Profile
I have over 35 years experience in many aspects of IT working in large and small teams for diverse companies.
Several positions have involved coding and supporting overnight batch processing systems,
I have developed automated recovery procedures and written/implemented a batch scheduling system.
The diversity of my experience ensures I am well equipped to cope with the demands of adjusting to any new role. My experiences as a Director of my own business have taught me that there is no substitute for commitment, hard work and a determination to succeed.
Troubleshooting and problem solving are strengths.
I keep up to date with all the tech news and am an Executive Producer of DTNS (Daily Tech News Show).
Recent skills include Perl, HTML, CSS, Windows, Unix, Linux. I am currently teaching myself PHP and developing an e-commerce website.
Prior experience in COBOL, Basic, C, and scripting editors.
The diversity of my experience ensures I am well equipped to cope with the demands of adjusting to any new role. My experiences as a Director of my own business have taught me that there is no substitute for commitment, hard work and a determination to succeed.
Troubleshooting and problem solving are strengths.
I keep up to date with all the tech news and am an Executive Producer of DTNS (Daily Tech News Show).
Recent skills include Perl, HTML, CSS, Windows, Unix, Linux. I am currently teaching myself PHP and developing an e-commerce website.
Prior experience in COBOL, Basic, C, and scripting editors.
Skills
- Perl scripting
- CSS, HTML
- DBs Oracle, MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, DB2
- SQL & PLSQL
- TOAD & Oracle SQL Developer
- CVS, Subversion (inc TortoiseSVN) & Git.
- Subversion administration
- UNIX commands & scripting, some administration using root access
- Windows
- Windows Utilities
- Office tools
- XML
- Web Development
- Some Moose, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Linux
Education
'A' Levels in Maths, Physics and Computer Science from Bishop Veseys Grammar School and Sutton Coldfield college 1970 - 1976
Perl Programmer
Feb 2012 -
Orion Web Technologies (Perm)
Redditch
Perl (Some OO) / Javascript (inc JQuery) / XML / Mercurial HG/ Postgres DB
- Worked from Change Requests to implement new web-forms using HTML/Javascript/Perl and a home-grown form generator
- Maintained existing legacy Perl/Javascript code
- Created a few new facilities that Orion adopted, an Overview System Monitor, a Data Dictionary, a Job Scheduler
- Maintained tables, indexes, constraints using psql on Postgres
- Implemented hgflow, a gitflow clone but for Mercurial HG, and taught the staff on its use
- Provided support for the testing department and for the new staff
- Attended courses on Moose, DBIx, Testing with regards Perl
Perl Programmer
Nov 2010 - May 2011
On The Beach(Contract)
Manchester
Perl (Some OO)/ XML / SOAP / Git / MySQL
- Designed & built data interfaces to retrieve hotel information
- Built MySQL Databases and various data migration routines
- Data munging and de-duplication by lat/long, names
- Change detection using SHA
- Some Ruby
Personal Projects
Oct 2009 - Oct 2010
HTML / PHP / Git / CSS / image processing
- Created websites
- Learning Git, use of SmartGit
- Learning Python, Ruby
Perl Programmer
Sep 2009
Future Publishing(Contract)
Bath
OO Perl Scripting / MySQL / Postgres / CVS
- Enhanced newsletter software, reduced run-times of overnight batch processing by a factor of 60 by employing hashing techniques
- Created new newsletter data extracts and feeds
- Wrote Perl tests using Test::More
Perl Programmer
Jul 2009
Booking.com(Contract)
Amsterdam
Perl Scripting / MySQL / HTML / Git / Mason / OO principles
- Wrote, improved, and fixed testing programs
- Attended a Scrum course and participated in a Scrum project
- Worked in a small disparate team to develop user driven solutions
Perl Programmer
Nov 2008 - Jun 2009
Mentor Graphics(Permanent)
Nottingham
Perl Scripting / MySQL / HTML
- Developed and maintained web-based Perl programs for a thermal analysis product
- Used CVS source control
- Analysis of change impact
- Provided support
Perl Programmer
Sep 2005 - Aug 2008
Amtrak Parcels(Permanent)
Aldridge
Perl Scripting / SQL (Oracle)/ PLSQL / Office / HTML / CSS
- Maintained scanner software running on UNIX, developed and implemented new scan programs written in Perl
- Wrote data analysis & reporting programs using Perl & SQL on Oracle DB
- Provided support to other members of our team and to other internal departments as required. Overnight support of batch systems to resolve problems, including identifying runaway processes, recovering and restarting background tasks.
