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Note: I am now retired, I
am not seeking employment, nor am I updating my résumé other than
to show my current address. The résumé below is a narrative description
of who I am and what I can do.
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Lionel E. Deimel
11 East Main Street, Apartment 516
Clifton Springs, New York 14432
Let me introduce myself
My name is Lionel Deimel, and
I’m a generalist whose most conspicuous skills are related to computers and to
writing. I like to operate in an environment where I can employ a constellation
of talents to accomplish a goal, and where quality work is valued.
What I can do for you
I can fill any of a number of
roles, including that of teacher/trainer, analyst/critic, software engineer,
user consultant, writer, and editor. A position that uses me most effectively
would require that I play several related roles. This could mean doing several
jobs for which it is impractical to hire more than one person, particularly in
our current economic environment. I could also take on a more complex assignment
or be a resource to others. Although it would be attractive to work in a
software development environment where my software engineering and communication
skills could be combined, I could also help end-users be more productive with
their computing resources, as I have found this to be a satisfying activity as a
consultant. I could happily work in a more purely communications position,
particularly one involving advocacy of ideas I could believe in.
Who I am
I am a computer scientist with
a strong background in science and mathematics. I am also an excellent writer,
editor, reviewer, and critic, who values clear thinking and is acutely sensitive
to the subtleties of expression. I am a good teacher, trainer, and organizer.
Because I both enjoy working with colleagues and appreciate the synergy arising
from collaboration, I prefer leadership to management. I have a talent for
teasing the best out of individuals or small groups by asking critical questions
or by offering unexpected insights. I try to resolve conflicts so that everyone
achieves more than he or she thought possible.
I am interested in
ideas, art, and music, and I have always thought of myself as an
intellectual. I enjoy working with a variety of people, however, greatly
appreciate the practical, and, people tell me, have a good deal of
common sense. Because I enjoy helping others, people find me a patient
teacher.
What I really care about
My academic background, and particularly my
mathematical training, has made me a problem-solver. When others focus
on content details, I often find it useful either to generalize the
problem and model it or to simplify the problem by eliminating elements
that seem extraneous. When working with others, especially in
non-technical contexts, I often find that the two most important
questions are “what problem are we solving?” and “what would an
acceptable solution look like?” That latter question sometimes comes
down to “who needs what?”
I like to make things, and I derive deep
satisfaction from the beauty that can inhabit them. I appreciate the
elegance of a clever proof, the transparency of a well-designed user
interface, and the communication of just the right shade of meaning
through judicial word choice in an essay. This aesthetic extends to
those things I cannot produce—a perfectly proportioned steam locomotive
or a Prokofiev piano sonata—but I particularly enjoy getting the details
right myself, be they architectural or engineering details. Components
should work together harmoniously, exhibiting a balance of elegance with
utility and economy.
Two examples will serve to illustrate how my concerns
manifest themselves and to suggest how they play out in the workplace:
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I am the rare programmer who actually likes to annotate
code, a process I have reflected upon and studied empirically. I
enjoy the challenge of explaining concisely what I have written,
but I also know that articulating precisely what my program does
forces me to verify that against what it should do. Moreover,
careful examination of the code after it is written sometimes
suggests alternatives and economies that did not present
themselves earlier, thereby leading to a better product.
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The documents for which I did technical editing at the
Software Engineering Institute were largely written for
academics unfamiliar with the topics treated. I quickly learned
the limitations of using expert reviewers, who were much better
at evaluating fundamental technical correctness than they were
at appraising the accessibility of the text to its intended
audience. Experts, I found, unconsciously fill gaps and correct
minor errors in the text without recognizing that the author has
not been explicit or precise. Developing a kind of studied
ignorance helped me uncover such lapses in the text and
negotiate changes with the authors. In the case of a document on
intellectual property protection written by two attorneys, I
virtually rewrote the text to make it acceptable to computer
professionals, yet I still managed to satisfy the authors. |
How I’ve been educated
I entered the University of Chicago as a physics
major, intending to get a firm grounding in theory before pursuing electronics
engineering. I was already interested in computers and had built computer
circuitry. As a third-year student, I took a computer course and became hooked
on programming. After receiving an excellent liberal education and earning my
A.B. in physics, I went to Georgia Tech, where I earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in
information and computer science. My graduate work was interrupted by a stint as
an Army bandsman, which advanced my musical education. On my return to Georgia
Tech, I discovered the joy of teaching, which entailed both organizing knowledge
for my own understanding and sharing my insights with others. Although my
doctoral dissertation was in automata theory and my minor was mathematics, my
subsequent professional interests have largely involved the pragmatics of
software development and use. I have four decades of hands-on experience with
uncounted computers—from second-generation behemoths to the latest PCs and
Macs—operating systems, programming languages, and applications.
