Skyler Crank

Software Engineer

skyler@typewriteraudio.com

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Education & Certifications

Formal Education

  • Bachelors, Arts & Science (Digital Audio):
    2016
  • Associates in Arts:
    2012
  • High School Diploma:
    2009

Professional Certifications

  • CISSP:
    Certified Information Systems Security Professional (member of ISC2)
  • CCSK:
    Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (by CSA)
  • SURE Grant Researcher
    (Binaural Audio Research)

Professional Projects

A showcase of my software development journey.

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Caterpillar Inc,

Enterprise Network Security Automation & Platform

Cyber Security Analyst

The Challenge

The challenge is securing Caterpillar's extensive network perimeter, which involved managing complex multi-repository integrations and multiple hosted containers. A key challenge was ensuring robust security for factory operations through efficient firewall policy automation, comprehensive security scanning, and effective stakeholder oversight.

The Solution

To solve the above challenge, my team and I engineered and deployed a Linux-hosted, full-stack web portal & Restful API. This centralized solution automated firewall policy enforcement, enabling enterprise architects, factory operations, and other stakeholders to efficiently manage ISO 27001 compliance.

Neck Illusions, LLC

Manufacturing System with A.I. Analysis

Lead Developer & Architect

The Challenge

A company manufactors neck guards and needs to scale production of their patented adhesive technology. The core challenge was to seamlessly bridge the gap between user input from a mobile phone and the manufacturing process, ensuring precision and efficiency with minimal manual intervention, while registering and protecting intellectual property.

The Solution

I designed and implemented a skeleton structure for the whole process to innovative the manufacturing pipeline. This solution integrates a mobile application for precise image capture, server-side image processing, and neural network analysis to interpret user input. Processed data is then seamlessly communicated via WebSockets to initiate on-demand printing of custom adhesive designs, significantly streamlining personalized product creation.(Patent Pending)

Motion View, LLC

Orthodontic 3D Software

Software Contractor & AI Consultant

The Challenge

A 30 year old software company needed to help migrating a critical 32-bit dental modeling application to enable distributed to their vast customers, and to add a local neural network for processing for 3D point cloud segmentation. This involved overcoming legacy system limitations while integrating advanced AI capabilities.

The Solution

As a contractor, I scoped the complex migration from a 32-bit Borland C++ application to a modern 64-bit architecture. I collaborated with AI experts to define integration points for PyTorch-based point cloud segmentation models, leveraging the VTK library for advanced 3D visualization.

Solo Software, LLC

Hardware Interface Application

Software Contractor & UX Designer

The Challenge

The client required the translation of a complete UI/UX design from Figma into a functional C++ desktop application that interfaced with hardware, all while adhering to a strict budget.

The Solution

Leveraging my C++ expertise, I meticulously mirrored implemention of the Figma designs using OpenGL for the user interface, ensuring a pixel-perfect and responsive user experience. I also thoroughly reviewed and optimized the core byte processing logic to meet the product's real-time performance specifications.

Type Writer Audio, LLC

Digital Audio Signal Processing Application Suite

Founder & Lead Developer

The Challenge

To capture a significant user base and thrive in the highly competitive digital audio market, innovation in real-time audio processing required a strong focus on exceptional user experience, cutting-edge technology, and unique functionality. Outside of the company's vision there were many other hurdles with founding and running a software company.

The Solution

Over eight years, this software company diligently established its market presence by developing and distributing seven commercial audio products, successfully attracting over 300,000 users. Having founded the company, I oversaw its significant and efficient growth from only me to eventually a lean team of just ten employees, including four dedicated developers.

Deep Silver Volition, LLC

AAA Video Game Audio System

Audio Programmer Intern

The Challenge

Implement a comprehensive in-game footstep audio system using a middleware audio engine and proprietary scripts. The objective was to dynamically generate every conceivable footstep sound for all characters across every distinct material within the game world, minimizing storage and real-time processing demands.

