Work History - John Cartan

Feb 05 to Nov 20
Oracle
Pleasanton, CA Senior Design Architect.
When Oracle acquired Peoplesoft, I transferred into the reporting and analytics user experience team as a Principal Designer. I later moved to the emerging interactions team where I try to spot new trends, explore new forms of user interaction, and disrupt the status quo. As part of this work I wrote a book on tablets in the enterprise, lectured on data visualization, and earned six patents. Promoted to Architect in 2006. Promoted to Senior Architect in 2014. Retired in 2020.

Nov 01 to Feb 05
PeopleSoft
Pleasanton, CA Senior Usability Architect.
PeopleSoft was one of the world's largest software companies. As the senior member of the UE Tools Group I specialized in the most technical issues, including workflow, rule editors, and web service integration while working with the rest of PeopleSoft's User Experience Team to make all their web-based applications easier to use.

Jan 01 to Nov 01
Independent Contractor
Alameda, CA Consultant.
Clients included G2Web and Silicon Energy. I facilitated brainstorming sessions, developed a UI style guide, produced sketches of web page designs in Photoshop, created icons, gave a talk on usability, and consulted on interaction design and information architecture.

Oct 96 to Dec 00
Documentum
Pleasanton, CA User Interface Designer.
Documentum is the leading provider of enterprise-wide document and web content management solutions. As Staff Designer I managed the Design and Usability Group and worked closely with developers to design and test graphical user interfaces. Promoted to Senior UI Engineer after first year. Promoted to Staff Designer and Group Manager in 1999.

May 96 to Oct 96
Independent Contractor
Alameda, CA Consultant.
While working as an independent contractor I developed a highly successful demo for Sybase (see below) of new encryption and digital notarization technologies using Powerbuilder 5.0.

Jan 96 to April 96
Bluecurve
Oakland, CA Senior Software Engineer.
Bluecurve was a startup company offering client/server benchmarking and performance tools. As lead developer I was instrumental in the implementation and interface design of the company's first product. All work was done in Visual Basic on Windows NT/Win95.

Oct 95 to Dec 95
Animatrix
Palo Alto, CA Webmaster.
Animatrix is a small but respected multimedia firm with a reputation for user interface design. As webmaster and software development engineer I helped design and implement web sites for major corporate clients and provided expertise as the company transitioned into new web-related areas.

Aug 94 to Oct 95
Sybase
Emeryville, CA Senior Performance Engineer.
Sybase is a leading provider of RDBMS and client/server software. As senior performance engineer in the Technology Assessment Group, I handled all PowerBuilder development for benchmark testing software and consulted on interface design issues and product evaluation. I wrote SQL stored procedures, manned a tradeshow booth at PC Expo in New York, and served as content webmaster for an internal web site.

Feb 94 to Aug 94
Sybase
Emeryville, CA Consultant.
As a consultant for Sybase Product Marketing I developed software demos, did technical and marketing analysis, and demonstrated new multimedia/frontend authoring tools. I also developed software to control network product testing.

Feb 93 to Sep 93
ZD Labs
Foster City, CA Database Consultant.
ZD Labs tests microcomputer equipment for the family of Ziff Davis magazines. After an earlier tour of duty (see below) I was rehired to help standardize and improve interface design for all I/S applications. I also served as point of contact with Oracle and backup DBA.

Sep 92 to Jan 93
Spatial Data Architects
San Francisco, CA Multimedia Programmer.
SDA was a cutting edge multimedia gulch startup specializing in CD-ROM and kiosk presentations; it later merged with Vivid Studios. I used SuperCard to develop a color hypertext editor that was used to assemble a CD-ROM "interactive book." I also worked on a kiosk for MacUser Magazine which was used at Comdex and MacExpo.

Jun 92 to Sep 92
ZD Labs
Foster City, CA Database Consultant.
As a consultant for the ZD Labs I/S Department, I developed GUI frontends to an Oracle RDBMS serving up to 150 Mac and PC clients on a Novell network. My object-oriented test results viewer and interface template applications were honored by Oracle as "OracleCard Success Stories."

