Jay is available for hire
Hire JayJay Brown
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Long Beach, CA, United States
Toptal member since October 7, 2019
Bio
With more than 30 years of software development experience, Jay has spent his career designing and building enterprise back-end and mid-tier applications, protocols, and APIs. He is also skilled in deploying and operating self-hosted language models for privacy, cost control, offline operation, and infrastructure independence. He holds multiple U.S. patents, authored a Manning book on Apache OpenCMIS API development, and founded and operates radio-archive.org.
Portfolio
Freelance
Go, Kubernetes, Linux, C, Bash, Protobuf, REST APIs, API Architecture...
radio-archive.org
C, C++, Python, Go
Veritone Corporation
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux, Redis, Apache Kafka, Go, Code Architecture...
Experience
- Code Architecture - 20 years
- Interviewing - 20 years
- API Architecture - 20 years
- Architecture - 15 years
- Writing & Editing - 12 years
- Go - 10 years
- Linux - 10 years
- REST APIs - 10 years
Work Experience
Independent Contractor
2019 - PRESENT
Freelance
- Designed, built, deployed, and managed distributed systems in Golang for various clients.
- Replaced various back-end JavaScript systems with more stable, maintainable, and monitored Golang services.
- Reduced downtime, as well as maintenance and AWS costs by replacing fragile inefficient back-end services with more stable and scaleable equivalents.
- Redesigned processing pipelines and APIs to decrease fragility, increase redundancy, and decrease operational costs.
- Designed and implemented software-defined radio systems for various signal processing applications.
Technologies: Go, Kubernetes, Linux, C, Bash, Protobuf, REST APIs, API Architecture, Code Architecture, Architecture, Writing & Editing, Redis, Git, Distributed Systems, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), MacOS, Docker, APIs, REST, JSON REST APIs, Back-end, Digital Signal Processing
Founder
2016 - PRESENT
radio-archive.org
- Designed an SDR (software-defined radio) based spectrum capture application that enables the wholesale collection of AM and FM broadcasts for an entire geographic region at once at a fraction of the cost of current multi-tuner methods.
- Managed a multi-year 24/7 radio collection effort spanning all AM and FM stations in the Los Angeles area.
- Designed a transcription appliance that can transcribe audio for 1/5th to 1/10th of the cost of cloud-based services.
Technologies: C, C++, Python, Go
Principal Architect
2017 - 2019
Veritone Corporation
- Served as a principal architect and was responsible for company-wide design and the review of new systems.
- Acted as the lead developer and designer for some key back-end distributed systems (Go), e.g., managing the elastic scaling of EC2 resources based on measured Kafka lags.
- Interviewed candidates for senior positions in engineering.
- Designed, contributed, and led a team in building and deploying an on-prem cognitive batch processing system for a top-five international media company.
- Designed and developed a SaaS AI computing platform in Go for real-time use. The system went from a more than 15-minute latency to less than 15 seconds after completion and then handled thousands of parallel video streams for chains of functions.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux, Redis, Apache Kafka, Go, Code Architecture, Interviewing, Architecture, Writing & Editing, Bash, API Architecture, Git, REST APIs, Distributed Systems, MacOS, Docker, APIs, REST, JSON REST APIs, Back-end
Senior Software Engineer
2006 - 2017
IBM
- Worked as a mid-tier, back-end, protocol, and API designer and developer (Java). Designed a code generator that reads a database schema and produces the entire API for a $500 million ECM product.
- Designed and led a geographically distributed (US and China) team to build the Java API for IBM Content Navigator. This API was then used to build the Android mobile client for IBM Content Navigator as well (shipped in 2016).
- Designed, developed, and published the OASIS CMIS protocol (role: OASIS technical committee member).
- Spearheaded the CMIS testing effort with internal and external teams (industry participants, e.g., Microsoft, Oracle, and others).
- Designed and led an international team (US and India) to develop, ship, and support a server based on CMIS (Java Servlet). The system is in use today in hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies worldwide.
