Rob Zimmerman:
Jack of all trades. Rob prides himself in being able to learn, adapt, and conquer. His goal is simple: identify innovative solutions and assemble the teams to build them.
Fun Fact: Rob hates talking about himself in the third person.
"Rob can write code quickly, and prototype stuff like a mad man. We've worked on projects together and stuff just gets done. That's how development should be."
Derrick Schommer
Software Developer
tools development, testing, and automation
I’ve used Python for a variety of projects ranging from library development, test automation, and fully functional SaaS applications. Python development experience has been done on all major operating systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux. Professional and open-source projects always include unit testing and CI/CD systems.
Chirps
Chirps is an open source AI security scanning tool.
My role was to architect, develop, and lead a small team in the initial implementation of the tool. Developed using Django, Chirps utilizes several techniques in order to secure vector databases and Large Language Models (LLMs).
Learn more at https://github.com/mantiumai/chirps
IPFIX / Netflow 9 Collector
While testing IPFIX and Netflow 9 for F5 Networks, we needed an in-house solution for automation. I developed a set of Python libraries for easy automation of the F5 IPFIX solution. In addition, I used Django to create a web-based GUI that manual testers, developers, and support used in their day-to-day activities.
Automation Test Harnesses
Using Django, celery, and various tools, an automation testing harness was developed for testing at Acopia Networks and F5 Networks. The harnesses executed automated tests against devices, stored results, and allowed users to review and report on test failures. The harnesses were responsible for initializing the devices under test, any supporting resources needed (HTTP servers, NFS/CIFS filers) and cleaning up those resources at the completion of the test runs.
DevHuddle
DevHuddle was a massive undertaking. I co-founded DevHuddle to tackle problems software developers experience with chat application. DevHuddle was a fully featured chat platform with tight integrations to GitHub and large language models (Google Gemini). DevHuddle brought the entire PR review cycle directly into chat, augmenting it with AI code reviews, summarization, and Q&A. Additionally, DevHuddle provided message sentiment analysis to every message that flowed through the system. This allowed DevHuddle to provide daily sentiment reports to users and workspace administrators - helping to keep team morale up!
Learn more at https://devhuddle.ai/devhuddle-2/
Pin Sheet Pro
Pin Sheet Pro is a platform for providing daily fee and tournament golfers with digital or physical hole locations. Providing a simple to use interface, Pin Sheet Pro allows course maintenance and pro shop staff to easily coordinate setting hole locations and passing that information to golfers.
Learn more at https://pinsheetpro.com
3 Up Golf: Yardage Book Marketplace
Developed the world's first golf yardage book marketplace. Provide users with tutorials on how to make their own golf yardage books using tools like Google Earth and Inkscape. Users would then be able to upload their books to the marketplace and sell them. Technology Stack: Python, Django, Stripe, Shippo, Redis, Websockets, ImageMagick
Real-Time Trading Fantasy Sports Platform
GolfTradr.com was a golf fantasy sports game. Users would buy and sell virtual shares in players in a bid to amass the highest portfolio value. The platform provided a real-time trading solution which integrated with a golf data provider for real-time stats. The platform was developed using Django, Pandas, PubNub, jQuery, and Bootstrap.
Stackzilla
Stackzilla is a Python ORM for managing application infrastructure and software. Stackzilla's object-oriented design allows for complete customization by the developer, if that level of customization is needed. For simpler deployments, Stackzilla offers an incredibly easy interface for Python developers to work with.
Learn more at https://stackzilla.dev/
Would You Like to play a game?
Game development has always been a hobby pastime. In recent years, the attention has shifted to developing titles with the intention of shipping them – novel concept, I know. Although I have developed multiple engines for 2D and 3D titles, I am now using GameMaker to focus less on the technology development and more on the title itself.
Zim's Word Game
In this fast-paced puzzle, you build words from letters as they fall from the top of the play area. Avoid letting the board fill up – otherwise it’s game over!
Along the way, build longer words for a bonus multiplier, quickly make words out of bonus tiles for additional points, and keep your eye out for the word of the day. Available on iOS, Android, and PC.
Learn more at https://zimventures.com/zims-word-game/
Dungeon Rustlers
Dungeon Rustlers is a retro dungeon crawler for the PC. Players command one of three playable classes, fight their way through 50 dungeons, and try to climb the global leader boards for time and score. The three class types play significantly different from each other, thanks to variations in attacks, special abilities, power-ups, and health.
Learn more at https://zimventures.com/dungeon-rustlers/
never scared to open a debugger
Developing C++ both professionally and on side projects, I have experience with Linux and Windows development environments. I bring expertise both in architecture design as well as an individual contributor. Quickly learning API’s and integrating them into a complete solution comes naturally.