- Developed a data integrity procedure to ensure the data transfer between our servers was flawless and also act as a check to ensure all FTP data we received was complete
- Wrote an XML to CSV translation program using individual template/conversion files to enable our customers to send us XML data
- Introduced Subversion and TortoiseSVN to replace SCCS, set up a test system, showed that Amtrak could easily adopt Subversion and created a strategy for migration
- Used an in-house bug-tracking system
- Provided support to other departments as required and scheduled by my manager through an online Help System
Perl Programmer
Oct 2004 - June 2005
Ramesys (Permanent)
Crick
AIX Unix, Perl, SQL, HTML, JavaScript, Oracle, MS Office, Windows, RCS and Subversion
- Developing and maintaining the software used at Herts. University to administer all aspects of students and staff life.
- Some UNIX administration involving user creation and setting up user groups
SQL / Siebel Data Support
Feb 2004 - Jun 2004
Reuters (Contract/Finished)
London
Perl, SQL, PL/SQL, SQL Loader, PGP, Oracle, Siebel, EIM, MS Office, Windows, VSS
- Increased my experience of SQL on Oracle 8 & 9
- Valuable CRM experience with Siebel
- Exposure to PL/SQL & SQL Loader
- Worked in a small team very much hands-on, using Perl & SQL everyday to query/check/validate data integrity
- Wrote EIM jobs to load new accounts & contacts & notes in Siebel
- Excel spreadsheets with VB-Script
- Fixed data (XML) coming through various other legacy systems before being loaded into Siebel
- Wrote Perl routines to perform routine data fixes
- Managed problem reporting and resolutions using Citrix/Quintus. Version control and fixes controlled with VSS
Perl Programmer
Dec 2002 - Dec 2003
Cashcade Ltd
London
Perl, SQL, Oracle, MySQL, Windows, Unix, RCS
- Cashcade run www.getminted.com, a fixed odds and casino website. I had sole responsibility for the reporting and gameplay monitoring software, this involved writing efficient Perl routines to enhance and speed-up their existing systems
- Used a PC running Windows XP dual booted with Red Hat Linux. I gained experience of game implementation, handling userid/password requests, spam related queries and fraud handling
- Wrote and scheduled scripts to extract data from the live Oracle DB populating MySQL tables for fast 'almost-live' querying, producing generalised reports as 'biggest players', 'profit', 'history', 'loyalty schemes', many statistics, and highlighting potential fraud
- Wrote many new 'adhoc' management report modules in Perl/SQL. Produced a suite of Perl/SQL programs to collate and reconcile all the data for balancing their accounts for their merger with Wagerworks
Perl Programmer
Jan 2002 - Dec 2002
Cadcentre/Aveva
Cambridge
Perl, SQL, Oracle, Windows, Unix, RCS
- Assistant to the change-control manager
- Supported legacy Perl utilities to support compile/build procedures
- Reduced run times by a factor of 10 by removing their reliance on network usage
- Wrote several utilities to assist other departments (Perl/SQL)
Salmon Ltd
1996 - 2001
Anglian Water New Billing System and Y2K
Cambridge
Perl, mod-Perl, CGI.pm, TEX, HTML, Unix utilities
- Technical support on Honeywell Bull GCOS8
- Migrated the New Billing System from Bull to UNIX
- Converted Bull Job Submission front-ends to mod-Perl/CGI.pm on Apache
- Ran test schedules, validated output, code coverage analysis
Salmon Ltd
Eastern Electricity
Ipswich
TEX, JCL, FRED, COBOL, Pacbase 4GL
- Provided GCOS8 technical support
Technical Support Programmer
1993 - 1996
Anglian Water
Huntingdon
JCL, TEX, Loui, B, COBOL dump analysis
- Honeywell mainframe support
- Wrote and supported programs for overnight batch processing
- Callout for overnight batch applications
Technical Support Programmer
1990 - 1993
Phoenix Training & Consultancy
Stevenage
Micofocus COBOL using Animate, C
- GCOS 8 technical support
- Wrote some C programs
- Demonstrated and installed third party software products to secure sales
Technical Support Programmer/Team Leader
1978 - 1990
House of Fraser
Swindon
COBOL, SQL, scripting
- Technical support of all software on ICL 2970 mainframes and Honeywell
- Overnight and weekend support of batch applications
- Responsible for coordinating work for four technical support programmers
- Devised, designed and implemented a replacement for a Datapoint data entry system / loading application using various tools and scripting
Operator/Programmer
1976 - 1978
Valor Heating Ltd
Erdington
COBOL, SCL