Where I’ve worked
After earning my Ph.D., I held faculty positions in
computer science departments at North Carolina State University and Allegheny
College. I was recruited as a Senior Computer Scientist by Carnegie Mellon
University’s then-new Software Engineering Institute. At the SEI, my
responsibilities were to promote the discipline of software engineering to
universities, to produce materials for software engineering education, and to
manage the production of those materials, which were mostly written by outside
authors. Since leaving the SEI, I have worked as a private consultant and as
Manager of Special Services for a computer services firm. I have done corporate
and individual training, assisted several organizations in their transitions to
upgraded computer networks, and acted as an IT resource for individuals and
small firms. I develop and maintain Web sites and relational databases. I am
especially pleased with my work with Microsoft Access databases, which allows me
to develop complex, user-friendly interfaces, often for mission-critical
applications. In the past six years, I have volunteered
a good deal of my time on behalf of Progressive Episcopalians of
Pittsburgh. I serve on its board and was its first president. My work
with PEP has exercised my computer skills and provided valuable
experience in leadership, marketing, and public relations. I have
written position papers and press releases and regularly dealt with
reporters from the national media. For PEP or with its encouragement, I
have also written influential pieces of analysis and advocacy. Because
of this work, I sometimes identify myself as an Episcopal Church
activist. What
I’ve accomplished
My accomplishments are varied. Here is a
representative sample:
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I received two service awards from the Association for
Computing Machinery for my work over eight years with the
Scholastic Programming Contest. I served three times as director
of this high-visibility international student competition and
once as chief judge. I managed the contest budget and a staff of
volunteer professionals. Innovations during my tenure include
bringing the contest to the site of the ACM Computer Science
Conference, the replacement of FORTRAN as the contest
programming language by Pascal, and the incorporation of a local
area network into the contest environment.
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I have published more than a dozen papers on computer
science/software engineering education. The topics of these
papers are varied, but they include issues of curricula,
standards, test item construction, and teaching facilities. I
have also published papers on program comprehension, algorithms,
and other topics in computer science and engineering.
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I managed the development of curriculum modules for the
Software Engineering Institute. For many of these subject area
guides to software engineering and software engineering
education, my most important role was that of technical editor.
I am co-author of one module, Unit Analysis and Testing.
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As one of three former academics responsible for most of its
publications, I have helped Progressive Episcopalians of
Pittsburgh gain a reputation as a source of reliable information
and responsible opinion within a beleaguered Episcopal Church.
Personal posts on my Web site and blog have also been
influential within the church.
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When my church began a renovation project, leaders were
concerned that the chaos of construction would cause
parishioners to stay home. To keep people informed and
interested, I created and maintained a “Construction Update”
bulletin board for the duration of the project. This
wall-mounted newsletter was so popular that I was asked to
re-create it during another construction project several years
later. I published an article about the project in a church
journal.
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In developing a database for a steel fabricating company, I
discovered that the software the company had been using only
approximated the geometry of its products and, therefore, the
quantity of steel they required. Although it was not specified
explicitly as a job task, I developed a rigorous geometric
description of the product and used that in the database to
calculate more precisely the material required for any order.
This resulted in better cost estimates and inventory control,
unexpected benefits of the new application.
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One of the educational materials packages I created for the
Software Engineering Institute is Scenes of Software
Inspections: Video Dramatizations for the Classroom. It
consists of a videotape containing 11 brief scenes related to
software inspections, and a report analyzing the scenes and
suggesting how they can be used in the classroom. The
professionally acted scenes had been created for another
project, but the interactive hardware on which they were to be
displayed was never fully developed. I proposed and developed
the repackaging that proved popular, particularly in commercial
environments.
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I consulted as a technical expert for SAS Institute Inc. in
connection with SAS v. S&H Computer. I developed evidence
of copyright and license violations by examining program
listings and other materials. I also developed the framework
within which evidence was presented at the trial that ended in a
ruling in favor of SAS. |
What else
I’m interested in
I love music, particularly the works of
Prokofiev and Bach, but also jazz and folk. I sing in my church choir and do a
bit of composing now and then. I follow developments in politics and science
closely. I am a devoted listener to National Public Radio and only a somewhat
less devoted viewer of a few favorite television shows. I am a baseball fan,
railfan, photographer, and avid reader. I have regularly offered my technical
skills in the service of my church, and, for many years, was audio-visual
coördinator and Worship Commission secretary. Since launching my own Web site,
"Lionel Deimel's Farrago," and an associated blog, I have become an active
essayist and poet.
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