CIFS/NFS File Validation Tool
In order to test a multi-protocol storage virtualization appliance, I developed a cross platform tool: Sibyl. Sibyl would perform file system operations on a mount point, storing metadata about all of its operations. Users could then point Sibyl to a separate mount point, presumably directly to the filer, and validate that the file system integrity was kept. Cross-compatible with Windows, Linux, and OSX.
Hardware Accelerated Photo Editing
Developed and published a Windows photo editing application. Using OpenGL, OpenCL, and Qt, Photomonkee was born. It included a robust set of editing tools, filters, as well as a plugin system whereby users could develop DLL's to extend functionality.
TCP Load Balancer
Prototype a Layer 7 TCP load balancing application to evaluate the performance of DPDK in an all-Intel hardware solution. A "happy-path" TCP stack was written from scratch along with all of the logic to leverage multi-core disaggregation of packet processing. As part of this project, the Control Plane Development Kit (CPDK) was developed. See the Python section for more details.
Password Manager
Using Win32 and MFC, developed an application to store and manage passwords.
Rob Zimmerman
With 25 years in technology, my passion is helping others work more effectively by creating innovative tools and solutions. From the first day I moved a pixel around on a Commodore 64 (in BASIC) it was love at first syntax error.
Rapidly learning new technologies is something of a pastime. There is always a “side project” going on in the background, and for good reason. Learning new technologies via a side project allows me to rapidly learn, fail, and become proficient – without adding the complexity of a structured production environment.
In the capacity of a team leader, my primary goal is always to increase the productivity of team members. That goal is achieved by providing technical leadership, automated tools and testing, and just enough humor to keep things on the lighter side. Just because we’re working doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!
The decision to hire me isn’t about putting a body on a project. Hiring me will enable your company, division, or team to become effective problem solvers and innovators.
To learn more about the roles, technologies, and responsibilities of my career: keep scrolling!
"Apart from his undeniable intelligence and technical prowess, Rob is also possessed of an exuberance and enthusiasm that is infectious and instantly ingratiates him to his coworkers. All the times our paths have crossed, Rob has shown himself to be very resourceful, thoughtful, innovative and collaborative. It is this last quality that so stood out to me, for from our first encounter through all subsequent associations, I have always been able to seek his advice, insight, and assistance which he graciously gives."
Adam Handford
Software Engineer
So what would you say....you do here?
Places I’ve worked. Companies I’ve run.
Co-Founder & CEO
November 2023 – Current
- Google Cloud Platform
- Developed Backend for Chat Application
- Integrate AI technologies into stack
- Manage day-to-day business operations
- Inbound & Outbound Marketing (email/social)
- Developed Golf Pin Sheet Application
- Contracting Services for AI companies
Staff Engineer
September 2022 – October 2023
- Lead developer on data ingestion and syncronization engine
- Developed SaaS functionality using FastAPI and Ray.io
- Developed Django-based security scanning tool (chirps)
- Extremely fast-paced development environment. Quick prototypes and POC's
Senior Software Engineer
June 2018 – April 2019
- DevOps Engineer for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure DNS team
- Extensive Docker use in both Swarm and Kubernetes deployments
- Member of the Network Automation team
- Used Chef and Ansible to deploy network configurations
Senior Platform Engineer
April 2019 – September 2022
- DevOps automation using boto3 library and Apache LibCloud
- Cross-Cloud Provisioning Tool
- Pipeline Automation using Jenkins-Job-Builder
- Utilized SQLAlchemy, SQLite, and PostgreSQL for distributed cluster information
- Build GitHub Actions for functional test and Python package publishing
Principal Software Engineer
September 2007 – January 2018
- Developed packet accelerator in C++ on Linux using DPDK (with Control Plane)
- Served as Team Technical Lead
- Built a fully functional IPFIX collector Python library supporting TCP, UDP and TLS.
- Test Lead for new protocol rollouts
- Test plan authoring & execution
- Develop and maintain python libraries for configuring and testing HA on the BIG-IP devices
- Explore new product areas and technologies for F5
Owner
January 2018 – Current
- Perform daily outbound sales activities
- Create professional websites for small businesses
- Photography work for client websites
- Maintain highly redundant server for client websites
Test Automation / Tools Development
January 2004 – September 2007
- Design, implement, and execute unit tests for product features which are currently in development.
- Create tools in PERL, and C++ to assist in the testing process. Tools were used for traffic generation, performance measurement, and feature verification.
- Acquired by F5 Networks
Owner & Operator
June 2012 – Current
As an independent golf ball company, we manufactured and sold directly to consumers via our website. Eventually closed the ball business to focus on Yardage Book Marketplace (current).
