Résumé – Alexander Payne

I am a software engineer with experience in low-level firmware and application development. I am trained in technical writing and system design, with emphasises on user comprehension and fault tolerance.

Professional Experience

I have been employed as a software engineer since 2016 Dec. The nature of my work as a federal subcontractor limits the detail I can write here.

Amazon Web Services

Dates: 2020 Jul 6 – present

Role: Software Development Engineer

Responsibility: I am the Rust subject matter expert on my team. We are researching Rust’s applicability for use in novel devices operating under tight performance constraints and subject to strict safety and correctness regulations.

Space Dynamics Laboratory

Dates: 2016 Dec 5 - 2020 May 28

Departure: personal, voluntary, amicable

Responsibility: I was a Satellite Software Engineer working on the development and testing of flight control systems of CubeSat research vehicles. I worked primarily in C++, with some C for more esoteric devices and Ruby for ground control software.

Certifications: TS/SCI

Projects

In order of decreasing recency:

  • VPM; USAF/Kirtland AFB

    I wrote flight software systems in C++ using SDL’s framework for distributed service control. VPM was successfully launched and operated from Kirtland and SDL facilities.

  • EAGLE; USAF/Kirtland AFB

    I wrote ground control software that generated tasking routines for transmission to the vehicle.

  • DHFR; DARPA/MIT

    I wrote ground control software interfaces and automation, and performed operations for four months. My satellite was eventually found to have been destroyed by the launch.

  • BioSentinel; NASA Ames

    I wrote a kernel driver for VxWorks that bridged the primary computer and a secondary FPGA holding multiple peripherals.

Research

As part of my work with the COSMOS framework, I wrote Rust programs to act as data pipeline filters and C++/Ruby code generators. This research indirectly led to the creation of bitvec.

Personal Experience

I develop software for a hobby as well as for a career.

Rust Crates

I am the author or maintainer of a number of Rust libraries. You can read more about them at my crate listing. I have been an active Rust author since 2016, and am considered an expert by my employer and the general Rust community.

Web Design

This website is self-authored, atop the Phoenix framework.

Education

Trine University: 2011 – 2016. Studied Computer Engineering, B.Sc.

Notable courses:

  • Senior Design: My capstone project was the construction and programming of an autonomous cargo hauler. I worked with three mechanical engineers on the physical machine, and personally built the electrical and software systems. The machine capably navigated along a pre-programmed route, and successfully detected obstacles such as pedestrians and a train. The code is on my GitHub profile, and the summary video is on YouTube. I can provide design documents upon request.

  • Logic and Computer Design: This class focused on the hardware construction of a computer and the instruction primitives executing on it. We built a five-stage MIPS CPU in Verilog.

  • Embedded Systems: This class taught real-time operating systems and freestanding programming. We built an oscilloscope and basic RTOS.