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Professional notes by Craig Johnston
long-form, short-form, working drafts · since 2008
VOL. XIX · MMXXVI
81 NOTES IN PRINT
Curriculum Vitae · updated May 2026 VOL. XIX · MMXXVI

Craig Johnston

Chief Engineer · Deasil Works, Inc. · Los Angeles · Orange County

A Chief Engineer with over twenty-five years of experience in software architecture, development, and digital transformation. Deep expertise in Go, Python, and Java, leading projects across entertainment, retail, manufacturing, government, energy, and education. Notable work in IoT, machine learning, and bare-metal Kubernetes platform architecture, with significant open-source contributions. Author of Advanced Platform Development with Kubernetes (Apress, 2020) and featured speaker at Google TechTalks.

§Areas of Expertise

  • Software development & architecture · Go, Python, Java; designing and shipping complex distributed systems.
  • Open source · kubefwd (4,000+ GitHub stars), txeh, amp, rxtx, and the wider txn2 portfolio; tools in production at Pixie, Netmaker, Space Cloud, and others.
  • Kubernetes platform engineering · bare-metal and hybrid-cloud platforms; the subject of my book Advanced Platform Development with Kubernetes.
  • DevOps & SRE · full operations stacks: metrics, observability, log aggregation, visualization, monitoring, alerting, incident response.
  • AI / ML integration · production MCP servers, agent orchestration, ML pipelines on Kubernetes, custom operators for JupyterHub and TensorFlow workloads.
  • Industrial IoT · high-velocity signal acquisition, MQTT brokering, edge Kubernetes deployments, telematics platforms.
  • Team leadership & training · mentoring developers in Twelve-Factor App, semantic versioning, modern review practices, AI-assisted development.
  • Public speaking & writing · Google TechTalk, ongoing technical writing on imti.co, the txn2 documentation.

§Work Experience

§Deasil Works, Inc.

Chief Engineer · November 2004 — present Los Angeles

Deasil Works provides custom software development, infrastructure, and digital transformation services to clients including Disney, Universal, Electronic Arts, Warner Brothers, and NBC, across entertainment, retail, manufacturing, government, energy, and education.

§Responsibilities

  • Lead architect for client engagements, specializing in Go, Python, and Java.
  • Designed and shipped application platforms on Kubernetes, Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, RabbitMQ, Kafka, Apache NiFi, and Keycloak.
  • Built the team’s DevOps practice: code review standards, test pipelines, deployment automation, the SRE operations stack.
  • Mentored developers in Twelve-Factor App methodology, semantic versioning, modern review practice, and AI-assisted development with verification.
  • Led teams shipping IoT management systems, mobile apps, BI / data management platforms, and machine learning systems.

§Notable projects

  • National retail point-of-sale platform · 2,000 stores, ten warehouses, ERP and legacy integration. Stack: Go, Kubernetes, Apache Cassandra, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL, RabbitMQ, Android Java, Python.
  • Industrial IoT data platform · high-velocity signal capture, MQTT brokering, Prometheus aggregation across edge-based Kubernetes deployments and hybrid-cloud infrastructure. Custom acquisition endpoints in Python and C.
  • NBC.com modernization · transitioned the application platform from PHP and Java monoliths to a contemporary development operations framework.
  • Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails · custom IRC server with interactive Google Earth integration; multi-track audio distribution via self-hosted BitTorrent seed nodes; multi-feed video streaming for live concerts integrated with the concert control automation system.
  • Southern California Metrolink · trip planning and routing service. Python, Oracle, ElasticSearch.
  • Oil & gas exploration ML platform · industry/academic collaboration. Kubernetes, JupyterHub, Kafka, PostgreSQL, custom operators.
  • Public Media Group of Southern California · custom S3-backed data lake, Apache NiFi with custom Java processors, integration with legacy analytics systems.
  • Google Earth Influencers · active participant; invited to think tanks in Rome.