Dec 91 to Mar 92
Miles Laboratories
Berkeley, CA Documentation Coordinator.
This was a temporary assignment for a Bio-Pharmaceutical company. I edited technical documents and did some Paradox programming.

Sep 87 to Jun 91
Keep It Simple Software
Helena, MT Software Developer.
During this period I lived in a cabin on the Continental Divide and developed Macintosh software in HyperCard for KISS and as an independent contractor. Projects included a disk-based journal which I published for seven years, a billing system for a local paper, a hypertext editor marketed by MaxStax+ of Oakland, CA, and a user-friendly relational billing package for a drug/alcohol treatment center.

May 87 to Sep 87
Office of Education
San Jose, CA Consultant.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education asked me to produce a book on the business uses of microcomputers for the California Department of Education. I conducted interviews, wrote most of the text, edited the rest, and handled the artwork and page layout. The book was distributed to school districts statewide.

Sep 80 to Sep 86
Ivory Tower, Inc.
Salt Lake City, Utah Partner.
During this period I formed a corporation and did consulting and programming in BASIC, first on the Apple II, and later on the Macintosh. I produced a chemical formulation program using a GUI and simplex equations for the PAX company in Salt Lake, wrote a computer-aided decision package for Batelle Labs in Richland, WA, and created a billing package for three social service agencies in southern Idaho.

Sep 82 to June 85
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah Graduate Student.
During my studies at the University of Utah, I served as a teaching assistant in the English Dept. and a research assistant in the Education Dept. I taught technical writing and composition, managed a network of 50 PCs, taught a computer course at a youth detention facility, and handled all programming needs for a cognitive psychology research team.

Sep 74 to Aug 80
School District #91
Idaho Falls, Idaho CAI Coordinator.
I started programming in high school and eventually participated in an innovative work studies program at the school district main office, developing administrative programs in BASIC on a PDP-11 time-sharing system. While attending college I worked in Idaho Falls during the summers developing Computer Assisted Instruction courseware.

Education
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah MA English, 1985
BS Computer Science, Cum Laude, 1980
BS Psychology, Cum Laude, 1980


