| Skills Synopsis | Experience Synopsis | Skills Extrapolation | Experience Extrapolation | Business Related Skills | Outside Interests | bottom | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back to Azer Cybertech | ||||||||
| Applications Programming / Development / Design / Analysis | (15 years +) Under Unix / Linux |
Portsmouth Polytechnic 1984 - BSc (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Portsmouth Management Centre 1984 - Diploma in Industrial Studies
| June 2002 - May 2005 | Permanent Alchemetrics Ltd | |
| (made redundant) | Analyst / Programmer/ Application Design/ 3rd Line Support (including System Admin) :- Primarily development and maintenance of proprietary 'core' technologies including bench marking of in-house proprietary hierarchical database against Oracle9i and Open Source Databases. Principle developer and technical resource for migration from SCO Open Server 5 to Linux including comparative analysis of Linux flavours and decision to use SuSE SLES8. Principle lead in adoption of MySQL for 'low-end' market solutions including source builds, installations and administration. | |
July 2000 - August 2001 | Contract Siemens 6 months + 1x 6 month + 1x 1month renewals | |
Analyst / Programmer / System Designer / Technical Authority :- UKPA Programme. Primary Pro*C development authority for all back-end Pro*C application programmes including all detail fault analysis, module redesign, recode, and implementation planning in conjunction with Development Manager and System Technical Authority. Technical authority when recruiting Pro*C programmers for development team. Designed "development" testbed (mixed Pro*C and PL/SQL packages) and assisted in implementation, including windows applications for testing Database Replicator(Treeview test structure) and TIFF file manipulator. | ||
June 2000 | Contract Anderson Consulting Weekly rolling | |
Systems and Oracle Admin | ||
June 2000 | Contract Barclays B2B.com 3 days | |
Systems Admin | ||
Aug. 1998 - March 2000 | Contract GEIS/Barclays 6 months + 2x 6 month renewal | |
Applications Development Programmer / Systems Designer / DBA / System Administrator :- Pilot (Prototype) Order Processing System with on-line query access and message processing [Barclay's Echo Ecommerce System]. System consists of Messaging Server using custom service script to load database followed by server side (sql procedures and embedded sql calls) processing and distribution. | ||
July 1997-Aug. 1998 | Contract EDS Defence 3 months + 3x3 month + 1x1 month renewals | |
Applications Development Programmer / Systems Designer :-. Scratch design and build of object orientated interface to Oracle database using fully dynamic PL/SQL from Pro*C. | ||
Feb. 1996 - July 1997 | Mercury Communications Ltd | |
Applications Development Programmer / Analyst Managed Data Networks :-Billing System. Major enhancement development, system function upgrade, Operations back-office support, system maintenance. | ||
Oct. 1994 - Feb. 1996 | Banctec UK Ltd | |
Applications Development Programmer / Analyst :-Cheque Clearing Banking Systems including IBDE implantation and roll-out. System Development / Upgrade / Installation / Customer Support | ||
July 1984 - Oct. 1994 | GEC Marconi Naval Systems - Combat Systems Division Formerly Ferranti International - Ferranti Defence Systems Integration | |
March 1990-July 1994 | Various Roles over a period of years. In reverse order System Administrator and IT Consultant for Major Project, Porting of PHIGS Application to Intermaphics on X-Motif, Secondment to Strategic Sales and Marketing, Senior (CAE/CAD) Engineer - Fast Prototyping, Concept Analysis, Evaluation and Proving, MMI and HCI prototyping (programming) (X-Windows/MOTIF/OPENLOOK), Graphics Tool Evaluation, Graphics Engine Evaluation; including integration of radar scan conversion under X-windows, System Stimulation/Model programming for single and multi vessel scenarios, Inter-process communications using TCP-IP and RPC protocols, Artificial Intelligence Black Board architecture and limited Case Base Reasoning techniques | |
July 1984 - March 1990 | Senior Development Engineer (Hardware Commissioning). Setting-To-Work of production Modules and System Integration (Hardware); including production of Commissioning Schedules, WATS, Fault diagnosis, Diagnostic Test programs and hardware modification. Production Prototype (First-Off) proving, On Site Installation, Setting-To-Work, Acceptance and Trials. Six Month overseas Site Installation | |
Previous employment has exposed me to a wide range of software engineering tasks from simple system administration, installation, and configuration through to requirements analysis, system architecture and design. Included in this broad spectrum is iterative development, application prototyping, system and module implementation, unit, application, and system test and UAT, staged application role out, reverse engineering, consolidation of multiple development branches into a single 'core', application maintenance and enhancement, 2nd and 3rd line support both for applications and systems, technical investigations, OEM software assessment, strategic recommendations, and application migration.
