Bob Arnson

[email protected], GitHub, Stack Overflow, Mastodon, Twitter

2015–current — Senior Software Engineer — FireGiant

Provide custom development and support services for FireGiant customers using the WiX Toolset.

2004–present — WiX Virtual Team

As a volunteer member of the core Windows Installer XML (WiX) virtual team, contribute code and documentation to Microsoft's first open-source project:

• Co-administrator of open-source project.
• Developed reusable and localizable Windows Installer (MSI) UI to provide standard installation wizards.
• Created the Lux framework to enable data-driven unit-testing of MSI custom actions.
• Ongoing: Write features and fixed bugs in the core WiX toolset and extensions (in C#) and bootstrapper and custom actions (in C++).

2011–2015 — Software Design Engineer — Populus Group for Microsoft Corp.

Consultant on the teams responsible for Visual Studio and .NET Framework setup and servicing tools:

• Took over feature development and bug fixing of tools for authoring and building patches.
• Support users across Developer Division as they author setup and patches.
• Fix bugs and add features needed for Visual Studio setup and servicing in WiX, related build tools, and custom setup user interface (C# and C++).

2009–2011 — Software Design Engineer — Microsoft Corp.

Developer on the Microsoft Application Virtualization product line:

• Member of three-person team that shipped the App-V 4.6 desktop virtualization setup experience.
• Sole developer designing and implementing setup, servicing, and user experience for the next major release of the App-V desktop virtualization product line.
• Replaced InstallShield with WiX to enable all developers to make routine setup changes.
• Designed and implemented WiX extensions in C# to simplify setup authoring for non-experts.
• Designed and implemented declarative custom actions in native C++ to increase reliability of App-V installers, especially around driver installation.
• Created new installer user interface using native C++ and Win32 UI with WiX Burn chainer.
• Member of the team implementing the packaging tools for the next major release of App-V, including the sequencer and package-conversion tools. These tools allow IT administrators to repackage applications for App-V virtualization.

2007–2009 — Software Design Engineer — Microsoft Corp.

Sole developer responsible for setup, servicing, and extensibility for the ACES Studio product line:

• Shipped Flight Simulator X Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2, and Flight Simulator X: Acceleration in less than nine months.
• Developed all-new installers for future Studio products, including WiX extensions in C# and declarative custom actions in native C++, which were contributed to the WiX open-source project.
• Developed tools for core platform to build content packs and content pack updates and extensions.
• Created user interfaces in native C++ and Win32 UI.
• Worked closely with test team to align development work with test-team needs and schedule.

2004–2006 — Programming Writer — Microsoft Corp.

Responsible for portions of the Visual Studio SDK documentation set and related tools:

• Developed information architecture specs.
• Drafted new conceptual, how-to, and reference documentation on Visual Studio extensibility APIs.
• Updated existing documentation to improve quality.
• Served as ScrumMaster for documentation Scrum team.

2000–2004 — Release engineering technical lead — Compuware Corp. NuMega Lab

Planned release engineering efforts, built installers, and created automated nightly builds for software development tool product lines:

• Planned build and setup projects for multiple product lines.
• Created Windows Installer (MSI) merge modules and installers using WiX and InstallShield.
• Created automated builds of product source code, merge modules, and installers.
• Developed build-automation and service pack creation tools.
• Developed custom action code in C++ and Java on Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
• Developed graphical bootstrapper in C++ to check system requirements and install prerequisites.
• Lead administrator of Perforce source-control server for approximately 130 engineers.
• Worked closely with support team to prioritize high-impact bug fixes and reliability improvements.

2000–2004 — Writer

Co-authored 10 programming tutorial, how-to, and reference books on Visual C++, Borland C++, and Visual Basic.

See the latest version of this resume at https://bobs.org/resume.