Tim Skirvin
Unix Group, Information Technology Services
Stanford University
209 Polya Hall
255 Panama Street
Stanford, California 94305-4136
Email: tskirvin@stanford.edu
Phone: 650/725-9909
Education
B.S. in Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999
Professional Experience
Systems Software Developer,
Information
Technology Services, Stanford
University, California, USA [2007 - present]
- Maintain and develop Usenet systems.
- Work on timeshare clusters.
- Other duties To Be Determined.
Senior Systems Administrator (SAGE Level IV),
Theoretical and Computational
Biophysics Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced
Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
IL, USA [2000 - 2007]
- Administer, maintain, and secure a network of 100 users and 300
machines, running Solaris, Linux, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64, AIX,
WinNT/2000/XP, and MacOS 9/X.
- Design, manage and upgrade group facilities including a 3D projection system and multiple Linux-based computation clusters.
- Lead a team of six to nine graduate aides and one to three
undergraduate assistants in troubleshooting and solving user
problems.
- Budget and plan for continuing system and network upgrades.
- Assist with and write grant proposals for research and equipment.
- Write and maintain system software,
ranging from internal backup solutions to web management tools.
- Write and maintain system and user databases and associated
frameworks.
- Develop and teach a series of workshops on designing and building Linux clusters.
- Manage web site design and content; maintain public technical documentation.
News Administrator (SAGE Level II-III), Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing, Computer
and Systems Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA [1999 - 2000]
- Administered and maintained Usenet news software and hardware.
- Installed, upgraded and maintained department Windows95/NT, Linux,
MacOS, Solaris, and HP-UX systems and labs.
- Troubleshot other miscellaneous computer concerns.
Computer Consultant (SAGE Level I), Department
of Mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL,
USA [1995 - 1999]
- Assisted graduate students and professors in computer setup and
maintenance.
- Maintained, installed, and helped upgrade a computer lab of Sun
SPARCStations and printers.
- Maintained departmental web pages.
Research Assistant - United States Army Construction Engineering
Research Labs (USA-CERL), Champaign, IL, USA. [1996]
- Ran detailed noise-level tests and modeled the results in
order to create a new sound measurement scale.
- Maintained the computer systems at the Nevada test site.
Beta Tester - Parallax Software, Champaign, IL, USA. [1995]
- Tested Descent, a 3D flight-simulation game.
Professional Skills
Specific tools (especially strong skills are indicated
with italics):
- Languages: Perl, Bourne Shell, C, C++. Basic
knowledge of Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Scheme, LISP, Basic,
Intel/68k/MIPS assembly, VHDL.
- Operating Systems: Solaris, Linux, MacOS
X, IRIX, AIX, HP-UX, Tru64, Windows 95/98, Windows NT/2000/XP,
OpenBSD, Solaris x86, Alpha Linux, internetworking the above.
- Tools: Apache, sendmail, LPRNG,
DNS/BIND, OpenSSH, Samba, YP/NIS,
automounters, xntp, MySQL, UW/IMAP, CVS, license managers
- Protocols: TCP/IP (debugging), NFS,
NNTP, HTTP, SQL, DBI, LDAP, SMB, NTP, Appletalk.
- Documentation: HTML, POD, LaTeX, XML.
Intimate knowledge of Usenet News administration, design, and
development.
Strong knowledge of computation cluster design and
maintenance. Specific knowledge of queueing systems (DQS, SGE, Condor),
Clustermatic and Scyld Linux clustering solutions. Knowledgeble of
national supercomputer centers.
Experienced with SQL database use, design and
administration.
Management: experience with developing computational
facility budgets. Have managed up to ten part-time workers. Have been
involved in hiring consultants and part-time and full-time workers.
Experienced with basic switched network design. Basic
knowledge and experience with Cisco routers, RIP, BGP, and other
networking protocols.
Published Software
Other Professional Activities
- Co-Founder and Chair - Big-8 Management Board [2005 - present]
- Maintainer - UIUC Campus Usenet News Server [2003 - 2007]
- Co-Founder - ModNet
- centralized location for moderation discussion forums [1997]
- Founder - illini.*
- newsgroup hierarchy for UIUC students, staff, and alumni [2003]
- Founder - FreeNet
- foundation for unfettered discussion forums [1998]
- Founder - Usenet Volunteer Moderators [1999]
- Moderator (discussion facilitation and software design and maintenance)
- humanities.philosophy.objectivism [1995 - present]
- news.admin.net-abuse.policy [1996 - present]
- news.admin.net-abuse.sightings [1996 - present]
- news.admin.announce [2005 - present]
- rec.arts.comics.reviews [2005 - present]
- comp.std.announce [2006 - present]
- news.announce.newgroups [2006 - present]
- Technical Moderator (software and interface design and maintenance,
technical advice for other moderators)
- news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins [1998 - present]
- rec.games.mecha [1997 - present]
- rec.toys.transformers.moderated [1999 - present]
- rec.games.frp.moderated [2000 - 2007]
- soc.culture.paganism [2006 - present]
- news.admin.moderation [2007 - present]
- LOPSA (League of Professional System Administrators) - Member [2005 - present]
- USENIX (Unix Administration Society) - Member [2000 - present]
- SAGE (System Adminstrators Guild) - Member [2000 - present]
Technical Reports and Presentations
Other Activities
- Usenet @ UIUC - President [2003 - 2007 ]
- UIUC Association of Academic Professionals - Member [2002 - 2007 ]
- UIUC College Libertarians - President [1996 - 2000]
- Like Disco...but not Really (Improvisational Comedy Troupe) -
Director [1997 - 1999], Performer [1995 - 1999]
- National Residence Hall Honorary - Member [1998 - present]