Justin Gottula
Software Engineer at Self-Employed
Placentia, California, United States
Summary
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Top SchoolJustin Gottula is a software and electrical engineer with 15 years of hands-on experience building and hardening complex C++ systems, from Linux server administration to game AI. He specializes in reverse engineering, vulnerability investigation, and safety-focused code improvementsâevidenced by large-scale C++ reimplementations and nearly 30,000 lines translated from x86 assembly for Team Fortress 2 Classic. An active open-source contributor, he has improved safety and modernized backend logic in notable projects like OpenLoco and OpenRCT2 by replacing unsafe string handling and refactoring core algorithms. Justin combines rigorous math and physics training with practical electrical engineering work, bringing a systems-minded approach to debugging, performance, and long-lived code maintenance. Based in Placentia, CA, he pairs deep low-level expertise with a knack for improving both security and maintainability in legacy and active codebases.
14 years of coding experience
Associate of Science - AS, Computer Science, Associate of Science - AS, Computer Science at Fullerton CollegeUniversity of California, Irvine
Github Skills (16)
text-manipulation10
memory-safety10
code-optimization10
refactoring10
cmake10
cpp10
cprogramming-language10
strings10
c-language10
cpp-templates9
html-template9
python-templates9
apptemplates9
code-templates9
c178
Programming languages (7)
Github contributions (5)
OpenLoco/OpenLoco
Jan 2018 - Jan 2018
An open source re-implementation of Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
Role in this project:
Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:16 commits, 6 PRs, 73 comments in 9 days
Contributions summary:Justin primarily focused on enhancing the code's safety and efficiency by implementing and integrating safer string manipulation functions like `strlcpy`, `strlcat`, and template-based safe alternatives for `strcpy`, `strcat`, and `sprintf`. They introduced overloads for these functions to work with project-specific data structures, and replaced existing unsafe `strcpy` calls with the safer alternatives. The contributions also included code cleanup and improvements to compile-time constants and error handling within the codebase.
re-implementationcmakegametrainstransport-tycoon
OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2
Jan 2018 - Jul 2019
An open source re-implementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 đ˘
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:7 commits, 2 PRs, 9 comments in 1 year 6 months
Contributions summary:Justin primarily focused on refactoring code within the `openrct2` repository, specifically within the `RideRatings.cpp` file. Their commits involve improving code readability and maintainability by replacing older C++ constructs with modern equivalents. The changes include using compound assignment operators, `std::clamp`, and applying consistent style casing to variables. These refactors enhance the ride rating calculation logic.
re-implementationgamediscordc-plus-plussimulation
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