Chris Manlove

High-Performance C++ Systems Engineer

Huntington Beach, CA

Focused on writing efficient, low-latency, and scalable C++ systems. My work spans epoll event loops, lock-free data structures, cache-aware memory layouts, and post-quantum cryptography. I believe performance should be designed in from the start, not bolted on at the end.

Education

California State University, Fullerton

B.S. Computer Science, Minor in Mathematics

Fullerton, CA · GPA 3.75

Algorithm EngineeringOperating SystemsComputer System ArchitectureCompilers and LanguagesComputer NetworkingNetwork Security FundamentalsCybersecurityDatabasesArtificial IntelligenceSoftware EngineeringMathematical Probability

Orange Coast College

A.S. Computer Science, A.S. Mathematics

Costa Mesa, CA

C++ I and IIData Structures and AlgorithmsComputer ArchitectureDiscrete StructuresSoftware EngineeringCalculus I, II, IIILinear AlgebraNetwork Communication Technologies

Experience

C++ Development Intern

ScalpTrade · Chicago, IL

  • Rewriting a legacy C++11 market data processing service from scratch in C++20

Software Engineer I

Judicate West · Santa Ana, CA

  • Integrated the Zoom Meeting SDK into a WiseJ4 application for virtual ADR video sessions
  • Built a multi-threaded automation framework with Quartz.NET; deployed 3 production jobs eliminating recurring manual workflows
  • Developed RA MyWork, a task and time-tracking UI for Research Attorneys with a manager pay-approval queue
  • Built EDM data collection automation using the Fathom Analytics API for year-end website traffic reporting
  • Built Suggest Neutral with ChatGPT API integration for dynamic email generation and date-aware neutral scheduling
  • Built CRM Wins tracking system with dashboards for business development and case manager credit attribution
  • Developed mobile UI components for the MyJW client portal
  • Built AMI, an email capture and Ollama driven classification system; recovered 15%+ of inquiries previously missing from the case management system
  • Overhauled the Neutral Calendar CSS to support user-configurable per-event colors
  • Mentored 2 software engineering interns; conducted code reviews and approved pull requests
  • Shipped full-stack features in C#, VB.NET, and T-SQL serving 250+ concurrent users across web and mobile

Software Development Intern

Judicate West · Santa Ana, CA

  • Built EVA, a full-stack mobile event app in WiseJ with real-time scheduling and weather integration
  • Contributed to an ASP.NET website migration improving system performance and maintainability

Projects

Quantum Edge: Post-Quantum VPN

C++23CryptographyLinux NetworkingOpenSSL
  • Led a 4-person team building a VPN with a hybrid ML-KEM + X25519 handshake and epoll event loop; throughput competitive with WireGuard
  • Composed a unified handshake pipeline from ML-KEM-768, X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, BLAKE3, and HKDF via OpenSSL
  • Authored a unit-test suite spanning crypto and networking layers to enable rapid iteration

miscellaneous_cpp

C++23
  • Reference collection of C++23 code written while reading LearnCPP.com, books, and articles
  • Includes a fully templated Fraction class using C++20 concepts and the spaceship operator

C++ Project Template

C++23Make
  • C++23 project template following the App-Core architecture model, compiled with a Makefile
  • Includes a test runner; designed to eliminate boilerplate when starting new C++ projects

SOCKS4 Proxy Server

C++20POSIX Socketsepoll
  • epoll-based event loop supporting 100,000+ concurrent connections with zero third-party dependencies
  • Implemented DNS resolution, a custom LRU cache, and SHA-256 using only the C++ standard library
  • Led a 5-person team; earned 100% on the assignment

Handwriting Neural Network

C#Machine Learning
  • Feed-forward neural network from scratch using sigmoid activation and gradient-descent training
  • Generated 1,000+ handwritten digit samples on a 16x16 grid for training; led the project and earned 100%

CryptoPals

C++Cryptography
  • Completed 17 of 66 CryptoPals cryptography challenges in C++; covers byte manipulation, XOR ciphers, frequency analysis, and block cipher modes
  • Introduced through Operating Systems class

Huffman Coding Compression Tool

PythonTkinter
  • File compression utility that builds a Huffman tree and encodes input files; GUI built with Tkinter
  • Built for Algorithm Engineering class; algorithm fully self-implemented

Chris Shell

C (gnu17)POSIX
  • Unix shell in C supporting piping, I/O redirection, and custom built-in commands; zero third-party libraries
  • Built for Operating Systems class; earned 100%

Encrypto

C++20Cryptography
  • File encryption and decryption tool using keyed bit manipulation; built for Cybersecurity class
  • Earned over 100% on the assignment

Card Games

C++20SFML
  • Solitaire implementation in C++20 with SFML for graphics rendering
  • One of the projects that helped land my first professional software engineering role

Hashing Algorithms

C++17
  • Collection of hashing algorithms implemented from scratch in C++17, including SHA-256
  • One of the projects that helped land my first professional software engineering role

Skills

Languages

C++23C++20C++17CC#VB.NETT-SQL

Systems Programming

Low LatencyPOSIX SocketsepollNon-Blocking I/OMultithreadingConcurrencyLock-Free ProgrammingMemory ManagementCache LinesNUMAKernel BypassPerformance Optimization

Computer Science

Data StructuresAlgorithmsComputer ArchitectureOperating SystemsCompilersComputer NetworkingNetwork ProgrammingObject-Oriented ProgrammingCryptography

Domain Knowledge

High Frequency TradingQuant FinanceBackend EngineeringLinear AlgebraStatisticsProbabilityCombinatorics

Tools and Toolchain

GCCMakeGitLinuxOpenSSLVisual Studio CodeVisual Studio.NET FrameworkQuartz.NETASP.NETSFMLMS SQL Server

Awards and Achievements

CompTIA Security+ CompTIA
CompTIA Network+ CompTIA
Eagle Scout Boy Scouts of America
United States Chess Federation 1650 ELO USCF