Tasks & Responsibilities included:
Social media management, communications and marketing, e-commerce management, product sourcing, web development, press engagements, trade shows, wholesale negotiations, sales staff management, graphic arts (print and digital), relationship building, philanthropic giving, finance management, and a healthy dose of time management.
Software Engineer
May 2000 – October 2000
- Defect resolution team
- Developed memory tracking tools (PERL)
- Acquired by Cisco Systems
Software Engineer
October 2000 – April 2003
- Designed and developed traffic statistics gathering for customer billing and load balancing.
- Implemented configurable garbage collection for layer 5 long-lived traffic
- Designed the transport protocol for next generation features using BSD Sockets in Linux
- Web interface test automation using Segue's Silktest
"Rob is among the best engineers I've worked with in my career. He has a gift for seeing functional gaps and coming up with novel, elegant solutions to fill those, and the drive to see even very long projects through to the end. On a personal level, he's a joy to work with; honest when he has concerns about the direction people are taking on a project, but very eloquent in how he approaches and discusses those sorts of concerns. I definitely hope I have the opportunity to work with Rob again in the future."
Colin Kirk
Senior Platform Engineer
Got Skills?
Software Development
Well versed in several languages, Rob can design, develop, test, and deploy your solution. Experienced in: C/C++, Python, Django, jQuery, Network Development, Embedded Systems, Game engine development, networked file systems, and more.
Server Administration
Having been a Linux user since the kernel fit on a floppy disk, server administration comes naturally. LAMP, high availability, basic security practices, and database administration.
Web development
It all started with a VMWare reservation system (in PERL!) back before the word Hypervisor was invented. Since then, I've written several web applications in Python (Django) using jQuery and Bootstrap.
Leadership
Technical leadership. Team building. Empowering others. All without hours of useless meetings and pointless status emails. I love to inspire others.
Photography
Sometimes, capturing the world around you is all it takes to get the creative juices flowing. Click here to view my crash course in photography vis-à-vis a 365 project.
Marketing
Social media, paid advertising, traditional media, trade shows, and exhibitions are just a small sampling of the marketing work I've done for my own businesses.
"I worked with Rob at F5 Networks (previously Acopia Networks) while he was building the next generation automated testing platform for our product. I was primarily working on feature development and we relied on the tests built by Rob's group to both exercise the features we were working on and ensure that new features weren't causing regressions. Rob was always happy to help me understand how the the tests worked, debug issues, and build new tests to exercise new features. I hope to work with Rob again at some point and if you have the chance to work with him, I highly recommend taking it."
Chris Linstid
Principal Software Engineer
Notable Software Projects
Designed and created a highly scalable chat platform for software developers. The chat platform brought the GitHub daily workflow directly into chat. Value-add AI services were layered on to help developers get from PR to merge faster. Additionally, the platform had team management and user productivity features, provided by advanced AI integrations.
Technology Stack: Python, Google Gemini, PubNub, React, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, Google Cloud Functions, Firebase, Stripe, Vector Database
In an effort to get back into the golf industry, I created a new application to help courses offer more value to their players. Pin Sheet Pro is a seamless platform for providing hole locations to daily fee players as well as tournament participants.
Technology Stack: Django, Bootstrap, Linode, PixiJS, Python, Javascript, HTMX
Designed, developed, and maintain an application stack management framework. Allows developers to completely deploy and mange their application using Python classes.
Technology Stack: Python, Jekyll, GitHub, AWS, Linode
Ported a FastAPI/SQLAlchemy security scanning tool to Django and enhanced its functionality. Users configure vector databases and execute security scans against them, testing for PII leakage.
Technology Stack: Python, Django, Bootstrap, HTMX, Redis, Pinecone, Celery
IPFIX / Netflow 9 Collector (Big Collector)
Designed and developed Python libraries enabling testers to easily automate new IPFIX functionality in F5 products. In addition, a web-based collector was developed (in Django) to manually analyze IPFIX and NetFlow traffic.
Technology Stack: Django, Various Python Libraries
Software-Based l7 load balancer (Proximus)
Prototyped an all-Intel based packet load balancing application. The goal was to test best-case throughput rates for fully proxied Layer 7 connections. TCP stack was written in C++ on Linux. DPDK was used for disaggregation and other packet routing features. Separate control plane project developed (outlined below) for configuration. GDB was used for debugging. Build platform based on CMake.
Technology Stack: C++ (GCC & CMake) , DPDK, Boost, GTest
python-based configurable control plane (CPDK)
The Control Plane Development Kit (CPDK) was a set of tools I created that enables developers to easily implement a control-plane for networking devices. SQLAlchemy and Python were used to create the CLI, database store, and C++ bindings for the fast-path to communicate with the control plane. In addition, I mentored a junior developer as he implemented an HA solution for the various daemons.
