David R. MacIver

• david.maciver@gmail.com
• http://drmaciver.com

Me

I'm a data geek with a strong background in mathematics and software engineering. I did a masters degree in mathematics, then reinvented myself as a software engineer. Since then I've worked on a variety of projects, but these days I'm most interested in data analysis on large bodies of unstructured information and helping people cope with the information fire-hose.

Employment

Statistical Contracting for Wordtracker (June 2009 to Present)

I've been working part time with Wordtracker to help them run some additional analyses on their data.

Engineer and Researcher for Trampoline Systems (August 2007 to September 2009)

My most important role at Trampoline has been as the primary researcher and implementer of SONAR, which does natural language processing and social network analysis on corporate email and document systems. I made the system simpler to understand, produce higher quality results and scale more effectively. I learned a lot working on it, both in terms of specific theoretical tools and the practical side of building such systems (such as when not to trust computer science researchers claims...).

Prior to that I worked on our social network visualisation software. We developed Metascope, a tool for ONA consultants to help them better work with their survey data, in tandem with a partner company. They report that it has simplified their work flow immensely. We then built SONAR Expertise, which takes the ideas and technology of Metascope and integrates them with SONAR to provide a high level visualisation of a company's social structure.

Engineer for Softwire (February 2006 to July 2007)

This was my first job in software. While there, I worked with others on several projects for different clients. I picked things up pretty quickly, initially starting with front end work then moving into a mix of back end and front end work as I learned more. The laundry list of tech is fairly standard stuff for a Java shop: Spring, Hibernate, iBatis, Oracle, JBoss, etc. I always worked in teams while there and was often responsible for helping out new starters on a team. By the end of it I had been given responsibility over several key parts of projects, including the statistics reporting subsystem for an ePublishing site, the security model for the same and a UI redesign for an internal data inventory system for a public safety provider.

Education

Pembroke College, University of Cambridge (2001 - 2005)

I did my degree in mathematics. I received Class I Honours in my BA and Merit in my Part III (equivalent to an MA)

Fun Facts

Tech

• I'm a bit of a languages geek. I mostly write Ruby at the moment, but I'm using C increasingly often and am familiar with and regularly use R for statistics and visualisation. In the past I've written a lot of Java, Haskell and Scala. I still use them on occasion and remain fairly proficient, but it's no longer a regular occurrence. I use bash, awk and sed constantly but not to any great depth. I've also tinkered around with a pile of other languages, but not to a degree where it's interesting to comment on specific ones.
• I've written far more SQL than I'd care to admit. I primarily use PostgreSQL these days, but have used MySQL and Oracle extensively in the past.
• For some time I was an external maintainer for the Scala compiler and standard library. I primarily did bug fixing, but worked on a fair bit of code cleanup and contributed to the design and implementation of the collections API.
• I write a lot of open source code. Much of it isn't very useful, but I tinker constantly and believe open sourcing it is the right default. You can see some of it at my github page

Non-tech

• I occasionally tutor mathematics. A part time job during university which I've continued in my spare time since.
• My flat looks like a library. I read a lot: Mainly fiction, but with a decent mix of computer science, mathematics and general non-fiction.
• I write extensively. People even seem to read it. Programming, micro-fiction and cooking, mostly published on my blog.
• I cook elaborately. Cooking is the closest I get to playing mad scientist these days. I'm vegetarian, and love to experiment with variations and ideas for new recipes.
• I'm a professionally trained massage therapist. I'm not qualified to practise, but I find it's a great way to deal with stress and help others do the same.
• I'm a dual citizen, American and British, so free to work pretty much anywhere in the USA or EU.