About

My name is Roy Kolak, and I am currently working at Obtiva as a Software Apprentice.

I am an easy going kind of person who enjoys the task at hand. Nothing beats a good run, billiards is my new hobby, and I own a 1975 Honda motorcycle. Music is awesome and so are Gyros.

On The Job

Obtiva (November 2007 - Present)

I joined Obtiva in early November as a Software Apprentice. I am currently doing frontend development as a consult at Sears in Downtown Chicago.

The Killswitch Collective (May 2007 - October 2007)

I started at The Killswitch Collective in late May as a Ruby on Rails developer. During my time here, I have built custom content management systems, developed social networking community sites, and worked on several high profile projects for MTV.

Campus Life Development Team (April 2006 - May 2007)

I interned at Campus Life on the Development Team while enrolled as a student at Illinois State University. While employed at Campus Life, I worked on a variety of different projects that all involved creating database driven web applications. One of my projects was to create an office management application that handled employees, schedules, and budgeting (1, 2, 3, 4). I also participated in a project called RA Programs (1, 2, 3, 4). This application helped organize campus events in on-campus housing. Also, I served as the Development Team Student Manager from January 2007 until May 2007.

Web Design, WeMakeTheGrade.com (Summer 2006)

I was contracted to develop an informational website template for A+ Landscaping and Grading. I involved the clients from the beginning of the design process and as a result, the clients were very pleased with the final product. (1, 2)

Side Projects

Word Association (2007)

Everybody's favorite word association game is better than ever. Word Association, or Word Ass for short, is a game where users input a word which associates with a word that another user inputed. With over 5000 associations and a brand new widget for the dashboard, WordAss is rocking.

The Mind Project (Spring 2005 - Spring 2007)

I was involved with the Mind Project at Illinois State University for two and a half years. The Mind Project is part of the Cognitive Science Department at the university. This Project's goal is to improve the cognitive science curriculum at Illinois State University. A part of that goal is developing a robot that can interact with humans. This is the area that I was focusing on during my involvement with the project. I contributed a Tic Tac Toe learning algorithm, a webcam capture program, redesigned the robotic arm, and programmed servos that control the robot's arm.

Resume

Additional information can be found in the following document...
Resume (PDF)