yellowpigs.net

Sara Smollett
sara@simons-rock.edu

I am not currently seeking employment.

Linux/UNIX systems administrator:

• 10+ year Linux admin (Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu, RedHat, and many other distributions)
• 20+ year Mac user
• 5+ year OpenBSD user, former BeOS user

Detailed employment history:

Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA (Oct 2005 - present):

• Site Reliability Engineer (Apr 2007 - present)
• Systems Administrator (Oct 2005 - Mar 2007)
• Tech lead for team of 6-10 sysadmins in multiple timezones
• Administered many high-availability web and MySQL database servers
• Administered custom services using custom tools
• Developed extensive monitoring to ensure and predict availability and performance of services
• Established multi-homing of services and devised and certified disaster recovery procedures
• Automated server deployments
• Provided launch reviews for new application releases
• Ensured Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as required
• Supported custom Java applications
• Thoroughly documented services
• Performed oncall duties for high-availability services
• Co-founded group of women systems administrators
• Interviewed many systems administration candidates

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA (Nov 2003 - Sep 2005):

• Information Systems Associate II, CIS Networking
• Installed and maintained DNS, DHCP, NTP, LDAP, Web, and DB servers on Debian GNU/Linux
• Deployed, modified, and maintained a network host inventory and registration system based on CMU NetReg (Perl, Apache2, MySQL 4, BIND 9, DHCPd 3, Squid, Nessus, CiscoWorks)
• Developed tools in Perl to assist in network migration
• Migrated people/account information from Netscape LDAP to OpenLDAP (using eduPerson and custom schemas)
• Documented network registration system and network troubleshooting procedures
• Assisted with a VoIP (Asterisk/SIP) deployment
• Some experience with mathematical software packages (MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica)

Simon's Rock College, Great Barrington, MA (May 2000 - Oct 2003):

• Systems and Network Administrator, Computer & Media Services
• Installed and maintained production Debian GNU/Linux servers with NNNN user accounts
• Installed, configured, secured, and maintained numerous services including Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, OpenLDAP, Postfix, Courier, Mailman, BIND, DHCPd, Squid, and Samba
• Responsible for monitoring and maintaining network operations
• Wrote many Perl and bash scripts to automate systems and network administration tasks (account management, log parsing, backups, service monitoring, etc.)
• Administered Cisco and Linux routers and firewalls (iptables, ipchains) and worked with a variety of bandwidth monitoring and traffic shaping tools (including iptraf, ntop, mrtg, and custom Perl/libpcap)
• Performed vulnerability scanning, security monitoring, and incident response (Nessus, Snort, Argus, etc.)
• Implemented spam and virus filtering (Postfix, SpamAssassin, Procmail, ClamAV, DNSBLs)
• Performed two campus-wide IP readdressings
• Developed and implemented many server procedures and policies, and wrote all user documentation (in LaTeX, HTML, and groff)
• Shared responsbility for Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Solaris, and AIX servers
• Created and maintained websites (W3C compliant HTML, CSS, Perl, PHP, Python, PostgreSQL)
• Built, upgraded, and repaired PC and Mac servers, workstations, and laptops
• Supported FileMaker Pro database system
• Trained junior systems administrators
• Oversaw student workers and organized orientation week network setup activities
• Taught an undergraduate course on Linux and systems administration

Undergraduate experience:

• Assistant Systems Administrator, Simon's Rock College, MA (Dec 1999 - May 2000):
  Performed routine systems administration tasks
• Network Engineer Intern, MedIT, Stanford University, CA (Jun 1999 - Nov 1999):
  Installed and maintained network switches (3Com, Asante, ATI, Cisco, Extreme, HP)
  Provided technical support
• Network Administration Intern, CIS, Stanford University, CA (Jun 1999 - Aug 1999):
  Performed routine systems administration tasks (Linux, Solaris)
• Computer and Networking Assistant, Simon's Rock College, MA (Aug 1998 - May 1999):
  Oversaw computer labs
  Provided technical support to students, faculty, and staff
  Maintained physical network and provided network troubleshooting
• Network Engineer/Installer, Simon's Rock College, MA (Feb 1998 - Aug 1998):
  Designed and installed college LAN (ST/SC fiber and Cat5 Ethernet, hubs, switches)

Conferences and memberships:

• LISA (2008)
• Grace Hopper (2007-2008)
• Ubucon (2006)
• Educause - NERCOMP (2002-2005)
• Linux World (1999-2001)
• Member of Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship committee (2009)
• Member of USENIX/SAGE (2008-2009)
• Member of debian-women and ubuntu-women (since founding)

Academic:

• Stanford University (Winter 2009):
  Audited philosophy course
• University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, DK (May 2006):
  Presented history paper at Denmark and the Black Atlantic conference
• Tufts University, Medford, MA:
  M.A. in Philosophy, concentrating in philosophy of science (May 2005)
  Completed comprehensive exams (May 2002 - Jan 2005)
  Cumulative GPA 3.519 (Sept 2001 - Dec 2002)
• Simon's Rock College of Bard, Great Barrington, MA:
  Taught undergraduate course on Linux (Spring 2001)
  B.A. in Mathematics, magna cum laude (May 2000)
  Cumulative GPA 3.534 (Aug 1996 - May 2000)
  High honors on thesis in math and creative writing (May 2000)
  Math tutor (Aug 1996 - May 2000)
  Robert Hutchins Scholarship (Aug 1998 - May 2000)
  Acceleration to Excellence Scholarship (Aug 1996 - May 1998)
• Amherst College, Amherst, MA (Aug 1997 - Dec 1997)
• Hampshire College, Amherst, MA:
  Summer Studies in Mathematics (Summer 1994, Summer 1995)
• Antilles High School, St. Thomas, USVI (Aug 1994 - Jun 1996):
  Presidential Scholar Nominee
  National Merit Scholar

References:

• Obligatory social networking: linkedin
• References available upon request

Last updated 2009