Hal Wigoda

Technology architect · Chicago

I wrote my first program on punch cards in Fortran in 1967. Since then I've worked across nearly every layer of computing: COBOL on IBM and Burroughs mainframes, Informix and Oracle on a long list of Unix systems, network and firewall security, and most recently Linux infrastructure in the AWS cloud.

Most of that time I was the person brought in to make something work: migrate the data, port the code, harden the server, stand up the platform, and write it all down so the next person could run it. I've done that for a Federal Reserve Bank, hospitals, banks, a city government, telecom companies, and a handful of startups.

An 80-column Fortran card, the kind I started on around 1967.

What I work with

AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, Route 53, IAM, VPC)
Linux & Unix administration
AI
Python
Perl
Shell scripting
PHP
MySQL
Informix
Oracle
SQL
COBOL & JCL
Network & system security
Data migration
Technical documentation

Selected work

2014–2016

Mobile app platform on AWS

Infrastructure Architect, JHMJLL, Inc.

Led an iOS and Android grocery app from wireframes through rollout, and recruited the development team.
Built the backend: CentOS and MySQL on EC2 and RDS, JSON data feeds in PHP, XML data loads, and a GPS-based store-finder algorithm.

2007–2008

Medicare reimbursement for the City of Chicago

COBOL consultant, Department of Revenue/Benefits

Built the data exchange with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that let the City recover millions of dollars in retiree medical benefits from the federal government.

2001

Firewall infrastructure for Harris Bank

Network security consultant, Bank of Montreal/Harris Bank

Built and hardened a Solaris server collecting from 17 firewalls, with a Perl and shell web dashboard for the network staff, and documented the whole setup.

1995–1996

AT&T / Lucent pension consolidation

Database consultant, AT&T Pension Service Center

Merged Informix databases from five aging AT&T 3B2 servers onto one NCR Unix system, and split employee data between AT&T and Lucent after the breakup.

Career by era

1992–2002

Independent consultant

Cryptical Development

Informix, Unix, and web infrastructure contracts for Motorola, AT&T, ABN AMRO, Harris Bank, Bridgestone/Firestone, Montgomery Ward, Learning Curve, Huck Industries, and others: database ports, Y2K remediation, e-commerce server builds, and staff training.

1980–1991

Programmer/analyst and database developer

American College of Chest Physicians, University of Chicago Medical Center, Columbus-Cuneo-Cabrini, Fred S. James

Financial, clinical, and membership systems on Burroughs mainframes, then the move to Unix. At the American College of Chest Physicians, helped choose the new platform and migrated the organization from Burroughs to Unix and Informix.

1974–1979

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Operations, then programmer

Check processing systems support, and standardized patches to the first ACH/EFT software for the Seventh District.

Education

B.S., Information Assurance and Security Engineering, DePaul University (2012)
Mathematics and computer science, University of Illinois Chicago and Urbana-Champaign

Writing

“Steganography Over Covert Channels: Implementation and Government Response.” 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 4, Winter 2012–2013, pp. 17–23.