- Authored a book (with Manning Press) on CMIS to increase adoption and promote the specification.
- Led a team building ECM APIs for an Android application.
- Contributed to Apache Chemistry at Apache Software Foundation (2011-2016).
Technologies: Go, ECM, Android, Code Architecture, Interviewing, Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Architecture, Writing & Editing, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bash, API Architecture, Git, Python, REST APIs, Distributed Systems, Kubernetes, MacOS, APIs, REST, JSON REST APIs, Java Development Kit (JDK)
Principal Engineer
1999 - 2006
FileNet Corporation
- Designed and built Java and .NET APIs for FileNet Content Manager. These are the foundation of thousands of Fortune 1000 production applications that interact today with IBM's FileNet P8 ECM system, including all of IBM's in-house ECM applications.
- Served as a member of the architecture steering committee.
- Designed and developed a dynamic code generation engine to produce clean/consistent consumable interfaces to the Content Manager APIs.
- Built P8 administrative tools (C++/COM) for the Windows management console.
- Designed a C++ COM wrapper library that would automatically marshal COM objects across thread/apartment boundaries and manage reference counts. The wrapper greatly simplified multithreaded COM programming issues for the rest of the team.
- Designed automated DevOps tools and frameworks for the P8 team.
- Acted as a technical leader of large teams of remote developers.
Technologies: C#, Java, Microsoft Component Object Model (COM), C++, Code Architecture, Interviewing, Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Architecture, Writing & Editing, ECM, Bash
Software Engineer
1993 - 1999
GE Capital
- Served as the sole designer and developer of the GE automated callback system. Once deployed it handled 5,000-10,000 calls per day—quoting hold times and calling back customers when their position in call queue was up. (Prior to this being a common thing in call centers.) It also involved reverse engineering ATT libraries.
- Designed and built a control library for AT&T Definity G3 Switch for the above-mentioned system.
- Designed a cron-like automation infrastructure used for lights out/batch processing in multiple GECMC data centers.
- Designed and supported 1,500 machine LAN network for a call center.
- Developed Windows applications used by customer service reps for accessing customer data directly from the mainframe.
Technologies: C++, C, Architecture, Bash
Programmer Analyst
1989 - 1993
Shearson Lehman Mortgage
- Designed and built a custom TCP/IP router application for AS/400 (ILE 4 C).
- Served as a system administrator for a large SCO Unix system and NetWare networks.
- Designed and automated the rollout of a company-wide MS Windows installation.
- Developed in-house OS/2 and Windows applications. (C/C++).
Technologies: OS/2, Windows, C++, C, Architecture, Bash
Project History
Book: CMIS and Apache Chemistry in Action
https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/1617291153Published by Manning on January 1, 2013
Authors: Jay Brown, Florian Müller, and Jeff Potts
The comprehensive guide to the CMIS standard/protocol and developing with Apache Chemistry. (ISBN: 1617291153)
Authors: Jay Brown, Florian Müller, and Jeff Potts
The comprehensive guide to the CMIS standard/protocol and developing with Apache Chemistry. (ISBN: 1617291153)
Apache Chemistry
https://chemistry.apache.org/?utm_medium=emailFrom 2011 to 2016, I was a contributor to the Apache Chemistry project. I made various significant code contributions, as well as documentation, for the project. Parts of this were used in the book we published as well.
Standard: Oasis CMIS
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cmis/CMIS/v1.1/CMIS-v1.1.htmlFrom 2008-2016, I was an initial contributor and participant for CMIS 1.0 and 1.1 (writing significant sections for 1.1).
US Patent: Method for Decreasing Battery Power Consumption in Mobile Communication Devices
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9253737B2United States Patent: US 9253737 (Granted Feb 2, 2016)
Inventors: Jay Brown, Tom Watson
Inventors: Jay Brown, Tom Watson
CMIS Server Development Guide
Creative Commons (CC-BY)
Published on November 6, 2013
Authors: Jay Brown, Florian Müller
The companion guidebook for building CMIS servers using the OpenCMIS server framework. It includes a working (Apache 2 licensed) Java servlet that can be copied as a template to build your own CMIS server adapters.
