 1989 (1 year 9 months)

  Wrote realtime transaction processing software for media research tools. (Used C under VOS on Stratus XA systems.)
  
  - Finished communications software (see below)
  
  - Enhanced database software for searching magazine articles by countries and topics
  
  - Substituted VOS built-in routines for Oracle RDBMS functions (reduced search time by about 85%)
  
  - Created software for reception, indexing, and boolean text searching of newswire stories
  
  - Was hired as Senior; within a year, was promoted to Lead

• Software Engineer

  Lexis-Nexis

  (Public Company; Information Services industry)

  May 1987 — January 1989 (1 year 9 months)

  Same job as Mead Data Central; after I left, Mead spun them off, and they chose this new name, also sometimes called LexisNexis. They have since been bought by Reed Elsevier.

• Lead Software Engineer

  LexisNexis

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; RUK; Information Technology and Services industry)

  May 1987 — January 1989 (1 year 9 months)

  Same job as Lexis-Nexis; another spelling here just for findability.

• Assistant Programmer/Analyst

  BDM

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Defense & Space industry)

  September 1985 — March 1987 (1 year 7 months)

  Wrote software and reports for company VAX center and clients. (Used C, Turbo Pascal, FORTRAN, dBase/Clipper, Lotus 1-2-3 macros, and MS-DOS "batch", under MS-DOS, VAX/VMS, Stratus VOS, CDC Cyber NOS/VE, and GRiD-OS.)
  
  - Wrote system "health monitor" for VAX center
  
  - Researched way to provide same-user inter-project security and accounting, for VAX center
  
  - Wrote generic histogram plotter, for JTSC (Joint Test Support Center)
  
  - Wrote weapon accuracy plotter, using HP LaserJet PCL, for JTSC
  
  - Wrote troop strength calculator/comparator, given inventory and ratings of weapon systems, for CIA
  
  - Enhanced program to analyze or design various types of physical shock isolators, for Air Force
  
  - Co-wrote multithreaded realtime communications software, to handle transactions sent over an X.25-like proprietary protocol, for Lexis-Nexis (see above)
  
  Note: The company has been bought many times since I left, and has been part of at least TRW and Northrop-Grumman.

• Intern

  USTechnologies

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

  February 1985 — May 1985 (4 months)

  - Created library of routines, mainly for building data-entry screens and general utilities (such as multi-level sort)
  
  - Fixed problems in assembler library supplied with Lattice C compiler
  
  - Supervised another intern, and taught her C

• Statistician (summer job)

  Mellon Institute Computer Engineering Center (MICEC)

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  June 1983 — August 1983 (3 months)

  - Entered survey answers into computer
  
  - Developed software to analyze survey answers
  
  - Marked survey respondent locations on Pittsburgh-area map

Dave Aronson’s Education

• Toastmasters International

  CTM+CL (old-style) , Communications and Leadership , 2003 — 2012 (expected)

  See "job" listing for this.

• Northern Virginia Software Symposium

  n/a , Java, Agile methodologies, etc. , 2007 — 2007

  Software development training conference, focusing mainly on Java and Agile methodologies, also much more. Also known as No Fluff Just Stuff. See http://www.nfjs.com/

• RadiantOne course

  2007 — 2007

• DigitalThink

  n/a , assorted professional courses; see below , 1997 — 1999

  Courses in XML, Java, C++, HTML, Object Oriented Analysis, Unix Administration and Networking, and Design Patterns

• Bentley Systems

  n/a , Microstation Development Language , 1992 — 1992

• Stratus Computer Corporation

  n/a , Advanced VOS Programming , March 1988 — March 1988

• Arcadia University

  BS , Computer Science , 1984 — 1985

• Carnegie Mellon University

  Started in EE, moved to Applied Math, CS Track 1981 — 1983

• The George School

  HS Diploma , general college prep , 1977 — 1981

• self-taught

  n/a , JavaScript, Perl, Rational Rose, PL/SQL , 1984

Additional Information

Dave Aronson’s Interests:

hiking, medievalism, filk music (no that's not a typo), guitar, travel

Dave Aronson’s Groups:

Member of: Internet Engineering Task Force and Internet Research Task Force (IETF and IRTF) and assorted Working Groups, Mid-Atlantic Group for Internet Craft (MAGIC), DC Security Geeks (DCSG or DC-SG), Northern Virginia Java Users Group (NOVAJUG), Northern Virginia Linux Users Group (NOVALUG), Toastmasters International (see Education), Secure Coding email list, Mensa (moderator of Metro Washington Mensa Yahoo Group "littlem"), Nasjleti family, and occasionally the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).

Formerly SysOp (System Operator) of a BBS (Bulletin Board System) in Fidonet and several other such networks, and member of ACM and IEEE.

•    Mensa
•    Internet Society
•    Helping Friends Career Network (LI2HF)
•    Python Community
•    Agile Alliance
•    Information Security Community (30,000+ Members)
•    Gmail Users
•    Google Group
•    Methods & Tools
•    Friends of the United States of America
•    Mac Users
•    DC Metro VMware User Group
•    Aficionados of Classical Music
•    3Com Alumni Association
•    Defense & Aerospace
•    Linux Community
•    Linked 2 Leadership
•    US Government Security Clearance
•    DC Area Tech Professionals
•    Toastmasters International Members
•    Federal IT Group
•    Toastmasters International - Competent Toastmasters
•    BAE Systems Employee & Alumni Network
•    FidoNet SysOps or ex-SysOps
•    SCA - Society for Creative Anachronism
•    Blues Power
•    Hard Skills Pro
•    Public Speaking
•    DECUS
•    Cleared Connections
•    District 27 Toastmasters
•    Template Software
•    George School Alumni
•    Software Development Security
•    NOVALUG
•    Fairfax Toastmasters
•    NoVAJUG
•    Cryptek Alum
•    Filk
•    Linking DC
•    Plain Old C Programming
•    The MILS/MSL/MLS Group
•    F-35 Connections
•    Looking for work
•    Americas

Dave Aronson’s Honors:

AT WORK:

2008:

Certificate of Achievement for Outstanding Service and Performance (and spot bonus)

Nominations for Chairman's Award for Transferring Best Practices: founding Toastmasters club, teaching CISSP class, and general training course (multi-level security, C&A hints, and XTS/STOP)

2007:

Awarded "Super Bronze" (eligible to compete for Silver) Chairman's Award for Innovation, for work on F-35/JSF project

Nominated for Chairman's Award for Innovation, for secure IPC routing framework

2006:

Bonus for rescuing company reputation with disgruntled customer

Nominated for Chairman's Award for Innovation, for fast-protocol data guard framework

ELSEWHERE:

First Place, Evaluation Contest (Toastmasters Area 42), 2009

Second Place, Evaluation Contest (Toastmasters Division D), 2009

Second Place, Int'l Speech Contest (Toastmasters Area 63), 2008

Service Award, Metro Washington Mensa, around 1995 (for moderating local Fidonet forum, and tech column)

Dave Aronson’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch