Senior Technical Director at ImageMovers Digital
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Senior Technical Director at ImageMovers Digital
- Author at MacTech
- Author at IBM Developerworks
- Author/Blogger/Video Producer at O'Reilly
- Author at Red Hat Magazine
- Founder at GiftCS, LLC
- Past
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- Senior Shots Technical Director at Weta Digital
- Production Engineer at Weta Digital
- Technical Reviewer: Python Essential Reference, 4th Edition at Addison-Wesley
- Author at Manning Publications
- Technical Reviewer: Iron Python In Action at Manning Publishing
- Senior Software Engineer at MaxMedia Design
- Organizer at PyAtl: Atlanta Python Programmers
- Software Engineer at Racemi
- Production Engineer at Turner Studios
- Lead Editorial Systems Engineer at Sony Imageworks
- Avid Engineer at Disney Feature Animation
- Lead/Senior Avid Engineer at Wexler Video
- Lead SysAdmin Administration Department at Caltech
- Personal Trainer at 24 Hour Fitness
- Editor/Camera/Sound Engineer/Production Coordinator at GoComm Communications
- Freelance Editor at ABC Network News
- Education
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- California Institute of Technology
- California State University-Los Angeles
- University of California, Riverside - A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
- Palomar College
- Temecula Valley High School
- Linfield
- Recommended
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12 people have recommended Noah - Connections
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connections
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Websites
Noah Gift’s Summary
Senior Software Engineer/Senior Systems Engineer/Senior Film Pipeline Technical Director, specializing in Python programming and large scale Linux/Unix architecture.
Noah Gift’s Specialties:
Python programming, Unix/Linux Systems Architecture and Administration, SNMP Development. Web application development in Bobo, Grok, Pylons, Turbogears, Django, and/or Google App Engine/Amazon. Virtualization architecture and development with Solaris LDOM's, VMware ESX server, and Xen. JQuery/Javascript. iPhone Native SDK and Flex on GAE. PyQt. Maya/Python API. High availability database development and architecture.
Noah Gift’s Experience
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Senior Technical Director
ImageMovers Digital
(Privately Held; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
July 2009 — Present (5 months)
Python Software Development for Film Pipelines
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Author
MacTech
(Publishing industry)
May 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)
Freelance Technical Writer
Articles:
SNMP Primer for OS X Leopard/July, 2008
Four Part Series on LDAP/Samba for OS X -
Author
IBM Developerworks
(Public Company; IBM; Information Technology and Services industry)
October 2007 — Present (2 years 2 months)
Freelance Technical Writer.
Articles:
Introduction to Distributed Version Control:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-dist_ver_control/
Multiprocessing with Python:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-multiprocessing/index.html
Functional Web Testing in Python:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-aj-testing/
Using SQLAlchemy
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-sqlalchemy/
CRUD with LDAP/Python
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-ldap_crud/
Python Plugins
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-cli_plugins/
iPhone and Google App Engine:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web//library/wa-aj-iphone/
Moving From Scripting To Object Oriented Programming
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-scripting_to_oo/
Practical Threading in Python
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-threadingpython/
Example-driven ZODB
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-zodb/
Using Python To Create Unix Command Line Tools
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-pythocli/
Using Net-SNMP and IPython
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-netsnmpnipython/ -
Author/Blogger/Video Producer
O'Reilly
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Publishing industry)
May 2007 — Present (2 years 7 months)
Author, Blogger, Video Producer
Book:
Python For Unix and Linux Systems Administration http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515829/
Articles:
Getting Started With Google App Engine
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2008/05/20/getting-started-with-the-google-apps-engine.html
Open Directory Part I: Mac, Windows, Linux
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/06/01/discover-the-power-of-open-directory.html
Open Directory Part II: Mac, Windows, Linux
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2007/06/27/discover-the-power-of-open-directory-part-2.html
Open Directory Part III: Mac, Windows, Linux
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/07/18/discover-the-power-of-open-directory-part-3.html
Using Python and Applescript Together
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/05/08/using-python-and-applescript-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-mac.html -
Author
Red Hat Magazine
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; RHAT; Computer Software industry)
January 2007 — Present (2 years 11 months)
Freelance Technical writer Red Hat Magazine.
