Costa Mesa, CA
email: jbyrd at post dot harvard dot edu
web: www.johnbyrd.com
Director of Software
Sonance
San Clemente, CA
Aug 2021 – present
First software hire. Built software team and built new product prototypes. Set up Gitlab instance, set up Yocto Linux build environment, and wrote embedded audio code for i.MX8 and STM32 development systems. Ran Agile development processes and delivered new software features on a monthly cadence.
Chief Executive Officer
Gigantic Software
Irvine, CA
Oct 2006 – present
Founded company. Made and sold audio middleware and tools. Customers include Sony, Disney, Technicolor, Konami, Electronic Arts. Completed console license agreements with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Wrote novel DSP code and tools for next-generation consoles. Millions of copies of games sold using company’s technology. Filed patents on new designs. Gave multiple presentations at GDC. Invited speaker at USC’s Interactive Media and Games Division.
Chief Operating Officer
CRI Middleware Co., LTD. (Sega)
San Francisco, CA
Sep 2003 – Oct 2006
Founded US division. Sold CRI’s audio middleware products, originally developed by SEGA-AM2, into US markets. Cultivated leads, demonstrated products, answered deep technical questions, and negotiated contracts and payment schedules with most major US game publishers. Built profitable business in under three years.
Principal Engineer
Sega.com
San Francisco, CA
Mar 2003 – Sep 2003
Created the SNAP SDK for online console game development. Devised and managed product schedule. Rewrote online code for XBox and Gamecube, and assisted with PS2 version.
Senior Project Manager
Electronic Arts
San Francisco, CA
Sep 2002 – Mar 2003
Tasked and scheduled 61 artists, engineers and production personnel for Freekstyle, an AAA action-sports game. Triaged and assigned bugs; managed master game schedule.
Director of Development Technology
Sega of America
San Francisco, CA
Aug 1997 – Mar 2001
Created the Sega Dreamcast (Katana) SDK. Managed development, integration and testing for several Dreamcast core libraries and tools. Managed North American developer technical support; supervised Web-based support system. Built long-term relationships with developers and partner companies. Coached and helped grow engineers and non-technical employees. Full-time staff of thirteen.
Senior Engineer
The 3DO Company
Redwood City, CA
Feb 1994 – Aug 1997
Wrote and taught courses at 3DO University, including the first-ever professional curriculum for game audio. Wrote code and provided other technical assistance for Windows, M2 and 3DO development teams. Developed demo programs and content for 3DO system software. Wrote installers for multiple PC games.
Applications Engineer
Archibus, Inc.
Boston, MA
Sep 1991 – Sep 1993
Designed, wrote and integrated CAD and database systems. Produced training videos using 3D Studio Max. Wrote users’ and programmers’ documentation and manuals. Wrote proposals for new systems. Provided technical support to end users.
Harvard College: BA in Computer Science, June 1991. Lectured on interactive audio at University of Southern California and Game Developer Conference. Invited speaker to AES. Found and ethically reported remote code execution vulnerability in Crypto++. Founded llvm-mos project and helped write 6502 backend for LLVM. Top Writer on Quora, on software development and management; averaging 100K views per week, with over 11M views; translated by fans into eight languages.