The Solution

Designed and implemented over 10,000 distinct in-game triggers to dynamically reproduce sounds that accurately matched character actions and environmental materials. This approach significantly minimized storage space and optimized real-time processing efficiency.

University of St. Francis (NPO)

Student Athlete Mobile Application

Developer

The Challenge

The university's computer science club initiated a project to develop a mobile application enabling student athletes to securely log in and meticulously track their seasonal performance statistics.

The Solution

We leveraged AWS for serving and hosting a mobile application, featuring a browser-facing user interface built efficiently with PhoneGap.

Personal Projects

A collection of my work in pursuit of personal growth & knowledge.

Rust Desktop Application

Vision

A project I created to learn Rust.

The Challenge

Create a project where the primary language was Rust capable of retrieving real-time NHL data via RESTful api and display the stats in a meaningful way to a user.

The Solution

Utilizing Tauri and a web based front end, I successfully was able to receive requests via Rust and it's utility as a desktop application.

Applied Thermodynamics Project

Peltier Drink Chiller

A custom-built device for cooling beverages.

The Challenge

To design and fabricate a device capable of quickly chilling a standard beverage can. The core of the project involved using a thermoelectric Peltier module, which required an efficient method to dissipate the intense heat generated on its hot side to achieve maximum cooling on the other.

The Solution

I constructed a cooler where the cold side of the Peltier element makes direct contact with a custom-fit aluminum holder for the drink. To manage the heat output, I engineered a liquid cooling loop on the hot side, complete with a water block, pump, and radiator with a fan. This active heat dissipation system allows the Peltier module to operate at peak efficiency, to lowering the beverage's temperature.

Embedded Systems Project

Robotic Guitarist

An ESP32-powered device to physically play a guitar.

The Challenge

To design and build a device using an ESP32 microcontroller and servos to physically actuate guitar strings, effectively creating a robot that can play power chords.

The Solution

I developed a C++ program for the ESP32 that translates MIDI data into precise servo movements. This allows the device to strum the strings of a guitar in a timed sequence.

Desktop Application

Audio Parameter Smoother

A C++ audio boilerplate for real-time user parameter changes.

The Challenge

In digital audio, abrupt parameter changes on the real-time processing thread can cause audible clicks and pops. The goal was to create a reusable C++ class within the JUCE framework to smooth these parameter transitions.

The Solution

I developed an open-source parameter smoother class in C++ using the JUCE framework. This class interpolates parameter values over a specified time, ensuring that changes are gradual and do not introduce audio artifacts.

Desktop Application

Harmonious Colors

A tool for generating aesthetically pleasing color palettes.

The Challenge

Create a desktop application that allows users to select a primary color and then uses mathematical algorithms to generate a variety of harmonious color palettes, such as complementary, analogous, and triadic.

The Solution

I built a desktop application that implements color theory principles. The app provides an interactive color picker and displays the generated palettes with their corresponding hex codes for easy use in other applications.

Digital Signal Processing

Sonic Visualizer

A program to transform sound files into visual FFT representations.

The Challenge

To develop a program capable of reading various audio file formats, performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the audio data, and generating a spectrogram image to visually represent the frequency content of the sound over time.

The Solution

I wrote a C++ desktop application to analysis sound formats utilizing hard-ware acceleration to generate image data.

Hardware & OS Modding

Snow Leopard OSX

Custom built PC to be compatible with a custom macOS installation.

The Challenge

To install and run Apple's OS X Snow Leopard (10.8) on a non-Apple computer. This required deep hardware compatibility research, motherboard patching, and kernel modifications to make the operating system recognize and work with the PC components.

The Solution

I successfully built a "Hackintosh" by patching the motherboard's DSDT file to correctly map hardware components. I also used patched kernel files (kexts) to enable communication between the OS and the PC's specific hardware, resulting in a stable and functional macOS system on unsupported hardware.

Thank you for exploring my portfolio!

What's our next adventure?

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