Having started in the defence industry, I have since worked in Banking, Telecommunications, Service Provision, and most recently Marketing industries. Alchemetric's is probably one company you've never heard of. Until recent political decisions by a number of their clients who changed ownership they held the 4 biggest Marketing databases in the UK. My role at Alchemetrics was a combination of pure R&D and product maintenance and development. Included in this was the benchmarking of their proprietary hierarchical database against Oracle, assessment of which relation database would be suitable for small client implementations, determination of issues relating to migration to relation databases, specifically relating to the ability to enhance relational technology to implement marketing specific functions handled by the proprietary product, determination and selection of which Linux brand to use in migrating from SCO Openserver, determination of the issues and challenges involved in the migration, and migrating a substantial part of the core code to Linux and then acting as a technical resource for client system migration. In addition as part of the pan European Database development for Nikon and the strategic change to use industry standard matching technology I have gained substantial exposure to SSA's Name3 product, Global Address, and MySQL.
Previous employments have been responsible for exposure to a substantial array of diverse project and products some of which are outlined below. The development of a set of applications to handle TIFF file processing and back-end database load, database replication (event driven), database data verification, offline audit archive, and data purging on Microsoft NT servers. All applications written in Pro*C with the capability to run as NT services and to pickup preset parameters from the registry.
The specification and development of a generic Development Testbed to allow dynamic generation of test records at any progress stage. Specified and provided the Windows Interface for Replicator Application Testbed and wrote Windows based TIFF file manipulator - principally to manipulate and edit embedded user tags and strings.
The design and development as a prototype/proof of concept of a Business to Business E-Commerce system. Buying organisation maintained own catalogues of goods and produced orders on own back-office system. Orders were passed to central service for tracking, monitoring, and then to supplier after verification. Supplier would acknowledge order to central service, then notify when goods dispatched. Buyer would confirm delivery-allowing invoices to be raised.
Central service was scratch built using Oracle procedures and tools. Message handling via Netscape Message Server and ECXpert to provide tracking. Message load to Database via Nawk and SQLloader scripts. Message processing job control via scratch built scheduler. Scheduler also controlled execution of system management jobs - backup, log management, temporary file deletion. Monitoring of orders via web deployed Oracle forms using Oracle Application Server. Databases for ECXpert and Central service ran in archive log mode. System admin included installation and setup of development and production (pilot) servers and day to day monitoring - most tasks were automated using shell scripts to email designated user when fault condition arose. Email was dual redundant using ECXpert (with messaging server) as primary source and sendmail as backup.
Design and development of Object orientated C/Pro*C interface to Oracle database on HP-UX 10.01/10.16 (CMW) to hide the underlying database structure from users who deal only with conceptual objects. Each object, as seen by the user, is implemented as a 'C' structure which is then mapped via a series of structures and functions to the database tables and columns. The interface auto translated queries on the object dynamically into a SQL statement which was then passed to a replication engine (partially involved in development and implementation) before being returned to execution engine for execution. Involvment included specification, design, and implementation of execution engine, object mapper, object mapping database, and database for data storage. All object handling was generic building appropriate dynamic sql (using Method 4) as required for select, insert, update, and delete using SQLDA.
Development of new modules to extend functionality of a baseline systems, including development of interfaces to other systems. Enhancement of existing modules to modularise for maximum code re-usability and maintainability. Support of existing code to allow for changing product requirements. Modification and enhancement of existing baseline code to fulfil the requirements of a given customer.
Development of new processes to meet specific requirements , where possible making code easily reconfigurable and reusable. Stratery may involve use of site specific config files or on windows/NT systems use of registry keys.
