Patrick Ku

Work History

• 

  Product Manager

  Apple Inc.

  February 2019 - Present

  Cupertino, CA

• Solutions

  PullString, Inc.

  May 2015 - February 2019

• Senior Software Engineer

  ToyTalk, Inc. (now PullString, Inc.)

  April 2015 - July 2016

  • First engineer focused on PullString Author (Python/PyQT/C++), a desktop app for crafting conversation with characters
  
  • Managed product feature requests, handled support for team of creative writers, and coordinated build releases
  
  • Trained new employees on internal suite of tools and handled onboarding for first set of customers
  
• 

  Senior Technical Director

  DreamWorks Animation

  July 2011 - March 2015

  • Technical lead managing a 3D environment API and collaborative image transfer system allowing 50 global (US and India) artists to work more efficiently saving 1000 man-hours/film and speeding up core toolset run-time by 3x.
  
  • Unified four shot review web-apps (1000 users) implementing an extensible email template system and managing search implementation increasing DAU by 5x and app engagement by 20x.
  
  • Created development and launch strategy (100+ developers impacted) for the studio movie player’s new plug-in platform and wrote most-used plugin.
  
  Films:
  • Bureau of Otherworldy Operations (TBD)
  • The Penguins of Madagascar (2015)
  • Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)
  • Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Technical Director

  DreamWorks Animation

  June 2009 - July 2011

  Designed and implemented critical tool initiatives saving up to 500 man-hours/film including:
  
  • Multi-department automatic image generation and compositing solution
  • “Flying” camera system which managed round-trip data flow between three applications
  • MAYA Python plugins managing technical complexity for stereoscopic film-making
  
  Films:
  • Dragons: The Gift of the Night Fury (2011)
  • Megamind (2010)
  
• 

  Software Engineer

  DreamWorks Animation

  January 2009 - June 2009

  • Production specialist for new data pipeline, upgrading legacy tools to modern Python standards.
  • Triaged and debugged an average of five bugs/week across multiple software packages.
  
  Films (non-credited):
  • Shrek Forever After (2010)
  • How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
• 

  Associate Technical Director

  DreamWorks Animation

  October 2006 - January 2009

  • Debugged artist workflows, proprietary/third-party applications, and the cloud rendering system.
  
  • Automated batch processes increasing productivity 2x and shortening feedback loop 10x.
  
  Films:
  • Megamind (pre-production) (2010)
  • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
• 

  Summer Associate

  Walt Disney Animation Studios

  June 2005 - August 2005

  • IT intern for DisneyToon Studios and TV Animation under VP of Technology, Scott Erickson.
  
  • Rebuilt TVA/DTS IT intranet portal adding an equipment reservation + outage notification system.