Articles:
Run-Levels: Create, Use, Modify and Master
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2008/06/03/run-levels-create-use-modify-and-master/
Python for Bash Scripters: A well-kept secret
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2008/02/07/python-for-bash-scripters-a-well-kept-secret/
Using Access Control Lists in Squid
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/06/19/using-access-control-lists-and-authentication-in-squid-part-ii/
Painless Dual-Booting with RHEL 5 and a MacBookPro
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/05/16/painless-dual-booting-with-rhel-5-and-a-macbookpro/
How To Build A Dirt Easy home NAS server using Samba
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/06/26/how-to-build-a-dirt-easy-home-nas-server-using-samba/
Advanced SSH Configuration and Tunneling
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/11/27/advanced-ssh-configuration-and-tunneling-we-dont-need-no-stinking-vpn-software/ -
Founder
GiftCS, LLC
(Computer Software industry)
January 1998 — Present (11 years 11 months)
Software Consulting Solutions, Training, Writing, Speaking:
Python, iPhone, Virtualization, Unix/Linux Infrastructure, Web 2.0,
Recent Projects:
Large AI/Social Networking Django/JQuery 1.0 project for Turner Studios involving several developers.
Wrote a CMS from scratch in Python for Fortune 500 company.
Clients:
Turner Studios, Max Media, Rich Digital
Talks:
iPhone on Google App Engine: http://en.oreilly.com/iphonelive2008/public/schedule/detail/5314
Using AJAX and GData API's on Google App Engine:
http://pyworks.mtacon.com/c/schedule/talk/ts2/4
Open Source:
http://code.google.com/p/touchengine/ App Engine to iPhone Bridge -
Senior Shots Technical Director
Weta Digital
(Privately Held; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
May 2009 — June 2009 (2 months)
PyQt and Python development for Autodesk Maya Film Pipelines.
Highlights:
* Promoted to Senior Shots Technical Director from Production Engineering by Weta Visual Effects Producer Eileen Moran.
* Replaced a legacy code publishing system based on svn, that took two years to develop, on a 2 day deadline, and created an enhanced version that supported auto-incrementing tags and a plugin architecture.
* Wrote a multi-threaded PyQT/Pyro based subscription based notification system for KDE/Gnome from scratch.
* Developed Help Documentation Library for PyQT based on Sphinx . -
Production Engineer
Weta Digital
(Privately Held; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
November 2008 — May 2009 (7 months)
Python Programming in the context of Digital Effects/Film
Highlights:
* Wrote an Event Management system with a plugin architecture, that listened to vender XML-RPC API, from scratch in less then one week.
* Wrote high quality code under tight deadlines with full unit test coverage and functional test coverage.
* Led effort to discover the root cause and fix Python path optimization. Reduced Python interpreter startup time by over 2000%. -
Technical Reviewer: Python Essential Reference, 4th Edition
Addison-Wesley
(Public Company; PSO; Publishing industry)
February 2009 — March 2009 (2 months)
Technical Reviewer for Python Essential Reference, 4th Edition, by David Beazley
Link: http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672329786 -
Author
Manning Publications
(Publishing industry)
June 2008 — January 2009 (8 months)
Co-Authoring a book with Mike Orr, core Pylons Developer, and Ian Bicking, for Manning on Google App Engine, due early 2009.
Website for book: http://www.manning.com/gift/ -
Technical Reviewer: Iron Python In Action
Manning Publishing
(Publishing industry)
April 2008 — December 2008 (9 months)
Technical Reviewer: Iron Python In Action
Link: http://www.manning.com/foord/ -
Senior Software Engineer
MaxMedia Design
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)
May 2008 — September 2008 (5 months)
Python Web Development involving heavy Flash and Javascript/AJAX, IPhone Development with Web and Native SDK in Objective C, backend database design and implementation. Linux Infrastructure development including LDAP/Samba/Trac/Apache, and Python automation.
