Benjamin Lapham has over 30 years of experience in software engineering, development, and database administration. He is currently a Software Engineer II at Gracenote - Tribune Media Services, where he designs, implements, tests, and maintains software and database solutions. Previously he held roles as an Applications Developer, Programmer, Product Development Analyst, and Product Analyst. He has extensive experience in technologies such as Java, Groovy, SQL, Perl, XML, and databases like Sybase and Postgres. Lapham has a Bachelor's Degree in English Writing from William Paterson University.

1. Benjamin C. Lapham 80 Sherman Avenue Glens Falls NY 12801
(518) 791-7082 blapham@gmail.com
Gracenote - Tribune Media Services (February 1990-Present)
40 Media Drive, Queensbury NY 12804 (800) 833-9581
Experience
Software Engineer II Engineering (June 2008 - Present)
Role: Design, document, test, implement and maintain software, database and product solutions that fulfill the
Gracenote business objectives: generate revenue opportunities, promote customer and user satisfaction and realize
operations efficiencies in productivity and quality control.
Responsibilities: Act as a technical resource for staff; stay abreast of current technology. Design software, database and
product solutions that satisfy business objectives and customer requirements. Estimate application development resource
allocations and timelines. Report on each phase of technical development. Implement solutions in live environment.
Provide support for technical account managers with occasional customer/partner calls. Troubleshoot and maintain
existing software and databases. Create database reports for content and customer care requests. Database
maintenance as needed for business request (occasionally after hours or over weekend).
Requirements and qualifications: Demonstrate communications, organizational and problem solving skills; team player.
Proven analytical, development, software, database, user support and troubleshooting skills. Working knowledge in
Sybase, Postgres, Java, Groovy, SQL, Perl, XML, Yaml, Ruby, etc. Enthusiasm and aptitude to cross-train in alternate
technologies as business demands require. Must be experienced in a customer-centered, deadline-driven production
environment. Must multi-task, manage multiple responsibilities and participate in rotating, 24/7 on-call support.
Occasional travel to client sites, conventions and training locations.
Applications Developer Engineering (February 2006 – June 2008)
Role: Design, document, test, implement and maintain software, database and product solutions that fulfill the TMS TV
information and movies product business objectives: generate revenue opportunities, promote customer satisfaction and
realize operations efficiencies in productivity and quality control.
Responsibilities: Act as a technical resource for staff; stay abreast of current technology. Design software, database and
product solutions that satisfy business objectives and customer requirements. Estimate application development resource
allocations and timelines. Issue thorough documentation for each phase of technical development. Assure quality through
a controlled testing phase. Implement solutions in live environment. Coordinate with training staff to supply users’
documentation for each solution. Troubleshoot and maintain existing software and databases.
Requirements and qualifications: Demonstrate communications, organizational and problem solving skills; team player.
Proven analytical, development, software, database, user support and troubleshooting skills. Working knowledge in
Clipper Development (Clipper Summer 87, Clipper 5.2, Xbase++, DBF databases), SQL, Perl, XML, Yaml, Visual Basic,
DOS, Mac OS and Windows. Enthusiasm and aptitude to cross-train in alternate technologies as business demands
require. Must be experienced in a customer-centered, deadline-driven production environment. Must multi-task, manage
multiple responsibilities and participate in rotating, 24/7 on-call support. Occasional travel to client sites and training
locations.

