View My VisualCV Online: http://www.visualcv.com/guruvan

Objective

I always welcome guest blogging opportunities. You can view my work on My Blog link above. I'm am also available for professional application testing, bug-reporting and reviews.

Currently I'm looking for a permanent position, as well, either with an early stage startup company, or a high growth team in a publicly traded company. 

I'm really looking for more Marketing & Evangelism oriented positions. I have a great deal of technical expertise that I can leverage both in-house and in the user community to drive adoption of new technologies.


Summary

A career network engineer, I began my career designing system architectures to support Internet access. That focus has given me broad experience in the many facets of large scale, mission critical, enterprise networks, from throughput to latency management to data security. I specialize in Linux platforms and IP technology in addition to virtualization techniques. I have managed data center build-out projects, corporate moves, product roll-outs, and many enterprise-level “fork-lift” upgrades. I've also built and run my own businesses, ranging from Systems Integration/VAR to Internet-centric meeting places.

My career experience means that I can anticipate and troubleshoot just about any situation that can threaten your system; and if your business is growing, I can prioritize your network build-out ensuring that your platform is scalable, stable and secure. I understand where these technologies came from, how they have grown and what the trouble spots are. My communication skills are excellent, my work ethic is exemplary, and I can work well in many organizational configurations.

Work History

PeopleBrowsr, Inc

Other, United States
May 2009 - Present
Community Manager / Systems Administrator 

Self Employed / Blogger / Consultant

Jan 2009 - Present
Social Media Consultant & Evangelist 

I consult with small businesses, artists, and musicians who want to use social media and traditional web media to enhance their careers, and businesses. 

 

Current Consulting Projects


Matt Jones, Artist 

 

  • Assist web developer in integration of various social lifestreams into Matt's website and blog. (Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, Youtube, etc) 
  • Integrate lifestream publishing across multiple social networks for maximum exposure and simplicity of use from a single interface.
  • Assist Matt in developing habits that promote successful, engaging lifestreaming. 

 

 

As a blogger, I often offer opinions and insight into the businesses in the social media landscape. Articles range from application reviews, to op-ed pieces on services, technology trends, and search and advertising opportunities.  

I'm an evangelist for products and services that I use, and provide expert-level application testing, bug-reporting, and reviews. 

 

 

Self Employed / Consultant

Dec 2004 - Present
Network Engineer / Systems Administrator 

Systems Architecture & Administration
Capacity planning / scalability
WAN design & Security
Corporate Mobility solutions

Operating Systems
Linux (gentoo, Slackware, knoppix, Debian, RedHat, Ubuntu) BSDI, Solaris, SCO, UnixWare, HP-UX, IRIX, Digital UNIX, Windows 3.0 through 2K3/Vista, Novell Netware, Mac OSX, Mac OS9, VMware Workstation/Server

Network Security
Linux IPTables, Checkpoint FW1, VPNs, WAP, WEP, PPTP, various intrusion detection systems, Cisco PIX & VPN3000, Sniffer/Protocol Analyzers

Network Protocols
FTP, HTTP, NNTP, NTP, DHCP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, Radius, DNS, WINS, NFS, CIFS, NIS, TCP, UDP, IP, RIP, OSPF, ATM, Frame relay, Ethernet, PPP, much more

Hardware Platforms
Cisco, Nortel, and Lucent routers and switches,
Intel, Dell, HP, Compaq, AMD, Sun, SGI, DEC, and Mac - workstations and servers, Network Appliance (for mixed NFS/CIFS environments), Terminal servers, modem banks, telephone channel banks, PBX, other telecom equip.

The Village Oracle

2001 - 2004
Partner 
The Village Oracle was a large cyber-café in Nothern California. We had a very eclectic clientele, ranging from internationally known fine artists, to movers and shakers in the electronic music industry, fans, and area locals.

We provided a stopping point for regular travelers on the West Coast, where they could get everything from a home-cooked organic meal, to internet access, to a luxurious environment that felt more like home than many of their homes!

The Village Oracle was well-known for it's Art Shows as well, hanging shows from local Mt. Shasta area artists and internationally known painters. Art sales made up a huge portion of the cafés revenues. Paintings and sculptures sold for anywhere up to $10,000.

My personal responsibilities included:

Design & Architecture of the cyber-café environment
Design & Code jukebox
Curate & Install for Art Shows
Head Barista - selection of coffee blends, training staff
Evening Manager on Duty for the Café
Part-time chef

INTERNOC

1995 - 2000
President, CEO 
INTERNOC provided service to startup Internet Providers during the earliest days of the dotcom boom. We provided "growth management" consulting, network design, administration, and end-user technical support. INTERNOC was the only such provider services in Texas at the time, with clients statewide.

