Summary
An I.T. professional with a wide range of knowledge gained on OpenVMS and Windows NT systems. I have extensive experience gained in application development, consulting, system and facilities management, pre-sales support and team leading.Previously a software consultant at Digital Equipment Corp. my main technical focus areas there were database management, performance analysis, capacity planning, and system management. I also performed a large and diverse range of projects and assignments at Digital, predominantly in customer facing roles and often in situations demanding the ability to deal with sensitive or difficult customer issues.
As a consultant at Digital I was also required to deliver product seminars and customised training sessions. The technologies and products outlined below have been used in application development, consulting, and pre-sales support roles for some of the UK's largest telecom, aerospace and banking organizations.
- Programming Skills and S/W development
- Scripting - JavaScript, Perl, VBScript, MS Windows Script Host, DEC DCL
- Postgraduate degree module "Building Networked Applications with JAVA"
- DEC BASIC, DEC C
- OpenVMS Software Engineering Tools (LSE / MMS / CMS)
- Web Technologies - HTML, DHTML
- Application design and data analysis
- Database systems and Information Management
- DEC (Now Oracle) Rdb, SQL and Rdb Database integration products
- DEC RALLY (now Oracle RALLY)
- Forms design products, DECforms, FMS and TDMS
- Microsoft Access
- OpenVMS
- System management methods and tools
- Performance analysis and management, capacity planning
- IT Operations Management
- Microsoft Windows operating systems and products
Employment History
IT Freelance Contractor September 1996 - Present
July 2002 - Present - Microsystem Support
Subcontracted to deliver a number of short to medium term projects including:- Major UK Bank - Migration of in-house backup system to 3rd party solution.
- Major Scottish Bank - Migration of applications from VMS Cluster to discrete systems.
- Breakdown Recovery Company - General VMS system support.
- Agricultural Supplier - Various VMS system and TCP/IP upgrades.
September 1996 - June 2002 - NatWest Insurance Services (NWIS)
Initially deployed by NWIS in the support and maintenance of VMS based legacy systems, subsequently in application integration and data migration between VMS and NT systems.Major Achievements at NWIS
- Supported and maintained through millennium transition a number of VMS Legacy applications written in DEC Cobol and DEC Basic utilizing DEC Rdb and RMS file systems.
- Developed automated MS Exchange mailing system for sending VMS reports to remote NT users as MS Word and MS Excel documents.
- Migration of Life Insurance data from VMS RMS files to MS SQL on NT systems
- Developed MS SQL Server update mechanisms from DEC Rdb database via ODBC.
- Developed common reporting toolset for VMS and NT Data Backup systems.
- Developed automated system for scheduling and running overnight unattended processing.
- Developed automated ATL jukebox system for supporting VMS backups.
- Coaching NWIS staff in Windows Script Host and VBScript technologies.
Freelance Musician April 1996 - August 1996
Indulged in a brief career break from I.T. to concentrate on musical activities as a freelance trumpet player.Digital Equipment Co. Ltd. February 1984 - March 1996
Employed by Digital's Software Services organization. Initially a software specialist delivering pre and post sales projects, then as software consultant covering a wide range of assignments from application development to benchmarking and capacity planning. Spent a year as the Digital software account manager for a large aeronautics company. Led a large number of projects including new system implementations and operational audits.Selection of Major Achievements at Digital Equipment Co. Ltd.
- Application Development
- Pilot migration of application from HP Cobol to VMS Cobol for national news retailer
- Personnel / HR System using DEC Basic/RMS/FMS for large international oil company
- Digital UK-wide Time Reporting / Charging System for use by all Software Services personnel
- Machine Maintenance system for large UK pharmaceuticals and manufacturing company.
- Prototype Criminal Records System for Ukraine Police Force (MVD). (Delivered in Kiev).
- DCL based Office System for Army Officer Training Centre at Sandhurst
- Performance Management / Capacity Planning
- Major performance consultancy for a large aeronautical company.
- Capacity planning for major telecom company involving over 20 systems
- System Management
- Major software upgrade program for a mobile telecom company.
- Delivered extensive systems management consultancy and coaching to large aeronautical company
- Database Management / Integration
- Support and assistance in the design and implementation of a database supporting a national air traffic control system
- Audit and evaluation of procedures used to deploy applications using DEC Rdb by a Government defense organization
Gulf Oil (Great Britain) Ltd August 1976 - January 1984
Initially employed as Operations Controller responsible for all operational and control functions. Subsequently heavily involved in the development, implementation and UK-wide deployment of Gulf's distributed Order Processing system. Final role at Gulf was migration of their Central Billing application from IBM mainframes to Digital VMS systems.London Borough of Hounslow May 1973 - April 1976
Began as an IT Trainee and progressed to Job Controller responsible for the scheduling and processing of all applications run on the Treasury department's IBM S370 mainframe systems.Education / Qualifications
- M.Sc. component: "Building Networked Applications with JAVA" Open University 1998
- B.A. degree (Focus on Computing and Music) Open University 1983-1987
- 2 GCE "A" levels, 7 GCE "O" levels
| Rdb Design and Programming | Ultrix (Digital's BSD Unix) Internals |
| RALLY (Digital 4GL) application development | SSADM (Structured Systems Design and Analysis) |
| Capacity Planning | VMS System Management |
| VMS Performance Management | VMS Internals and Data Structures |