Ben Ethington

Objective

I am highly creative, motivated and innovative when it comes to identifying technology needs and solutions using highly developed research techniques. I am looking to join a collaborative and innovative research team that seeks to find the best solutions to improve productivity and performance.

Skills Summary

Software:

  • Java / C / C++ / C# / Objective-C
  • iOS and Android Development
  • HTML / XML / PHP / SQL
  • Cake PHP & Wicket Frameworks
  • Tesseract OCR / NI Vision / OpenCV
  • Apache / PHP / MySQL Server
  • Linux Server Administrator
  • VirtualBox / VMware Workstation
  • NI LabVIEW / NI TestStand
  • CAD (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, others)
  • CAM (SolidCAM, ArtCAM, others)

Hardware:

  • FPGA / Microprocessors
  • Stepper / Servo Motors
  • Cameras (Computer Vision)
  • Arduino / Raspberry Pi
  • Beaglebone / XBee
  • Circuit Board Manufacturing
  • PXI Platform
  • Measurement and Control
  • Network Routers / Switches

Other:

  • Project Lead / Mentor
  • Subject Matter Expert
  • 3D Printing
  • CNC Laser Cutting / Engraving
  • CNC Mill / Router
  • Woodworking Tools
  • Metal Lathe
  • Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt
  • Soldering (IPC 610 Class 3)
  • Networking Skills

7+ years - Active Duty Military

Professional Experience

15+ years - Satellite Communication Systems Repair

Synthesized analyses to identify root causes of hardware and software failures using test equipment (NI hardware, Fireberd 6000, Spectrum Analyzer, Power Meter, Frequency Generator, Oscilloscope, Digital Multimeter, Thermocouple, Thermal chamber, and Power Supplies). One of the few selected by the White House Communication Agency because of demonstrated, well developed skills in infrastructure, architecture, hardware, software and networking.

9+ years - Software Developer

Used Eclipse with plug-ins to develop in J2EE, PHP, Android and BIRT reporting tool. Frequently installed, configured and programmed Servlets, JSP, Swing, Highcharts, PHP, DHTML, Ajax, CSS, JavaScript, Linux, Windows Server, CGI, C, and C++. Experienced and comfortable with OOD, design patterns and open source coding projects. Used automation technologies AutoIt, Cron Jobs, Task Scheduler, VB Script, Batch Script and Bash Script. Experienced with development for iOS devices using Objective C, Xcode, and the iPhone SDK. I install, setup, configure and use of various servers, including Jboss, SAMBA, MySQL, Tomcat and Apache. Experienced with development of database infrastructure and architecture for MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server.

6+ years - Research/Test Engineer

Gathered and finalized requirements, identified hardware and software to automate hardware testing. Communicated with the various devices using TCP, UDP, RS-232, RS-485, GPIB, DAQ and other communications protocols. Automated the generation and storing results in reports and databases. Researched latest technologies and methods for testing integrated circuits. Wrote white-papers for our vendors and management. Lead technical innovation across the enterprise for present and future business technologies. Brought together teams and mentored multiple software developers. Consulted appropriate experts and presented research findings to co-workers, management, and customers using white-papers and meetings, to explain results and recommend solutions. Lead by assisting my peers in understanding new technologies and help explain their capabilities, limitations, risks, and opportunities.

Employment History

Senior Research Engineer, USAA, Plano, TX 2014 to Present

Implemented and deployed YOURLS a URL Shortener that was rolled out to the entire Enterprise: This provides a quick way to get to locations on the network without have to type or remember long URL’s. Implemented and deployed Semantic MediaWiki a system to manage test documents: This streamlined a process by multiple days and improved supportability and maintainability. Through its template system we are now able to make a single change that affects all the documents in a related category. Supported 82 unique product lines of circuit boards, I lead an effort to: Wrote code to handle over 1100 different formats of test data, parse and insert into a MySQL database. Streamlined searches and analytics from 8 hours to 30 seconds.

Senior Test Engineer, Ducommun Inc., Tulsa, OK 2012 to 2014

Implemented and deployed YOURLS a URL Shortener that was rolled out to the entire Enterprise. As a quick way to get to locations on the network without have to type or remember long URL’s. Implemented and deployed Semantic MediaWiki a system to manage test documents: This streamlined a process by multiple days and improved supportability and maintainability. Through its template system we are now able to make a single change that affects all the documents in a related category. Supported 82 unique product lines of circuit boards, I lead an effort to: Wrote code to handle over 1100 different formats of test data, parse and insert into a MySQL database. Streamlined searches and analytics from 8 hours to 30 seconds.

Test Engineer, L-3 Communications - CSW, Salt Lake City, UT 2007 to 2012

Lead a team that designed and implemented, hardware automation test, which tested more than 50 different types of units. Lead a team that concurrently coded 3 complex automated test systems in an unusually short period of time. Researched by reverse engineering the communications protocol of 3 different circuit boards at the bit level. Engineered, and released an automated test system using TestStand/LabVIEW, PXI chassis, DAQ, RS-485, RF switches, power meter, signal generator, spectrum analyzer, thermal chamber, and power supply for 21 different part numbers. While doing this, I remained flexible to changes in requirements.

Service Mission, Little Rock, Arkansas 2005 to 2007

Served in positions of leadership where I gained experience with communicating effectively and mentoring. Designed, programmed, and implemented a MS Access database that use 76 fields per record having over 100 records generated per week to record and report key numbers.

Wideband Engineering Tech, White House Comm. Agency, US Army, Washington, D.C. 2001

to 2005
Held Top Secret Security Clearance while being honored to provide world class RF and broadband communications to the President and Vice President. I was deployed on 150 missions for a total of 1050 days.

Satellite Terminal Tech, DISC Station Landstuhl, US Army, Landstuhl, Germany 1998 to 2001

Researched how and then provided outstanding leadership in how to make upgrades our communications equipment. As a team, we designed, installed, and configured the new hardware.

Education