| Name | Experience (Years) | Proficiency | I've used it for: |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 27 | Expert | Systems programming for DuckDB extensions, database internals, and performance-critical code. Deep experience with Unix/Linux systems programming, memory management, and low-level optimization. |
| Python | 15 | Expert | Expert in modern Python development using uv, rye, ruff, and mypy for fast, type-safe development. Published multiple packages to PyPI. Built large-scale data platforms and analytics systems with NumPy, Pandas, Polars, DuckDB, and Apache Arrow. Extensive experience with machine learning frameworks including TensorFlow, PyTorch, and PyMC for probabilistic programming. Proficient with Django and Jupyter notebooks for web applications and interactive analysis. |
| JavaScript | 18 | Proficient | Contributed to Node.js core and published numerous NPM packages. Extensive experience with async programming, event-driven architectures, and backend services. While no longer a primary language, still used for tooling and web development when appropriate. |
| TypeScript | 8 | Proficient | Solid experience with TypeScript for tooling and development. Previously used extensively, now utilized selectively for web projects and developer tools where type safety adds value. |
| Rust | 6 | Expert | I've created 25+ DuckDB extensions using Rust, downloaded over 2 million times. Experienced with building high-performance data processing tools, FFI integration, and working with complex Rust ecosystems including tokio, serde, and various specialized crates for cryptography, fuzzy matching, and probabilistic data structures. |
| SQL | 18 | Proficient | Strong working knowledge of SQL databases. Created 25+ DuckDB extensions requiring deep understanding of query execution and database internals. Presented at DuckCon on DuckDB architecture. Extensive experience with PostgreSQL, SQLite, and have used DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and MariaDB in production environments. |
| NoSQL | 9 | Expert | Extensive production experience with DynamoDB, Redis, MongoDB, Cassandra, and LevelDB. Deep understanding of CAP theorem tradeoffs, consistency models, and scaling patterns for distributed data stores. |
| C++ | 17 | Expert | Primary language for DuckDB extension development. Created 25+ production extensions using modern C++ (C++17/20), deep integration with DuckDB internals, and performance-critical database systems. Proficient with STL, template metaprogramming, and memory-efficient data structures. Experienced with vcpkg for dependency management and CMake for cross-platform builds. Previous contributions to Node.js core and high-performance systems programming. |
| Perl | 18 | Expert | Creating large projects and various open-source modules. I've used Catalyst, Moose, Dancer, Moo, Moops, and even Kavorka. |
| Java | 18 | Expert | Deep understanding of JVM internals, garbage collection tuning, and performance optimization. Extensive experience scaling distributed systems at Two Sigma using Netty, Apache Spark, and custom frameworks. Built production systems with Solr, Lucene, and various enterprise Java frameworks. |
| PHP | 7 | Proficient | I've created extensions for PHP and have written a module or two. |
| Bash / Shell Scripting | 6 | Proficient | I've used bash to glue things together in short scripts, but I prefer my shell to be zsh. |
| R | 3 | Proficient | I've used R for statistical analysis and visualizations. |
| Julia | 1 | Learning | I'm just starting to consider Julia as an alternative to Python since it can run much faster. I've written and published modules for Julia. |
| Prolog | 3 | Proficient | Solving some optimization problems |
| C# | 2 | Proficient | I've implemented a few apps using WPF, WinForms, VSTO, and COM. |
| Objective C | 3 | Proficient | I shipped an iOS App. I'm familiar with various frameworks like AppKit and UIKit. |
| Swift | 1 | Proficient | I've used this for development on iOS. |
| Scala | 1 | Proficient | I learned this to explore functional programming on the JVM, it has fallen out of my favor, especially as functional programming has come to JavaScript and TypeScript. |
| Go | 2 | Proficient | I've modified Docker and the Docker repository. |
Rusty Conover
Technology Experience
I thrive at the intersection of systems programming, data infrastructure, and distributed computing.
My expertise spans building high-performance database extensions, architecting cloud-native data platforms,
and creating production systems that process trillions of rows. Below are the languages and technologies
I've mastered throughout my career.
Programming Languages
Data Platforms & Analytics
Expert in modern data infrastructure and analytics frameworks. Built production data platforms processing trillions of rows for quantitative trading and large-scale analytics workloads.
| Name | I've used it for: |
|---|---|
| DuckDB | Core expertise. Created 25+ production extensions, presented at DuckCon Amsterdam, and integrated DuckDB into enterprise data platforms. Deep knowledge of query execution, extension APIs, and performance optimization. |
| Apache Arrow | Primary framework for high-performance data processing. Built Apache Arrow Flight integration for DuckDB (Airport extension), presented at Apache Arrow Summit 2025. Expert in zero-copy data transfer and columnar memory formats. |
| Apache Iceberg | Production experience building data lakehouse architectures. Leveraged Iceberg's transactional semantics, time travel, and schema evolution for financial data platforms handling hundreds of datasets. |
| Polars / Pandas / NumPy | Expert in Python data processing ecosystems. Use Polars for performance-critical workflows, Pandas for interactive analysis, and NumPy for numerical computing. |
| TensorFlow / PyTorch / PyMC | Machine learning and probabilistic programming for quantitative research. Built classification, regression, and probabilistic models for trading systems and forecasting. |
| Delta Lake / Apache Hudi | Production experience with lakehouse table formats. Evaluated and deployed streaming data architectures using Delta Live Tables and Hudi. |
Ongoing interests include reinforcement learning, time series forecasting, Bayesian statistics, and optimization algorithms for complex systems.