2. Benjamin C. Lapham 80 Sherman Avenue Glens Falls NY 12801
(518) 791-7082 blapham@gmail.com
Programmer Engineering (January 2005 – February 2006)
Role: Fulfill TMS TV Information business objectives through the development and application of software, database and
product solutions: generate revenue opportunities and promote customer satisfaction. Maintain current customer
procedures/products, applications, support users and create new customer products. Short-term development projects
are included.
Responsibilities: Maintain and support current applications, customer procedures and products on all databases. Handle
short-term development solutions and implementation on all platforms. Assure quality through a controlled testing phase.
Ensure business continuity of production software applications, databases and products. Create new customer procedures
or processes as necessary. Troubleshoot and analyze problems and correct responsively. Write reports pulling form
current or new databases. Provide detailed documentation and instructions on processes and projects. Act as level 2 help
desk as needed. Investigate customer complaints and discrepancies as it relates to specific applications and customers.
Requirements and qualifications: Demonstrate communications, organizational and problem solving skills. Proven
analytical, development, software, database, user support and troubleshooting skills. Working knowledge in: C, Visual
Basic, Unix, SQL, Perl and overall programming skills. Must be experienced in a customer-centered, deadline-driven
production environment. Must multi-task, manage multiple responsibilities and participate in rotating, 24/7 on-call
support. Occasional travel to client sites and training locations.
Product Development Analyst Engineering (August 1999 – January 2005)
Role: Fulfill TMS TV Information business objectives through the development and application of software, database and
product solutions: generate new revenue opportunities and promote customer satisfactions. Maintain current customer
procedures/products, applications, support users and create new customer products. Short term development projects are
included.
Responsibilities: Develop and implement database feeds of television listings information for data providers (DirecTV,
MediaOne, TimeWarner, DISH Network, Excite, etc.) using programs and scripts developed mainly in C, Perl and AIX/Unix
tools on files bulk copied from Sybase and Informix databases. Analyze and offer solutions to various intradepartmental or
company-wide issues in role as Project Management leader; offer solutions utilizing a variety of tools and provide training
staff with documentation. Provide after-hours user support on an on-call basis. Assist roughly 300 in-house users with
helpdesk support. Visit client sites and attend industry conferences as needed.
Product Analyst Customer Service (January 1994 – August 1999)
Responsibilities: Desing, implement and maintain templates and specification files for television listings customers. Initiate
transmission and production procedures and formulate client and user documentation. Convert legacy software to
enhanced proprietary software to realize efficiencies. Assist specialists with network and hardware enhancements tasks
(i.e. install work stations, network connections, perform disk re-packs, etc.). Provide client and production support in an
on-call basis.
Grid Editor Editorial Content (February 1990 – January 1994)
Responsibilities: Edit database content to client-supplied speciifications and AP style. Coordinate and implement
department-wide software conversion effort.

3. Benjamin C. Lapham 80 Sherman Avenue Glens Falls NY 12801
(518) 791-7082 blapham@gmail.com
Key Projects
Relay ETL Ingestion
Scoped out initial structure of Schedule Update Service which became the first electronic ingestion of schedule information
for TMS TV Information. Served on Relay Team for several years, creating dozens of ingestions feeds while also training
staff on location in Amsterdam, Queensbury and Emeryville offices and remotely to the Bangalore office.
Clipper Operations Conversion
Core operations migration from CA_Clipper to Sybase via Synopsis. Serve as import analyst on the Clipper and Perl code,
providing analysis and recommending solutions to project development leader.
Generic Data Showtimes Imports
Transition data import process from unique, client-specific and non-transparent Clipper parsers to a transparent modular
approach suing Perl code to a common text file. Initially this was done to use a single clipper program to ingest but that
was subsequently changed to load into Sybase databases via sunopsis tool.
Programs and People
Extended data migrations of visual basic extract code from MySQL database to a Perl extract from Sybase databases. The
final output data feeds that are used by hundreds of customers and ultimately millions of users (e.g. Tivo, Ask Jeeves,
AOL, etc.). Project resulted in products completing much quicker and with much better reliability.
Help Desk transition from Applications Support to Systems Operations
Served as project leader. Determine multi-tier structure for Help Desk calls between network operations, applications
support, systems and database administrations, applications projects. Facilitated multi-departmental meeting during key
transition period.
Education
William Paterson University (1985- 1989)
300 Pompton Road Wayne, NJ 07470 (973) 720-2000
● Bachelor of Arts, English Writing
○ Graduated with 3.4 grade point average
○ Honored with Emily Greenaway Award for Fiction Writing