Kevin Lampis

I’m a Senior Software Engineer at Solarflare Communications in Cambridge, UK. I’m part of the firmware team working on Solarflare’s market leading high performance nework cards.

Previously Telensa, Cambridge, UK - sole maintainer of long range wireless protocol stack CSR (now Qualcomm QTI), Cambridge, UK - firmware for dual mode Bluetooth chips Livewire Digital, Surrey, UK - networking and satellite communications I studied Software Engineering at Durham University and graduated with a 2:1.

I have a keen interest in systems programming, peeking behind the proverbial curtain and generally digging down into the details of how things work. Although I like writing code, I also enjoy reading code and learning about how things work.

I don’t like to define myself by a particular language or platform. I predominantly love C++ due to its great depth and flexibility but I also like all kinds of programming languages and paradigms.

I’m still at that very early point of my career where I have written more code at home than at work. Some of it I release as open source on GitHub.

Networking and maintaining a dozen physical and virtual Linux and BSD machines at home is a source of endless fun for me. My favourite Linux distribution is Gentoo, mostly for the educational value.

I read a lot of books. When I get bored of books I read research papers.

I am a 2nd dan in the traditional style of Shotokan Karate. I started when I was 9, graded to 1st dan at 13 and 2nd dan at 15. Age restrictions prevented me from grading further.

I represented England as part of the KUGB National Squad during my teen years. Some of my competition highlights are Silver for Under 16 Boy’s Kumite at the KUGB National Championships 2008 and Silver for Under 16 Boy’s Kata and Kumite at the KUGB Northern Region Championships 2006 and 2007.
I still train and teach at my local club in Cambridge, though not at a competitive level.

I am a big fan of Japan and Japanese culture and I am currently learning Japanese. I study for one hour each day over lunch. I know some basic to intermediate grammar and retain a vocabulary of over 300 words. At the moment this might be enough to hold a conversation with a native 7 year old… でも未だ先の話です...

I also watch a lot of anime.