Software Engineer & Game Programmer
Summary
James McAfee has over twenty years of consultancy experience architecting and engineering Application Platforms and Enterprise Software as a Service products for large-scale organisations such as JPMC, Australian Stock Exchange, PwC, Common Wealth Bank of Australia, and MGM Grand to name a few.
After a successful career in Enterprise Software, James has chosen to hit the career reset button and follow a long neglected love of Games and Game Development. Having recently studied as part of CGSpectrum’s trimester Game Programming curriculum and mentorship with game development industry professionals, James is now looking to learn and grow in the Games Industry while applying his past experience in senior engineering roles.
Notable projects include:
• Modernised the software development practice and technology for a Retail Banking Institution. The first application to hit production, an online retail Loan Service, was awarded the Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards’ Product Launch of the Year
• Designed and Engineered a distributed Cloud Platform responsible for generating and running 100,000+ Workloads which realised over £1 million in CapEx and OpEx savings within first year of operation
• Developed Platform and Application Service Development & Operating Model for first of its kind Distributed Equities Trading System for a national Stock Exchange
• Kubernetes Open-Source Software Contributor with focus on ClusterAPI which allows Kubernetes to manage it’s self as it does Container Workloads
• Most recently designed and developed a plugin for the Unreal Engine to dynamically generate high quality level assets while being easy to use by designers
Employment History
VMware
Senior Technologist & Tech Lead - Application Platform Architecture - Asia, Pacific & Japan: February 2014 – June 2023
Served as VMware’s lead technologist for the Modern Application business unit within the Asia Pacific region. Developed and led the Application Platform Architecture practice focused on building modern highly scalable Application Platforms and Services. Primary responsibilities: Principal architecture and development for large scale Distributed Systems, Open Source Community engagement, and driving innovation internally within VMware through designing new product offerings and capabilities.
Worked as an ambassador for the Office of the CTO working closely with internal R&D teams. Programme lead for Office of the CTO initiatives for both Product Quality Improvement as well as Innovation for Serverless Computing. Additionally, drove product innovation and adoption with multiple global firsts for new product implementations with our customers.
Notable work:
• FSI: Advisor to Global Leadership team on the technology plan for the Core Banking Platform Services and Operating Model shifting from Project delivery to Product Ownership
• FSI: Designed automation platform for Governance Controls as a core capability of the software Development Lifecycle for Core Banking Systems in multiple Financial Services Organisations
• Securities Exchange: Developed Platform and Application Service Development and Operating Model for Distributed Equities Trading System
• Government: Architecture design of Application Platform for new public mobile services
• Kubernetes Contributor: Worked within the Cluster Lifecycle SIG as a developer on ClusterAPI
• Service Mesh Developer: Worked within R&D team on VMware’s Istio backed Service Mesh product
• As part of VMware’s Office of the CTO worked to advance VMware’s Serverless product offerings
• Co-ran the Sydney Cloud Native Computing Foundation Meetups.
• Initiated and worked with Cloud Native Computing Foundation to run the first ever Australia Kubernetes Day event
• Call for Papers reviewer for Cloud Native Computing Foundation Events
• Ambassador for the VMware Office of the CTO
Union Solutions LTD
Solutions Architect: April 2012 – October 2013, UK
Information provided upon request.
BDO LLP
Senior Technology Analyst: September 2010 – April 2012, UK
Information provided upon request.
LAN 2 LAN LTD
Senior Consultant: August 2006 – September 2010, UK
Information provided upon request.
Trinity Information Services
Network Support Engineer: December 2001 – May 2006, Detroit, MI
Information provided upon request.
Education
CGSpectrum: December 2022 – September 2023 - Game Programming Curriculum
Curriculum focused on advanced uses of the Unreal Engine for a more complete picture of developing Unreal games including:
• Multiplayer programming
• AI programming
• Animation programming
• Particle system programming (Niagara & Cascade)
• Game mechanics programming
• Event System programming
Mentorship provided by Cliff Shariff.
Skillset
| Languages | Tools | Platforms | Middleware | Methodologies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| • Go | • Git | • Unreal Engine 4 & 5 | • ETCD | • Technical Leadership |
| • C++ & Unreal Engine APIs for C++ / Blueprints | • Gitlab & Github | • Kubernetes | • Envoy | • Distributed Systems (Paxos / Raft / Byzantine Fault Tolerance |
| • Javascript | • Jetbrains Rider & Visual Studio | • Knative | • Postgres | • TDD |
| • BASH / ZSH / etc… | • Blender | • OpenFaaS | • Redis | • Mentorship for junior Engineers |
| • PowerShell | • ZBrush | • Istio Service Mesh | • RabbitMQ | • Agile (Lean, Scrum) |
| • PHP | • Jenkins | • GCP | • GraphDB | • Public Speaking & Keynotes with audiences up to 2,500 |
| • GraphQL | • Cucumber | • MySQL | • UX Design (JTBD) | |
| • GRPC | • Jenkins | |||
| • SonarQube | ||||
| • Artifactory |
Certifications
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
• Certified Scrum Master
• VMware VCAP DCA & DCD
• VMware VCP-DCV
• VMware VCA-NV
• Cisco Unified Computing Design Specialist
• EMC Implementation Engineer – VNX
• EMC Information Storage Associate
• Microsoft MCSE 2003
• Microsoft MCTS 2008 Application Services
• Microsoft MCTS 2008 Active-Directory
• Microsoft MCTS 2008 Infrastructure
• CompTIA Security
Hobbies
• Illustration & Concept Art
• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
• Football (soccer!)
• Programming
• Mountain Biking
References available upon request.