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My Resume


Richard Barella
Senior Software Engineer

Summary


9+ years of experience

Senior Software Engineer and Technical Lead with over 9 years of experience in designing and developing scalable software systems, APIs, and data-intensive applications. Expertise in Python-based backend development, microservice-oriented architectures, asynchronous processing, and high-performance data engineering. Proven ability to optimize data pipelines, build comprehensive monitoring and telemetry solutions, and lead engineering teams in delivering complex projects.

Skills


Programming

  • Python
  • C / C++
  • Bash / Shell
  • JavaScript / TypeScript
  • HTML / CSS
  • Java

Backend & APIs

  • REST APIs & Microservices
  • Django
  • Flask
  • Plotly Dash
  • PostgreSQL
  • TimescaleDB
  • Kafka
  • Prefect
  • Langchain
  • Pydantic

DevOps & Infrastructure

  • Docker
  • Ansible
  • CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
  • SLURM
  • PBSPro
  • HPCM

Education


  • Georgia Institute of Technology


    Additional coursework in Machine Learning
    Online | 2019-2021

  • Washington State University


    Bachelor's in Computer Science
    Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering
    Vancouver, WA | 2012-2016 | GPA: 3.83

  • Lower Columbia College


    Associate's in Computer Science
    Longview, WA | 2010-2012 | GPA: 3.79

Experience


Intel Corporation

Lead HPC Full-Stack Data Engineer

July 2022 - Present

  • Spearheaded architecture, UI/UX design, and development of a Plotly Dash-based data analytics platform and a modular, microservice-oriented backend infrastructure for the Aurora Supercomputer, enabling real-time health monitoring and advanced historical analysis.
  • Developed a Prefect-based data pipeline to incrementally process new HPC failure data, transforming legacy batch scripts into a 100x faster, automated workflow.
  • Engineered scalable, asynchronous data ingestion systems using Kafka; evolved critical data pathways from REST APIs to event-driven architectures to meet scaling demands for systems with ~10,000 nodes.
  • Designed event-based database schemas to correlate system failures with configurations; developed key health indicators and data-driven workflows that significantly improved failure disposition, repair processes, and health reporting to Argonne National Labs.
  • Designed an AI-powered system utilizing Langchain and ChatGPT to auto-generate Sphinx documentation for a large monorepo, ensuring seamless integration with ongoing code changes.
  • Developed flexible Grafana dashboards for monitoring Aurora telemetry data stored in TimescaleDB, giving mechanical and electrical engineers access to data they need to analyze and solve pertinent hardware issues.
  • Automated resource-manager-agnostic HPC system regressions, streamlining the testing process by launching test cycles across both SLURM and PBSPro.
  • Established a robust CI/CD pipeline using Docker, accelerating testing and deployment.
  • Led and mentored a team of approximately 3 engineers, managed project priorities, delegated tasks, and onboarded new members for a large-scale data monitoring and analytics platform.

DevOps and Validation Framework Engineer

August 2021 - July 2022

  • Created a novel resource management plugin for test harnesses, facilitating adaptation to new HPC systems.
  • Maintained and resolved issues in an ElasticSearch cluster, ensuring availability of essential system debug data.
  • Directed successful migration of repositories and JIRA issues under stringent deadlines, demonstrating leadership skills.
  • Enhanced system usage dashboard, bolstering system reliability and data confidence.

BMC Test Infrastructure Engineer

December 2020 - July 2021

  • Automated the triage process by auto-generating JIRA issues per unique failure signature, accelerating debug efficiency and improving the test pass rate from 60% to 95%.

HPC Validation Framework Engineer

June 2016 - November 2020

  • Main contributor developing a Django-based test automation framework, accelerating development of new test content.
  • Designed Ansible configuration for HPC clusters, reinforcing infrastructure reliability by automating installs and backups.

Washington State University

AI Research Assistant

June 2014 - June 2016

  • Used Machine Learning Apache Spark to detect powerline faults on 10TB of data with 99.5% accuracy.
  • Co-published 5 Machine Learning Research papers, including the "Best Student Paper Award" for Springer.

Personal Projects

View Portfolio


  • OFTW Data Analytics Dashboard --- Interactive Plotly Dash dashboard analyzing OFTW donation data since 2014, featuring dynamic visualizations, custom filters, and AI-driven insights for exploring donation patterns and fundraising metrics.

    Live Demo

    Technologies: Plotly, Dash, Python, Vizro, Vizro-AI

  • MN Bookkeeping ---

    A React based bookkeeping website allowing clients to submit receipts and view financial statements.

    Live Site

    Technologies: React, Supabase

  • Personal Finance App --- Vue.js, Firebase, and Plaid API, using a webhook to load live data from my bank into a dashboard.

    Technologies: Vue.js, Firebase, Plaid API

  • Webpage Editor --- React and Firebase app for writing custom web pages with a WYSIWYG text editor.

    Live Demo

    Technologies: React, Firebase

  • Quadtree Photo Stylizer --- A Python CLI and module for generating art from photos using Wand and ImageIO.

    Blog Post

    Technologies: Python, Wand, ImageIO

  • Personal Blog --- Statically-generated Hexo Blog with coding tutorials.

    Visit Blog

    Technologies: Hexo, JavaScript

  • Lunar Lander --- Double-DQN Reinforcement Learning with Keras in an OpenAIGym simulation.

    Technologies: Python, Keras, OpenAIGym, Reinforcement Learning