We were actively involved in beta-testing new carrier equipment, and installed the First Commercial DSL line in Texas. We saved not only our own clients, but other Texas ISPs millions of dollars through our interpretation of Tariffs filed by LECs. We leveraged our relationship with the Texas PUC to ensure that ISPs were recognized as carriers, not consumers, increasing ISP profit margins easily by 30%

INTERNOC was also very involved in the early planning stages of the restructuring of the Domain Name System. We worked to protect the interests of the public and of smaller carriers as the original MoU transferred control of the DNS from the US Government (and IANA) to what became ICANN.

Flycast Communications, Inc.

Sep 1997 - May 1999
Network Operations Manager 
I joined Flycast in a very critical stage of it's early life. Flycast developed bleeding edge ad-serving technology, brokering online ad space in real-time. As the NetOps Manager, I worked closely with the developers to move from a monolithic system to a large heterogeneous server farm.

A hands-on manager, I was responsible for all aspects of the Production networks. I led my team through build-outs of several co-located production data center sites, as well as the development data center in our SF offices, contracting with Data Center providers, managing telecom contracts, and actually installing hardware and circuits. We worked very closely with the development team to streamline and tune software and hardware, implement configuration management techniques. Working with Sales & Marketing we developed incident reporting and notification procedures.

By the time I left Flycast, it had grown from a privately held 20 person operation, to a hugely successful public corporation.

University of Texas at San Antonio

Oct 1990 - Oct 1994
Acedemic Computing Support Specialst 


Supported all off-campus network environments

Became nearly single point of contact for over 2000 administrative users.
Oversaw deployment of all desktop computers & networks
Developed automated distribution methods for anti-virus tools

Supervised staff of several Desktop Support technicians
Consulted with research faculty on special projects and supercomputing needs
Developed and maintained a 30 seat computing classroom used to train faculty and staff in several different operating environments

Education

1987 - 1989
English, Philosophy

The University of Texas at San Antonio

1990 - 1991
English, Philosophy

 

Thar's Gold in Them Thar Streams

Gold_Dredger

A recent blog article delving into the possiblities opened up by Facebook's release of their Open Stream API. Explores advertising possibilities within 3rd Party multi social network clients.

Use FriendFeed: Listen and be Heard

friendfeed_logo

A blog article in Reponse to another blogger's reluctance to actively use FriendFeed. as opposed to just using it as a "passive" publishing notification system. Suggests taking an active role in the FriendFeed community is one way to drive more traffic to blogsites.

The Mine is Caving in on Twitter's Gold

Find_The_Missing_Gold

This article addresses how Twitter is quickly sealing its own fate by paying more attention to its own hype that it's technical and business fundamentals.

References

Jodee Rich

(Professional)
Project Leader PeopleBrowsr

 

“Highly recommend Rob as a smart, thorough advisor with awesome communication skills. He has a positive approach to problem solving and is a valued team member.

 

Rick Thompson

(Superior)
Principal Signia Ventures, LLC Chairman Playdom, Inc

 

“Rob is not only an expert technologist, but a highly motivated and motivating manager. He was instrumental in turning around our production systems, which were in still in very developmental stages when he came on board. Rob worked tirelessly with multi-departmental teams to see personally to the success or our technology, business, and the success of individual members of our company. He brings the knowledge of the early designs of IP and Linux, and absorbs new technologies at lightning speed. His energy and excitement for the project were inspirational to the entire company. I would be delighted to have Rob work with me again.”


Jonathan Miller

(Peer)
Managing Partner Sino American Ventures

 

“Rob has a strong technology background, having worked at many successful ventures, combined with a keen business sense. I first met Rob while working at Flycast and have tapped him on several projects since to help guide our strategies. I recommend Rob as a strong technology executive.”

Dylan Salisbury

(Peer)
Senior Software Development Engineer Tellme, a Microsoft Subsidiary

“Rob helped Flycast's operations grow from a start-up into a true world-class production network. Rob was always very cool under pressure and easy to work with, even during long rollouts or unplanned incidents. Rob also helped the greener members of the development team (such as myself) understand how production networks and services should be built out. I would love to work with Rob again.”

 

More about Rob

Rob Nelson's Profile Photo

More about Rob from his blogsite

 

Rob resides in New York, loves to travel, and is and avid bicycle tourist. He trains both horses and dogs in his spare time, and is a master middle-eastern percussionist.

 

You can connect with Rob on almost any social network, finding him pretty much everywhere online as guruvan. The easiest ways to find Rob are via his profile on Google or catch him on FriendFeed.