Published on November 6, 2013
Authors: Jay Brown, Florian Müller
The companion guidebook for building CMIS servers using the OpenCMIS server framework. It includes a working (Apache 2 licensed) Java servlet that can be copied as a template to build your own CMIS server adapters.
US Patent: Apparatus, System and Method for Dynamic Database-driven Document Synchronization
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7966287United States Patent: US 7966287 (Granted June 21, 2011)
Inventors: Jay Brown
Inventors: Jay Brown
US Patent: Unmanned Vehicle Movement Path Assignment and Management
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9898932B2/en?oq=9898932United States Patent: US 9898932B2 (Granted Feb 20, 2018)
Patent Pending: Method of Migrating Electronic Document Version Content and Version Metadata as a Collection with a Single Operation
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110239231A1/United States Patent Application: US 20110239231 A1
(Pending USPTO)
(Pending USPTO)
Code Generator for IBM P8 API
Designed a way to generate the IBM P8 APIs from a metadata database. I wrote the first version of the generator myself, making it possible for us to generate additional language bindings. This led to us adding a second C# version of the API, which we could now do with minimal additional effort. Both of these APIs are still used today by thousands of international enterprises.
The radio-archive.org
https://radio-archive.orgFounder and sole engineer for a 10-year collection of all radio broadcasts (AM and FM) from Los Angeles as a demonstration of my SDR-based bulk radio collection tools.
From the site: A time machine for radio
Imagine a radio time machine that allows you to tune in to any AM or FM channel and listen live. Then, staying on that channel, shift to any moment in the last decade by adjusting the year, month, day, hour, and minute on an additional time dial. Then, add the ability to perform text searches across all those years of broadcasts for any phrases in programs or advertisements and immediately access them for playback. (see demo below)
We have built a portable radio spectrum recorder that gives you this freedom. You'll have direct access to every moment of the broadcast past, including talk shows, news, commercials, and music. All of this is made available through text-searchable and time-encoded transcripts, accompanied by the original audio for analysis and research. see http://radio-archive.org/
From the site: A time machine for radio
Imagine a radio time machine that allows you to tune in to any AM or FM channel and listen live. Then, staying on that channel, shift to any moment in the last decade by adjusting the year, month, day, hour, and minute on an additional time dial. Then, add the ability to perform text searches across all those years of broadcasts for any phrases in programs or advertisements and immediately access them for playback. (see demo below)
We have built a portable radio spectrum recorder that gives you this freedom. You'll have direct access to every moment of the broadcast past, including talk shows, news, commercials, and music. All of this is made available through text-searchable and time-encoded transcripts, accompanied by the original audio for analysis and research. see http://radio-archive.org/
Education
1986 - 1989
Completed Credits Towards a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
University of California, Riverside - Riverside, CA, USA
Certifications
JULY 2015 - JULY 2025
Amateur Operator License (General & Technician Classes)
FCC
OCTOBER 1989 - PRESENT
SCO UNIX System Administration
Ingram Micro-D
Skills
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, Protobuf
Tools
Git, Subversion (SVN), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Java Development Kit (JDK), Amazon Cognito
Languages
Go, Java, Bash, C, C#, Python, C++, GraphQL, SQL
Paradigms
API Architecture, REST, Microservices
Platforms
MacOS, Linux, Docker, Windows, Android, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Kafka, Kubernetes
Frameworks
Swagger
Storage
Redis, PostgreSQL
Other
ECM, Interviewing, Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Code Architecture, Architecture, Writing & Editing, Distributed Systems, APIs, JSON REST APIs, Back-end, Software Architecture, Software Design, Solution Architecture, Technical Leadership, Microsoft Component Object Model (COM), OS/2, Digital Signal Processing, Code Generators, AI Tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI), User Authentication, Authorization
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