Sam Johnson
github.com/sam0x17
ROLES
Tech Lead
2017 - 2022
Specialize in managing remote teams, providing constructive code reviews, leveling up junior developers through mentoring, and balancing quality and performance with stakeholder needs and deadlines.
Software Engineer
Since 2007
Have developed software professionally and on an open-source basis for over a decade.
Research Computer Scientist
2013-2020
Was involved in numerous DoD and DoE-funded research projects involving artificial neural networks, computer vision, distributed systems, and static analysis.
TECH SKILLS
- Rust
- Ruby
- Crystal
- C/C++
- Python
- JavaScript
- NodeJS
- PostgreSQL
- PHP
- Java
- HTML
- CSS
- SQL
- Rails
- AWS
- GCP
- Deep Learning
- Blockchain
- Algorithms
- Data Structures
- Computer Vision
- Compilers
CONTACT INFO
- Maryland, USA
- https://sam0x17.dev
- github.com/sam0x17
- sam@durosoft.com
EDUCATION
Brown University
2017 | Master of Science in Computer Science
Dickinson College
2014 | Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
2014 | Bachelor of Science in Philosophy
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
DuroSoft, LLC
September 2016 - Present | Owner
Consulting in Rust, Blockchain, Distributed Systems, Web, AI
High profile clients in the Polkadot, Solana, and Cardano ecosystems.
Parity Technologies
Aug 2022 – Nov 2023 | Rust Core Runtime Developer
Rust, Blockchain, Distributed Systems, Rust Macros, Static Analysis
Worked directly with Gavin Wood (original Ethereum CTO) on the Polkadot blockchain ecosystem as a core member of the FRAME team
Authored "benchmarking v2" syntax, the pallet tasks API, and numerous other additions to FRAME
Arist (YC 'S20)
Sep 2020 – July 2022 | CTO
Ruby, Rust, Lambda/Serverless, PostgreSQL, NodeJS, AWS
Led ground-up rebuild of core platform and obtained SOC-2 Type II within first 12 months
Scaled up processes and systems to handle exponential growth and web-scale messaging traffic
Hired and managed a team of 11+ engineers
Guided Arist through seed round and a $24m combo Series A+B round led by Peakspan Capital
Platform is now used at 20% of the Fortune 500
Kagi
Feb 2020 – Sep 2020 | Tech Lead
Crystal, Rust, PostgreSQL, JavaScript, GCP, AWS
Hired and managed a team of 6 software engineers
Architected web-scale, global, low-latency infrastructure for a privacy oriented search engine
Developed distributed approach to scrape Bing and Google search with low latency at scale
BlockVue Inc.
May 2017 – November 2019 | CTO
Crystal, Deep Learning, Ruby/Rails, PostgreSQL, NodeJS, AWS
Managed and mentored a team of 5 engineers across three web and one mobile product
Designed serverless Rails app and frontend that drives 360 degree CRE virtual tour platform
Leveraged artificial neural networks to automatically generate and furnish 3D scenes from floorplans
Starburst Labs Inc.
Sep 2015 – Apr 2017 | Software Engineer
Ruby/Rails, CoffeeScript, Lambda, NodeJS, PostgreSQL, C++
Major contributor to Rails-based CRM for financial advisors (WealthBox)
Wrote high performance PostgreSQL queries and indexing schemes
Developed high-speed database anonymizer in C++
Applications Online, LLC
Aug 2014 – May 2015 | Software Engineer
Ruby/Rails, SASS, CoffeeScript, JQuery, PostgreSQL, Heroku
Major contributor to Rails-based college application platform used by Harvard, JHU, Princeton, etc.
Mentored junior developers and made architecture decisions across a suite of high-traffic products
Developed an analytics product that provided in-depth multi-tenant traffic analysis for college applications
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport
Jul 2017 – Feb 2020 | Scientist | SMART Recipient
Deep Learning, C/C++, Python, Rust, Cafe, R-CNN
deep learning • computer vision • machine learning • automated target recognition • algorithms development
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
2014 - 2015 | NREIP Recipient
Deep Learning, C/C++, Java, Python, Ruby, SciRuby
Founded the RAPTOR computer vision project, which trains neural networks on synthetic high quality 3D renderings for object detection and 3D pose estimation
Assisted AI research team in dissecting Pedro Domingos' infamous Sum Product Networks paper
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
2014 - 2015 | DHS HS-STEM Recipient
Rose Compiler Framework, C/C++, Java
Worked with ROSE compiler team to add static analysis code security "checkers" to Compass
Devised a novel technique for efficient memory leak detection in C/C++ code
Received medal for placing in top 10% at the LLNL 2013 Summer Research Symposium
OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS
WIP alternative to David Tolnay's syn/proc-macro2 ecosystem focused on dev UX and exotic syntax parsing
Foundational Rust crate that enables importing tokens from foreign items when writing Rust proc macros
Rust crate that allows developers to dynamically embed code samples from elsewhere in a Rust project directly within doc comments and markdown files
Rust crate that simulates default associated types and (to a lesser extent) const function trait items in stable Rust
Rust crate that provides a facility for interning arbitrary types
A C++ driver I wrote that allows disabled users or those who prefer Nintendo Joycons as an input device to use Joycons as a virtual Xbox controller in Microsoft Windows.
PUBLICATIONS
- Johnson, Samuel, "Fast Type-based Indexing and Querying of Dynamic Hierarchical Data" (2017). Brown University Computer Science Master's Theses. https://cs.brown.edu/research/pubs/theses/masters/2017/kelly.samuel.pdf
- Kelly, Samuel, "Toward Decentralized Code Signing: A Legal Framework for Ensuring Software Integrity" (2017). DuroSoft Technical Reports. Paper 001. https://github.com/DuroSoft/PeerSign/blob/master/paper.pdf
- Kelly, Samuel, Jeff Byers, and David W Aha, "RAPTOR Technical Report" (2014). AIC-15-031. https://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/aic/content/raptor-technical-report
- Kelly, Samuel, "AST Indexing: A Near-Constant Time Solution to the Get-Descendants-by-Type Problem" (2014). Dickinson College Honors Theses. Paper 147. https://dickinson.hykucommons.org/concern/etds/97a2026c-684f-4fbc-82eb-6241931a1897