Sovann Chak

sovannchak20@gmail.com - (515) 473-0226 - Ames, Iowa

EDUCATION

Iowa State University December 2019
Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering with Cyber Security minor Ames, IA

WORK EXPERIENCE

Blue Canyon Technologies Jan. 2020 - Current
Embedded Software Engineer Boulder, CO

Software lead on many simultaneous programs. Design and develop driver layer code for various embedded satellite components according to their program needs. Present and provide technical details of our flight software architecture to customers. Develop alongside customers to integrate various payloads, each with unique complexities (C, Python).
Cross-functional collaboration from program start to finish. Develop code alongside FPGA and GN&C engineers to enhance our software architecture and implement program needs. Assist test engineers to develop automated test suites, design test procedures, and provide general flight software support (C, MATLAB, Ruby).

Blue Canyon Technologies Jun. 2019 – Aug. 2019
Embedded Software Engineer Intern Boulder, CO

Produced, implemented a solution to automatically mount UBIFS and customize storage partitions on an HSDR (satellite controller board) at boot and run time. Enhanced flight software by adding new features and generic scripting to reduce script redundancy amongst programs (C, Python, Shell Scripting).

Principal Financial Group May 2018 – Nov. 2018
Software Engineer Intern Des Moines, IA

Created an internal web application using AWS (Amazon Web Services) for Principal’s Property Asset Research team, which streamlines asset acquisition. I automated the retrieval of brokered data on property assets by developing a data-pipeline which would pass data through a natural language processor and archive relevant data to be easily analyzed (Python, AWS, HTML5/JS, MySQL).

Iowa State University Jan. 2018 – May 2019t
Computer Science Teaching Assistant Ames, IA

Teach and assist students in a programming lab setting of which the aim is to learn about object-oriented languages. Interpret, debug, and compile student code in order to present feedback and grade student assignments based on correctness and efficiency. Lead weekly sessions with students to provide detailed answers and advice for programming related questions (Java).

CAMPUS ACTIVITIES

Senior Design Jan. 2019 – Dec. 2019
Developer Ames, IA

Designed and developed an iOS application to interface with custom sensors developed by electrical engineering students on the team. Automated the interpretation of data from the various sensors to provide easily consumable information for the user (Swift).
Programmed multiple embedded BLE (Bluetooth low energy) devices to receive raw data from custom sensors, run algorithms over the data and pass the output to the iOS application using BLE (C).

SKILLS & INTERESTS

Languages/Technologies: C, Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, Git, Vim, Subversion, COSMOS
Other Interests: coffee, volunteering, traveling, politics, hackathons, music, art, cooking

(click here to download)

OpenSrcSTEM

OpenSrcSTEM was developed over the course of a semester by group of fellow students and myself. A large aspect of this project was the design, the following image is the final design of the architecture.

We used HTML, CSS, and JS for the front end. On the backend we had MongoDB for the database and NodeJS for the routing/backend logic. This technology stack was chosen because each member of the group wanted to learn these newer technologies and build something cool. The following image is a close approximation to how the website looked.

The point of this project was to create an application in which educators could share resources with each other, we wanted to create a hub for educators to share and monetize their work. However, over the development process, it devolved more into a Facebook-Canvas hybrid. Soon after its creation we realize that our idea was already a successful company, TeachersPayTeachers. If only we were born 10 years earlier.

This project was made before I had my first internship, so this project gave me a lot of growing pains (aka trial by fire). I learned how to work with and lead a team, and how to set achievable goals for a project. I also later learned the beauty of version control using Git, because we had many merge errors that occurred. Surprisingly this project ended up receiving honorable mentions, and even with all of the trials and tribulations, we created a decent, working application which impressed our professor.

Mathematical Libraries

On my github I have various mathematical libraries which are designed to be used in a future project. I wrote all the code in C++ because I want to use various libraries to create a rudimentary graphics engine.

To create these libraries I used C++ and Vim. By coding in C++, I have become a better C++ programmer, also I've become better at testing my code and ensuring correct results from personally created APIs.

I'm interested in programming tools for video game development and creating these libraries are a good way for me to learn, and work towards my goal of a developing a rudimentary graphics engine from scratch. The current libraries I have created are matrices, quaternions, and various numerical root finding algorithms. These libraries are not perfect and they still require more mathematical functions, but I'm not worried because I enjoy working on this project and it continues to help me strengthen linear algebraic concepts.

UDP/TCP Communication

I'm currently minoring in Cyber Security and to better familiarize myself with Networking concepts, I implemented some low level communication over sockets on a local network. The following is a snippet of some client code in C.

By using C and it's native libraries to communicate over sockets, it has strengthen my networking fundamentals and helped me understand more complex concepts such as WiFi, bluetooth, ... A lot of communication between devices and applications is implemented using sockets, the data is converted into bytes (generally encrypted), and knowing how that data is decrypted and turned into human-readable data is invaluable as a software engineer.

00. work

When I'm not in class, I'm probably working. I pay the bills by being employed at my university as a computer science teaching assistant (an extremely lucrative position). Generally, I stick to my studies but I've been cutting out time for some side projects, which you can view on my github.

Here is my resume - that is - if you're interested in the job specifics.

01. about

My name is Sovann Chak, I attend Iowa State University. I started my journey into programming about 3 years ago when I began attending uni. Compared to many of my peers at the time, I had little to no experience in the world of computer science. However, I became quickly involved with my work and dedicated to catching up.

Like many in the industry, I initially became interested in computer science due to video games - so I decided to study software engineering. As I've become more involved with my work/major I have drifted away from gaming - however learning the science behind it has made me much more involved and passionate about applied computer science.

As I continue my journey, there are many things which I am uncertain of. However, I am certain that I want to work somewhere where I am constantly learning, being challenged and creating.

02. interests

Some of my latest technical interests have been computer graphics, geometric modeling, and computer vision. Applying linear algebra to my computer science knowledge has been a fun and challenging experience.

I also find relaxation in a nice double americano, and I like to travel to different hackathons around the states, and cooking for my friends from time to time - even if they don't compliment the meal..

03. contact

If you want to have a conversation, shoot me an email at sovannchak20@gmail.com. You can also find me at the following sites twitter, linkedin, or github.

04. selected projects

OpenSrcSTEM

Mathematical Libraries

UDP/TCP Communication