§Napster, LLC

Sr. Director, Research & Development · August 2001 — November 2004

After Napster’s acquisition by Universal Music Group in 2001, my original CommWerks / UMG team was entrusted with its post-acquisition rebuild. We repurposed platform components built originally for Farmclub.com, enabling Napster’s relaunch as a subscription music service.

  • Built an observability platform and APIs using Java SOA principles.
  • Engineered build automation tooling integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio C++ to streamline desktop and backend API development together.
  • Spearheaded adoption of Web 2.0 patterns in hybrid desktop applications.

§Universal Music Group · Farmclub.com

Sr. Director, Research & Development · March 2000 — June 2001

Farmclub.com — built by my CommWerks team after the UMG acquisition, in collaboration with Sony and Interscope — was a pioneer in digital media, streaming, and interactive broadcast.

  • Built a high-traffic, multi-camera live streaming platform; debut broadcast featured U2. Designed the system that let live viewers select their preferred camera angle in real time, supported by a high-throughput event queue and distributed key-store database.
  • Designed a Volkswagen-sponsored in-car content acquisition network: interactive text with drivers, online location tracking, live image feeds from internal and external cameras. Implemented seamless connectivity over CDPD, Satellite, and WiFi.
  • Worked with business development on the strategic merger with Napster, Sony, and Rhapsody.

§CommWerks Inc.

Director of Development · January 1997 — February 2000 Sr. Engineer · March 1996 — January 1997

CommWerks (1996—2000) was a small but profoundly influential firm in the early internet era, with a client roster including Disney, Sony, and Universal. We engineered Disney.com’s early growth. Acquired by Universal Music Group in 2000.

§Director of Development

  • Led a team of nine senior front- and back-end developers.
  • Worked directly with sales, project managers, and clients on tailored technical solutions.
  • Hired developers and project managers as the company grew from twenty to sixty employees.
  • Trained sales and account executives on technology so they could sell solutions and consult on capabilities.
  • Initiated an internal R&D lab; post-acquisition this became a formal department I was appointed to lead.

§Sr. Engineer

  • Designed and built Perl and Java internet applications for diverse client requirements.
  • Worked with IPTSCRAE (a Reverse Polish Notation language) and developed libraries for Macromedia FutureSplash, which later became Adobe ActionScript.
  • Implemented advanced ActionScript projects for Disney; demoed at Macromedia events.
  • Built data analytics applications for Disney International on early MySQL and Oracle 8.
  • Built SQL generation libraries in Perl.
  • Owned requirements interpretation, OOD architecture, and UML documentation across projects.

§StartDot Technologies

Associate Engineer · March 1994 — October 1996

StartDot, an early-1990s pioneer in digital cameras, was experimenting with the new internet as I joined for my Linux and CGI experience.

  • Built one of the first webcams. Software extracted a JPEG every ten seconds and made it accessible over the public internet.
  • Wrote Bash and Perl CGI scripts that exposed dynamic data indexes on the web — early server-rendered interactivity.
  • Engineered Perl libraries for ETL operations.
  • Built Lisp packages for Emacs to support development workflow.
  • Ported critical C++ libraries from Windows to Linux.

§Open Source

Active OSS maintainer through the txn2 portfolio — a collection of production-grade tools including kubefwd (4,000+ GitHub stars), txeh, amp, jwtpxy, rxtx, mcp-trino, mcp-s3, mcp-datahub, and many others. See txn2.com for the full project index, documentation, and source links.

§Publications & Talks

  • Advanced Platform Development with Kubernetes: Enabling Data Management, the Internet of Things, Blockchain, and Machine Learning · Apress, 2020. 528 pages. Cited in Benchmarking: An International Journal. Available on Amazon or Springer.
  • Google Earth, Nine Inch Nails, and Real-time Geo Community · Google TechTalks. Watch on YouTube.
  • imti.co · ongoing technical notes on Kubernetes, Go, Python, AI, MCP, data engineering. All notes.

§Contact

Craig Johnston · [email protected] ← back to all notes