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Organizer
PyAtl: Atlanta Python Programmers
(Computer Software industry)
March 2007 — September 2008 (1 year 7 months)
As the former organizer of PyAtl, or the local Atlanta Python Programmers Group, I was responsible for organizing the monthly meetings, arranging topics, and ensuring we have a place to meet. I arranged a successful bid to bring PyCon 2010 to Atlanta, GA.
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Software Engineer
Racemi
(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)
March 2007 — April 2008 (1 year 2 months)
Software Engineer doing Python programming for Data Center Management Application. Wrote a massively multi-threaded SNMP autodiscovery engine in Python.
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Production Engineer
Turner Studios
(Public Company; TWX; Animation industry)
January 2006 — March 2007 (1 year 3 months)
Video Engineer/Systems Engineer for Visual EFX department
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Lead Editorial Systems Engineer
Sony Imageworks
(Public Company; SNE; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
March 2005 — January 2006 (11 months)
Video Engineer/Systems Engineer: Lead Editorial Engineer who supported Editorial Department of Feature Animated Film Division of Sony Picture Animation(SPA), and Visual EFX department.
Highlights:
Wrote a 100% automated software distribution system for OS X Avids, using Net-Boot technology. Any editor could rebuild, from scratch, their 50 thousand dollar editing system's software packages, and OS, in exactly 3.5 minutes.
Led the creation of an HD pipeline from the Avid to audience previews. This upgraded the current pipeline from 14:1 compressed SD, directly from editorial, to a direct layoff to HD tape. -
Avid Engineer
Disney Feature Animation
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; dis; Broadcast Media industry)
May 2004 — March 2005 (11 months)
Video Engineer/Avid Engineer/Systems Administrator
I was really a jack of all trades in this position. I did everything from writing an automated software distribution system, to running a live theatre screening presentation, of Chicken Little, for Michael Eisner, to building video and audio patch bays. -
Lead/Senior Avid Engineer
Wexler Video
(Privately Held; Broadcast Media industry)
September 2003 — May 2004 (9 months)
Design build and implement video editing equipment systems for Television and Film Clients. Was one of two lead Avid Unity, Fibre SAN for editing systems, technical leads. This meant I was often on call and worked between 50-100 hours a week, sometimes 7 days a week for extended periods. I was mostly called to fix near catastrophic failures that could cause a Television Show to not go on air, and I would have minutes or hours to fix the crisis.
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Lead SysAdmin Administration Department
Caltech
(Educational Institution; Research industry)
August 2000 — August 2003 (3 years 1 month)
Systems Administrator for Administration Department of Caltech. Provided IT Support for Nobel Prize Winning, President of Caltech, Dr. David Baltimore. Also, worked for Dr. Tom Everhart, former President, and Dr. Koonin, Theoretical Physicist at B.P., and Dr. David Goodstein, Author/Physicist.
Worked full time, while attending graduate school full time, and training for Los Angeles marathon. Also received Avid, ACSR, certification on my week of vacation from work, which happened to land on final exam's for graduate school. -
Personal Trainer
24 Hour Fitness
(Public Company; Health, Wellness and Fitness industry)
January 1999 — May 2000 (1 year 5 months)
Certified Athletic Trainer providing expert level Personal Training. Part-time job while enrolled full time in MBA Program at UCR. Was also training for a potential try out for a Professional Basketball team in the CBA (wisely decided being a mediocre professional basketball player probably wasn't a good long term career choice).
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Editor/Camera/Sound Engineer/Production Coordinator
GoComm Communications
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Broadcast Media industry)
1987 — 1999 (12 years )
Worked from age 10 until graduation from College at 22, in family Video Production business. Performed all roles in Video Production, ranging from editing, to sound, to camera for broadcast television commercials, corporate videos, and documentaries.
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Freelance Editor
ABC Network News
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Entertainment industry)
June 1994 — August 1994 (3 months)
Freelance Editor for ABC Network News in Los Angeles. Edited content for nationwide broadcast and routed on-air content onto live network feed. I was 18 years old at the time, and briefly worked for the Diane Sawyer show as well.
