Thanks for noticing me. My name is Connor Dregely, and I am a Senior staff engineer
managing digital engineering tools. Currently, I am working in an organization
supporting the
1st lunar space station, Gateway, and I am credited for created a digital thread between requirements and verifications for reporting to NASA.
Please read on to see my portfolio, projects, and teachings. The internet is a beautiful place, and I encourage you to reach
out for free guidance.
Staff Software Engineer
Cloud Architect
Business Administration
Cyber Security
Project History
Staff Software Systems Engineer
I am a staff software engineer who lead an integrated digital engineering tooling upgrade
at a legacy space company who manufactures GeoComm satellites. This project
involved interfacing with managers and the directorate to configure workflows
in multiple tools used by everyone from system engineers, to testers on the factory floor,
in their quest to link customer requirements to verification results. This project
saved the company hundreds of hours per craft and millions of dollars within the 1st year.
Success in this project has led me to be named quarterly
company champion recently. Here are the skills that lead to a successful execution of this project:
Communication
Staff engineering bridges the gap between
engineers and higher management. This project, updating the requirements management system
required fostering relationships with several entities: upper management,
systems engineering, the subsystems, testing teams, vendors, and even external customers like NASA.
I served as a trusted advisor is all things relating to a systems engineering
tooling. It was important to interject positivity and good cheer because requirements management
can be a dry, so I need to be that lighthouse of positivity.
I published internal video training courses, showing how any project can use the same series of tools
to connect contract requirements, to designs, to implementations, to verifications, and put all those
data artifacts under workflow with excellent exports.
Linux application administration
This project required me to administrate three commercial-off-the-shelf
applications, self-hosted in Amazon Web Services. I coded bash scripts and scheduled jobs to automate
administrative work such as installing, configuring, and backing up of the application. I do semi-annual technical recovery
exercises.
I have implemented a script template system to do distributed system administrations functions.
I have experience hosting applications following reams of government issued cybersecurity requirements. More on that in the next tab.
Cybersecurity
I was responsible for complying with over one hundred cyber security
requirements, from the NIST 800-171. When I arrived to the product, a billion dollar project was well under developed and no
cyber requirement audit had been performed yet. I was the 1st in the organization to do a self-audit of
NIST 800-171 and help the project carry on. Then, 1st to-be audited by a brand new cyber security department.
Then, they audited the entire organization, after learning lessons from my audit, where I was audited a 3rd time. Each audit had increasing scrutiny
of the cybersecurity requirements. The final one was like a boss battle, but I was well prepared and had the best results.
Application Programming
This project required lots of business intelligence
(BI) programming, extended the application by building over 30 utilities using the apps Rest API. Here are some notable mentions.
• Coded a C++ based Rest API program to integrate data between the new requirements system and the existing verification system.
• Coded python based programs that charted user productivity on line charts with matplotlib.
• A web application to extend the functionality of the core application, powered by Python Django.
• Coded a real Spacecraft Builder application. It used 100 input options for space craft, and the output is
all the specs and test needed for that are spacecraft, marked in the requirements management system.
Databases
This project required self-hosting 3 database driven web applications. I used Amazon Web Services, Relational
Database Services (RDS) to host the databases, manage patches and backups. I implement end-to-end encryption on all my
database driven web applications.
Systems Engineering
In this project, I am the staff software engineering who supports the tools used by systems engineers. Systems Engineering is all about
linking verification activities to requirements. Naturally, I am the database administrator for the requirements database, for 3 different product
lines, and I am building applications & utilities on top of the requirements database.
From these experiences, I have two years of systems engineering experience in the aerospace environment.
Project Management
In this project, I configured requirements & verification systems for several billion dollar programs.
I combined industry standards & existing business processes to set up the processes, workflows, automation,
cybersecurity, integrations, and training. Organizational strategy is always based in rock solid communication,
and the requirements decomposition process in engineering leads to a baseline understandings of what engineers are required to build,
and trace contract requirements to how they will be verified.
Open Office XML
Velocity and Office export templates can be as challenging to implement, as it is prevent
in engineering tools. I cleanly put together a suite of exports written in
Velocity and
Open Office XML.
This cuts document publishing times down tremendously, and leads to strong documents
when exports are required.
Communication
Staff engineering bridges the gap between engineers and higher management. Naturally, this position requires
good communication. I published a vast library of internal video training courses covering digital engineering tools.
Linux application administration
I automated administrative task for cybersecurity hardened linux servers used for database driven web applications.
Cybersecurity
I complied with over 100 cybersecurity requirements.
Application Programming
This project required me to program custom integrations, web applications, exports, and utilities to automate work.
Databases
This project required me to administrate multiple databases for web applications in amazon web services at minimal cost.
Systems Engineering
I am the staff engineers supporting the IT tools used by Systems Engineers.
Project Management
For billion dollar programs, I know how to configure requirements systems to organize the process, workflows, automation,
cybersecurity, integrations, and create user training.
Open Office XML
Open Office XML is how all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files are defined, and I coded lots export
that generated data from the application's native Velocity template engine, to export documents right to company
formatted Word & excel files.
Project History
Db2 Systems Programming
My mainframe time was focused on database software support, a specialty commonly
called Db2 Systems Programming. This is a technical role using the ISPF interface, seen above,
to code in REXX, JCL, and Db2 Stored Procedures to make programs that supported
software administration task, like software patches, installs, and roll outs. I rolled out 2 new software products,
Zowe and BMC Db2 Command Center.
I created a 10 part video training series for Command Center, which is an a SQL builder application
that was self-hosted web based application.
This experience was at State Farm; which is the #1 insurance company in the US. Four times
larger than its next competitor. It was a best in class mainframe data center, and it was
a great place to start a career. State Farm was one of the 1st companies to use computers at
scale. We had an IT audit done by IBM, called an IBM 360, and they said it was a
"perfect example" of how a data center should be ran. I being those perspectives and tools
forward into each project.
www.upwindglobal.com is my web application
that tells me the weather every morning. It is my learning lab. Every month, I am adding a feature.
It is a
12 factor database driven web application.
You can read more about the site in its
about section.
• Learning Django I vouch that this book series will bring you from zero to hero with Python Django web framework.
• Radio Garden is a world-wide, location based radio network!
• The Onion a funny website to remember to check in on.
YouTube
I host a personal Youtube channel.
I try giving advice that works for me. I give some career
advice, and teach my personal finance strategy, using
GNU Cash.
If you have 7 minutes to watch 1 video, make it the GNU Cash video. I want to create more videos
about topics that don't exist yet, or where I have a unique perspective. I'm limited by my full time
job.