	Feb 05 to Nov 20 Oracle Pleasanton, CA	Senior Design Architect. When Oracle acquired Peoplesoft, I transferred into the reporting and analytics user experience team as a Principal Designer. I later moved to the emerging interactions team where I try to spot new trends, explore new forms of user interaction, and disrupt the status quo. As part of this work I wrote a book on tablets in the enterprise, lectured on data visualization, and earned six patents. Promoted to Architect in 2006. Promoted to Senior Architect in 2014. Retired in 2020.
	Nov 01 to Feb 05 PeopleSoft Pleasanton, CA	Senior Usability Architect. PeopleSoft was one of the world's largest software companies. As the senior member of the UE Tools Group I specialized in the most technical issues, including workflow, rule editors, and web service integration while working with the rest of PeopleSoft's User Experience Team to make all their web-based applications easier to use.
	Jan 01 to Nov 01 Independent Contractor Alameda, CA	Consultant. Clients included G2Web and Silicon Energy. I facilitated brainstorming sessions, developed a UI style guide, produced sketches of web page designs in Photoshop, created icons, gave a talk on usability, and consulted on interaction design and information architecture.
	Oct 96 to Dec 00 Documentum Pleasanton, CA	User Interface Designer. Documentum is the leading provider of enterprise-wide document and web content management solutions. As Staff Designer I managed the Design and Usability Group and worked closely with developers to design and test graphical user interfaces. Promoted to Senior UI Engineer after first year. Promoted to Staff Designer and Group Manager in 1999.
	May 96 to Oct 96 Independent Contractor Alameda, CA	Consultant. While working as an independent contractor I developed a highly successful demo for Sybase (see below) of new encryption and digital notarization technologies using Powerbuilder 5.0.
	Jan 96 to April 96 Bluecurve Oakland, CA	Senior Software Engineer. Bluecurve was a startup company offering client/server benchmarking and performance tools. As lead developer I was instrumental in the implementation and interface design of the company's first product. All work was done in Visual Basic on Windows NT/Win95.
	Oct 95 to Dec 95 Animatrix Palo Alto, CA	Webmaster. Animatrix is a small but respected multimedia firm with a reputation for user interface design. As webmaster and software development engineer I helped design and implement web sites for major corporate clients and provided expertise as the company transitioned into new web-related areas.
	Aug 94 to Oct 95 Sybase Emeryville, CA	Senior Performance Engineer. Sybase is a leading provider of RDBMS and client/server software. As senior performance engineer in the Technology Assessment Group, I handled all PowerBuilder development for benchmark testing software and consulted on interface design issues and product evaluation. I wrote SQL stored procedures, manned a tradeshow booth at PC Expo in New York, and served as content webmaster for an internal web site.
	Feb 94 to Aug 94 Sybase Emeryville, CA	Consultant. As a consultant for Sybase Product Marketing I developed software demos, did technical and marketing analysis, and demonstrated new multimedia/frontend authoring tools. I also developed software to control network product testing.
	Feb 93 to Sep 93 ZD Labs Foster City, CA	Database Consultant. ZD Labs tests microcomputer equipment for the family of Ziff Davis magazines. After an earlier tour of duty (see below) I was rehired to help standardize and improve interface design for all I/S applications. I also served as point of contact with Oracle and backup DBA.
	Sep 92 to Jan 93 Spatial Data Architects San Francisco, CA	Multimedia Programmer. SDA was a cutting edge multimedia gulch startup specializing in CD-ROM and kiosk presentations; it later merged with Vivid Studios. I used SuperCard to develop a color hypertext editor that was used to assemble a CD-ROM "interactive book." I also worked on a kiosk for MacUser Magazine which was used at Comdex and MacExpo.
	Jun 92 to Sep 92 ZD Labs Foster City, CA	Database Consultant. As a consultant for the ZD Labs I/S Department, I developed GUI frontends to an Oracle RDBMS serving up to 150 Mac and PC clients on a Novell network. My object-oriented test results viewer and interface template applications were honored by Oracle as "OracleCard Success Stories."
	Dec 91 to Mar 92 Miles Laboratories Berkeley, CA	Documentation Coordinator. This was a temporary assignment for a Bio-Pharmaceutical company. I edited technical documents and did some Paradox programming.
	Sep 87 to Jun 91 Keep It Simple Software Helena, MT	Software Developer. During this period I lived in a cabin on the Continental Divide and developed Macintosh software in HyperCard for KISS and as an independent contractor. Projects included a disk-based journal which I published for seven years, a billing system for a local paper, a hypertext editor marketed by MaxStax+ of Oakland, CA, and a user-friendly relational billing package for a drug/alcohol treatment center.
	May 87 to Sep 87 Office of Education San Jose, CA	Consultant. The Santa Clara County Office of Education asked me to produce a book on the business uses of microcomputers for the California Department of Education. I conducted interviews, wrote most of the text, edited the rest, and handled the artwork and page layout. The book was distributed to school districts statewide.
	Sep 80 to Sep 86 Ivory Tower, Inc. Salt Lake City, Utah	Partner. During this period I formed a corporation and did consulting and programming in BASIC, first on the Apple II, and later on the Macintosh. I produced a chemical formulation program using a GUI and simplex equations for the PAX company in Salt Lake, wrote a computer-aided decision package for Batelle Labs in Richland, WA, and created a billing package for three social service agencies in southern Idaho.
	Sep 82 to June 85 University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah	Graduate Student. During my studies at the University of Utah, I served as a teaching assistant in the English Dept. and a research assistant in the Education Dept. I taught technical writing and composition, managed a network of 50 PCs, taught a computer course at a youth detention facility, and handled all programming needs for a cognitive psychology research team.
	Sep 74 to Aug 80 School District #91 Idaho Falls, Idaho	CAI Coordinator. I started programming in high school and eventually participated in an innovative work studies program at the school district main office, developing administrative programs in BASIC on a PDP-11 time-sharing system. While attending college I worked in Idaho Falls during the summers developing Computer Assisted Instruction courseware.
	Education University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah	MA English, 1985 BS Computer Science, Cum Laude, 1980 BS Psychology, Cum Laude, 1980