Cloud Computing / Cloud Providers
Extensive experience architecting and operating cloud-native data platforms at scale. Led teams building production systems on AWS and GCP, processing petabytes of data for quantitative trading and analytics workloads.
Core AWS expertise focused on data infrastructure and modern cloud architectures:
| Service Name | I've used it for: |
|---|---|
| S3 / Athena / Lake Formation | Stored and processed petabytes of data. Built data lakehouse architectures combining S3, Athena, and Lake Formation for secure, scalable analytics. Expertise in partitioning strategies, query optimization, and access control patterns for financial data. |
| Lambda / Step Functions | Architected serverless data pipelines and orchestration workflows. Built production systems processing billions of events using Lambda for data transformation and Step Functions for complex workflow orchestration. |
| ECS / Batch / ECR | Ran millions of containerized batch jobs for quantitative simulations and data processing. Designed auto-scaling container workloads for compute-intensive analytics tasks. |
| EC2 / VPC / Networking | Deep experience with VPC design, security groups, spot instances, auto-scaling, and network architecture for multi-thousand instance deployments. Built secure, high-performance network topologies for distributed systems. |
| IAM / KMS / Security | Expert in IAM policies, role-based access control, encryption key management, and security best practices. Created custom policy frameworks and security automation tools. |
| CloudFormation / CDK | Infrastructure as code for complex cloud architectures. Managed multi-account deployments with automated policy enforcement and compliance validation. |
| Kinesis / Streaming | Built real-time data ingestion pipelines for streaming analytics and event processing. |
| DynamoDB / RDS / Redshift | Production experience with NoSQL and relational databases at scale. Designed data models and optimized query patterns for high-throughput applications. |
Google Cloud Platform: Production experience running quantitative workloads on Compute Engine, Cloud Run for containerized services, Pub/Sub for event streaming, and Cloud SQL for managed databases. Built distributed systems spanning both AWS and GCP.
Video Streaming
These technologies were things I used when building a scalable video streaming platform:
- HLS - HTTP Live Streaming
- H.264 / VP8 / VP9
- RTMP / RTSP
- CDNs - Content Delivery Networks
Web / Internet Protocols and Technologies
I've been using open source technologies and open protocols since
the start of my career.
| Name | Proficiency | I've used it for: |
|---|---|---|
| TCP / UDP | Expert | I've used it to move petabytes of data around the world. |
| HTTP 1.0/1.1 | Expert | Almost everything. I've implemented numerous proxies. I know all about cookies, headers, authentication, content, and transfer encodings. I've also implemented many web crawlers that have subsequently requested and processed billions of pages. |
| HTML / CSS | Expert | Building and parsing website content. |
| TLS / OpenSSL | Proficient | Keeping data encrypted from prying eyes. I've dealt with cipher suite selection, session resumption, and various other extensions. I understand PKI. |
| XML | Expert | Services often use XML, I've parsed it, and I've produced it as output. I've also used XPath and XSLT to extract and transform it into a more usable state. |
| JSON | Expert | I've used JSON for services that don't use XML. I've written and validated JSON schemas, I've also dealt with streaming JSON parsing and querying. |
| SOAP / XML-RPC | Proficient | |
| GraphQL | Proficient | |
| WebRTC / Web sockets | Proficient | I've implemented real-time notifications for applications using web sockets. |
| DNS | Expert | I operated DNS servers for a few decades, but now I let AWS operate them for me. I know about writing zone files and zone delegation. |
| Redis | Expert | I've used Redis as a key-value store and more of its advanced data structures |
| Memcached | Expert | Memcached is a great key-value store, but I've had a few ideas about a different approach. |
| SMTP / POP3 / IMAP | Expert | I've run my own SMTP/POP3/IMAP servers for over a decade. It's a struggle; now I just let others handle it for me. |
| SAML / OpenID | Proficient | I've successfully implemented federated authentication for multiple projects. |
Operating Systems
I'm very comfortable and productive in any Unix based environment.
I'm very proficient using:
- Linux (Fedora, Debian, RedHat, Slackware), Solaris, AIX
- Mac OS X, iOS
- Windows