Technology Stack: Python, SQLAlchemy, C++ (GCC), CMake
published game developer
Co-Developed Dungeon Rustlers, a PC game released on Steam. Solo designed and developed Zim’s Word Game for iOS, Android, and PC.
Technology Stack: Game Maker Studio 2, GitHub, xcode
Real-time golf fantasy trading website (GolfTradr.com)
Fantasy golf is largely a pick-em-and-hope type of game. I developed GolfTradr to add more excitement to the fantasy golf experience. Players bid on golfers and receive shares in a dutch-auction style IPO. Once the tournament starts, players buy and sell shares in their players, in real-time. The entire site was developed in Python using Django, Pandas, and PubNub for real-time notifications.
Technology Stack: Django, Pandas, PubNub, jQuery, Bootstrap, Dwolla, PostgreSQL
Photo Editing Software (PhotoMonkee)
Built a fully functional, hardware accelerated, photo editing solution. It was mostly an excuse to learn SIMD style programming using OpenCL. In real-time, users can apply complex filters to images which would use the underlying hardware to process. In addition, basic editing capabilities were also included.
Technology Stack: Qt, OpenCL, OpenGL, C++ (Visual Studio), LimeLM (licensing)
automated testing harness
Developed an automated testing harness allowing testers to submit jobs to a queue. The harness managed multiple testing environments, reporting results to a database, and a complete web UI for filtering results and triage. This work was done in Python using Django. Front-end work done using Bootstrap and jQuery.
Technology Stack: Django, jQuery, Bootstrap, In-House Python Libraries
file system integrity verification (Sibyl)
Cross-platform C++ utility that performed file system operations using the Win32 and LIBC APIs. Sibyl would store a complete database of metadata information for each file system object (file, directory, soft links, hard links). The tool was used extensively in testing a file system vitalization product sold by Acopia Networks. Cross-platform across Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
Technology Stack: C++ (GCC & Visual Studio), SQLite
LAMP Backup utility (Mr Freeze)
A Python script designed to obtain snapshots of MySQL databases and rsync file system directories for website hosts. Allows for various intervals to be configured and rolling snapshot lifetimes. Maintained as an open source project on GitHub and used in production on my own web hosting solution.
Technology Stack: Python
F5 HA Testing Python Libraries (Halib)
Developed a library of Python modules which allowed testers to easily add HA functionality to their automated tests. The modules obfuscated the underlying configuration mechanism (TMSH, SOAP, REST) and greatly simplified the process of HA testing.
Technology Stack: Python
"I worked with Rob when he started his career at Arrowpoint Communications. As a young engineer, he was always inquisitive and quick to absorb new technologies. Over time, I have seen him develop into a seasoned industry veteran. His entrepreneurial spirit is evident with multiple ventures inside and outside of his chosen profession. Without hesitation, I would highly recommend him."
Kevin Bowen
Senior Release Engineer / Technical Lead
Prospective employers
What Is Rob Looking For Next?
Cutting edge systems
My ideal position involves working with cutting edge tools, environments, and technologies. That being said - sometimes legacy systems can be engaging too. Solving interesting problems is just as fun as cutting edge platforms.
extreme ownership
Working with teams who take complete ownership of their work is extremely rewarding. I bring enthusiasm, a zest for learning, and love for creating software. Working along side those who share those traits is a huge plus.
Skip The cube farm
I'm just as productive in a coffee shop as I would be in the office. Having some flexibility with regards to a working schedule would go a long way. Nobody likes being in a cell under florescent light for 9 hours a day!
I had the pleasure of working alongside Rob for several years and I can honestly tell you that he is the best there is. His “teach a man to fish” attitude makes us all more productive in our jobs and valuable employees.
Always willing to accept a challenge, Rob thrives on the more difficult tasks that the rest of us struggle with. Even if it is an area that Rob is unfamiliar with and no resources are available, he will make the effort to become proficient in that area and find an excellent solution.
Skills that have seen Rob excel at include design, coding, troubleshooting, leadership and innovation, to name a few. If I were in a position to hire for just about any job, Rob would be at the top of my list.
Always willing to accept a challenge, Rob thrives on the more difficult tasks that the rest of us struggle with. Even if it is an area that Rob is unfamiliar with and no resources are available, he will make the effort to become proficient in that area and find an excellent solution.
Skills that have seen Rob excel at include design, coding, troubleshooting, leadership and innovation, to name a few. If I were in a position to hire for just about any job, Rob would be at the top of my list.
Dave Wilder
Principal QA Engineer