Man Machine Interface and Human Computer Interface prototyping - as part of Studies and Modelling group - on MOD research contracts for investigation of methods of displaying tactical data and advice for future Command, Control, Communicating and Information (C3I) systems. Techniques also applied to C3, C2 and C2I systems. HCIs originally implemented in PHIGS on Sunview; but later migrated to PHIGS on X-Motif. Motif and OpenLook interfacing at C-code level not UIL.In addition to PHIGS Implementation, HCIs prototype using System GUI builder Intermaphics. Intermaphics GUIs implemented using built-in control of X windows and application control of X windows
. Graphics Tool Evaluation - Investigation as to the applicability of the tool to building C21/C31 systems. Tools directly reviewed (hands-on-coding): Intermaphics (Gallium Software), DataViews and SL-GMS. Revision control using SCCS , RCS, and Make as repository control mechanisms.
In addition to design/development/analysis it has often been the case where I have become the accepted repository for technical knowledge and advice, and not always in matters relating specifically to IT. I have provided training in subjects as varied as basic use of C, basic use of Oracle Pro*C, use of SQL, and use of proprietary tool sets which sit on to of CVS and GNU autotools.
I have also in the past acted as a systems demonstrator at marketing events (see Business Related Skills below).
Whilst in recent years I had not had specific responsibility for system administration and system management it is something I have done in the past an something I can do when necessary. My experience was originally gained on small of local network of Sun workstations and included System Installation (hardware), Operating system installation and upgrade, OS configuration, Kernel Configuration, OEM Software Installation and User management. This has been enhanced over the years to include configuration and set-up of Linux/Unix servers to host Oracle, MySQL and Apache. Previous work has also enabled exposure to configuration and setup of Oracle Application Servers, Netscape Messaging Servers, and Netscape LDAP Servers.
The main use of my system admin skills is in the primary set-up of development servers and the monitoring and administration thereafter. Such set-ups have typically included the installation of Oracle (up to 9i) or MySQL, instantiation of custom databases, and for Oracle configuration of Oracle Listeners. Typical follow on tasks include the monitoring of database and disc usage, monitoring and removal of system and application logs, and start-up/shutdown procedures. All of these are done by either rc daemon scripts, cron based scripts or by scripts run from a custom built scheduler.
Whilst primarily familiar with SuSE Linux and SCO Open Server 5, I also have experience in the basic installation and set-up of Solaris (SunOs up to and including 5.6), HP 9000 Series servers running HP-UX 9.0.3 and limited experience of HP-UX 10.01/10.16 (CMW). On HP9000 servers running HP-UX 9.0.3 this includes set-up and management of Logical Volumes, disk mirroring using Mirror-UX, and redundant Master/Slave processors using SwitchOver-UX. Experience of larger mixed network of Sparc10 servers, SparcIPX workstations, Sparc Classic X-Terminals, Solaris PCs , and SCO UNIX PCs.
Exposure to the problems of running, integrating, and managing a diverse network.
Exposure to the requirements to host diverse OEM Applications products on large Network.
Limited experience of installation and set-up of Oracle 8.1.5 under Windows 2000.
| Historical Re-enactment : | National Living History Co-ordinator for Regia Anglorum. Group Leader for Berkshire/Buckinghamshire group. Construction foreman for construction of Saxon Longhall at Regia's permanent site, Wychurst, just outside Canterbury, Kent. This also includes design of the roof (54o pitch, 18m long with 9m slope, ridge at 9.5m) and front and rear entrance porches. Extensive involvement with both Military (Combat) and Civilian (Craft) wings of Society. | |
| RolePlaying : | Table Top RPGs. Have been part of prime organisation for RPG club since 1986. Involved as Player and Games Master. | |
| Wood Turning / Woodwork : | Took up hobby in Mid 90's as a result of re-enactment activities. Severely extended skills as a result of Longhall construction | |
| Crafts : | Anything that supports re-enactment activities, e.g. Shield Construction, Leather working | |
| Reading : | Mainly Sci-fi and Fantasy, but additionally non-fiction supporting other hobbies. | |
| Computing : | Dedicated Acorn Enthusiast. Home access to full Internet services. In Process of developing several desktop applications. | |
| Play-By-Mail Games: | Extension of role-playing into PBM and PBeM games market as a player and sometime beta-tester. | |
| Computer Games : | Always Strategy and Simulation type games (SimCity 3000, Industry Giant, Settlers) |
| top | Skills Synopsis | Experience Synopsis | Skills Extrapolation | Experience Extrapolation | Business Related Skills | Outside Interests | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back to Azer Cybertech | ||||||||