Gabriel Jacobo

Senior Firmware and Systems Engineer

Download PDF July/2018

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Profile

Electronics engineer with a generalist profile in software and firmware development and specialization in firmware graphics and systems engineering.

About Me

I’m an electronics engineer by training and firmware / systems engineer by trade, working remotely from Argentina with leading Silicon Valley companies. I’ve played key roles in several mass market smart watches, starting as an embedded FW graphics expert, but also evolving to deal with other areas such as filesystems, general RTOS improvements and optimizations, build systems, improvement of custom team tools, silicon design and finally systems lead for an upcoming flagship product. I’m also a SDL contributor, mainly in the Android, Linux, Raspberry Pi and Wayland backends. I have extensive knowledge and experience with C/C++, Python and Django, PHP, HTML5, etc. In previous projects I’ve gained substantial experience with web development (backend and frontend), general Linux and Ubuntu based customizations, Chromium customizations, digital signage, complex build systems, and 2D game engine development.

Skills

Firmware Graphics

Hands on development of low level 2.5D graphics drivers and window managers in embedded C across different platforms.
Systems Engineering

Systems lead for upcoming (2020) flagship wearable, integrating EE and FW needs on a hybrid RTOS/Linux platform.
Full Stack Development

Extensive experience with backend and frontend web technologies.

Technical

C / C++
Python
Javascript
CSS
HTML5
PHP
Apache
MySQL
PostgreSQL
SVN
HG
GIT
Linux
OSX
OpenGL
Windows
Android
ThreadX
NuttX
Raspberry Pi
ESP8266
ESP32
English
Spanish

Experience

Smart Watch / Wearable Market Leader Company: Sr. Firmware Graphics, Systems Engineering Lead 2014-2018 Embedded graphics engineer for 3 best selling smart watches and Systems lead for upcoming flagship product. Implemented Conda based tool distribution system that revolutionized team productivity, Implemented GCC based build system that worked along legacy IAR based build system and gradually replaced it with minimal transitional pain. Designed and implemented in house graphics stack and window manager for RTOS. Several low level RTOS improvements and bug fixes. Designed critical series of improvements on custom 2D graphics hardware that were key to shipping a highly performant product with 5 days of battery life. Integrated SDL into development environment, allowing single code base to run on a variety of platforms (from embedded all the way up to browser), simplifying app design considerably. Implemented and deployed static analysis tools. Ported RTOS / custom graphics stack based apps to Linux / OpenGL ES seamlessly. Evaluated potential SOC candidates for upcoming flagship products, worked with vendors to improve them substantially.
Ignifuga Game Engine: Creator, Lead Developer 2011-2014 C / Python / Cython based multiplatform (Android, iOS, OSX, Linux and Windows) 2D game engine developed from the ground up as a learning experiment.
libSDL.org: Contributor Since 2012 Regular contributor to the open source cross platform multimedia library. My contributions range from complex ground-up enhancements (SDL_RenderCopyEx, SDL_SetRenderTarget, SDL_RenderGeometry, Raspberry Pi backend, EGL support on all platforms, udev and evdev support, etc) to assorted fixes and general maintenance on Linux in general, Wayland, Android, and smaller contributions to the iOS, OS X and Windows backends. Creator of the SDL Game Controllers Database.
2WAV: Sr. Developer 2011-2014 2WAV strived to push the envelope in web technologies. We pioneered a few Meteor based websites, node.js applications, HTML5+CSS3, etc. Lead developer on the following projects: - Stradjectives For PAL (Meteor based) - Stradjectives For Eberfest (Node.js) - Network Configuration Card Game for Pavlov Media (HTML5+CSS3) - Financial Company Administration and Marketing system - Home automation system GUI and script editing system
Voyage4 / Looplingo: Sr. Developer 2012 Contractor for Voyage4 / Looplingo taking care of a wide range of system admin and development tasks, including several Django portals, a Windows based VOIP solution, etc.
Cortexa Automation: Sr. Developer 2011-2012 Contractor for Cortexa Automation working with the 2Wav team, moved their Home Automation solution from a BSD based system to an embedded Linux system, built their Django based webportal, and the automated build and upgrade system that compiles the whole system, constructs a customized Ubuntu distro and deploys it. I also developed the entire cross compilation and embedding solution for ARM boards, seamlessly integrated with the i386 toolchain, and ported the system to the Panda and Beagle boards.
Reboot Computer Services Inc.: Sr. Developer 2008-2011 Lead developer of their digital signage solution (theinfomod.com) and system admin for a wide range of servers. Digital signage solution is autonomous, remotely controlled, locally controlled via iPad or webserver, automatically cached content, works over 3G, etc.
Noticias & Protagonistas: Tech Columnist 2000-2008 8 years columnist of tech and science related issues on the national newspaper Noticias & Protagonistas (www.noticiasyprotagonistas.com).
Mar del Plata Independent Film Festival: Director, Lead Developer 2002-2008 6 years experience as the director of the 10 persons team that translated more than 500 hundred films for the Mar del Plata Independent Film Festival (www.festivalmdp.org). Also software developer of the custom made app used to develop and screen the subtitles at theaters.

Education

Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata: Electronics Engineering Degree 1997-2002 Engineering Thesis: Embedded system, MP3 player based on a standalone i486 processor (hardware and software developed from scratch). The electronics engineering career includes courses in digital signals processing, systems control, electronics measurements, etc. Avg Grade: 7.94

Gabriel Jacobo — gabomdq@gmail.com — mdqinc.com