Noah Gift’s Education
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California Institute of Technology
Computer Science 2002 — 2003
Java Programming
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California State University-Los Angeles
M.S. , Computer Information Systems , 2001 — 2003
Worked full time at Caltech while attending graduate school full time. Was also training for the Los Angeles Marathon, and doing consulting.
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University of California, Riverside - A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management
Graduate Business/MBA Coursework 1999 — 2000
Took Graduate Business Courses toward MBA, while working full time. Graduate Accounting, Business Calculus, Management Science.
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California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
BS , Nutritional Science , 1996 — 1998
- Activities and Societies:
- Division I: Track and Field/Decathlon (One Year), didn't make the final team as a walk on. A good experience in failure.
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Palomar College
AA , Liberal Studies , 1993 — 1996
Worked almost full time while attending school.
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Temecula Valley High School
High School , 1992 — 1993
- Activities and Societies:
- Varsity Basketball, Chess Club
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Linfield
1989 — 1993
- Activities and Societies:
- Varsity Track/Basketball/Football/Scholar's Bowl Team
Additional Information
Noah Gift’s Websites:
Noah Gift’s Interests:
Running marathons: Los Angeles, CA (2004, 2005) Christchurch, New Zealand 2009 Wellington, New Zealand 2009 San Francisco, CA 2009 Other: Ultimate frisbee, pickup basketball, composing piano and guitar music, writing open source software, reading, technical and fictional writing, video production.
Noah Gift’s Groups:
Former Organizer of Atlanta Python User Group, Alumni CSULA, CalPoly, PyCon Speaker.
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Python Community -
RFID Professionals -
PyAtl -
OpenSolaris -
Python Authors -
The Visual Effects Society -
CSULA Alumni Association -
Open Source Universe -
Digital Media: Video Content Distribution Experts -
VMware Virtualization & Cloud Computing Group -
Animation, Media & Entertainment -
Autodesk Inferno, Flame, Flare, Flint, Smoke, Lustre -
TurboGears -
AIX Advanced Technical Experts -
The Walt Disney Company Alumni Group -
Film and Television Professionals -
PyCon 2008 -
Adobe Flex Developers -
Zope Community -
Disney -
iPhone Developers - www.iPhoneintouch.com -
Broadcast Design & Motion Graphics -
California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo Alumni -
Motion Picture Editors Guild Local 700 -
New Zealand Web Development -
jQuery -
SONY -
Agile Testing -
Google App Engine Developers -
ACSR -
Turner Broadcasting Systems Alumni Group -
Wellington, NZ -
Zenoss -
Python Magazine -
Technology Professionals by Safari Books Online -
Imagemovers Digital (IMD) -
Scala enthusiasts -
Students at Big Nerd Ranch USA -
Python For Unix and Linux System Administration -
Caltech Employees (past and present) -
Sony Pictures Imageworks Alumni -
Python Developers in Entertainment & Media -
Pylons Users -
Manning Authors -
MacEnterprise.org -
aipy -
Scala Authors -
Autodesk Maya Python Developers -
Weta Digital Alumni -
Manning Publications
Noah Gift’s Honors:
Certifications:
Apple Certified System Administrator, Avid Certified Support Representative, LPI-Level 1
IMDB Resume: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2104112/
A Christmas Carol (2009)(senior technical director)
Avatar (2009) (senior technical director)
Beowulf (2007) (completed) (avid engineer)
Surf's Up (2007) (avid engineer)
Spider-Man 3 (2007) (avid engineer: Sony Pictures)
Meet the Robinsons (2007) (avid engineer)
Open Season (2006) (avid engineer)
Click (2006/I) (avid engineer)
Superman Returns (2006) (avid engineer)
Monster House (2006) (avid engineer)
The Chronicles of Narnia: (2005) (avid engineer)
Chicken Little (2005) (avid engineer)
Noah Gift’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
