Education
  1995 - 1999 Dept. of Computer Science, Sheffield University
  1988 - 1995 The Castle School, Thornbury, Bristol

Qualifications
  Degree MEng (2.1), Software Engineering
A four year course on software design and implementation. Included modules on the software life cycle, design methodologies, database programming, web design, computer graphics, networking and legal issues involved with software development. The course also emphasised the skills need for teamwork and group organisation.
  A Level Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics (all at grade B)
  GCSE 10 GCSEs at A/B level including English, Maths and Combined Science
  Other Standard driving licence

Career Details
  2001 - Software Development Engineer (Contractor)
   

Working as a short term software development engineer on a number of PHP4 web based systems, Postgres databases and large scale distributed oracle systems. Roles have also included project management, code review of outside work as an independent expert on database systems and consultancy as an expert on web systems. Recent roles have included:

  • REACT, Sheffield (Web Development & Web Services Consultant)
  • NursingNetUK, Bakewell (Web Development)
  • Clevers, Sheffield (Code Review / Database Review)
  • Open Source Systems, Sheffield (Web Design)
  • TELE2, Europe (Oracle systems)
  • PRO, London (Access, VB & Microsoft SQL Server)
  • DTLR, London & Nottingham (Access Database Synchronisation & Legacy Development)
  2000 - 2001 Kusala LTD, Sheffield
    Senior Programmer working on bespoke data driven web sites. Responsibilities included client requirements capture, site and database specification and code development in PHP4 using Postgres, Oracle and MySQL databases. As senior programmer I was also responsible for overall project management and for supervising and co-ordinating the work of six other developers and shared code.
During my time with Kusala I have worked on various web based systems including a room and course booking system, job search system, a survey and reporting system and various small and large scale e-commerce projects as well as a document library and back end administration systems.
My job also involved a limited amount of Linux administration, in particular setup and configuration of Apache, PHP4 and Oracle.
  1998 - 1999 Genesys Solutions, Sheffield
    An ongoing student company run by the 4th year students each year. It provides software solutions to businesses and charities nationwide and runs as a semi-commercial company.
Working for the company provided experience of the full development cycle from the original proposal by the client through requirements capture, system design, implementation and testing. It also involved negotiating fees with clients and producing client documentation for the final product. The various projects all involved working directly with commercial clients with overall responsibility for the projects.
In addition, together with a colleague, I took on the role of Network Administrator for the company maintaining and configuring both the initial NT server and the replacement Linux server. The work also involved maintaining the various Windows 98 work stations and responsibility for Hardware and Software purchasing for the company.
  1995 - 1997 WS Atkins IT, Newport
    Six months of summer work over two years. Extensive experience of large scale MS Access and VB databases for the Welsh Office and EPSRC (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council). Experience of practical system prototyping and requirements capture (in SSADM) working directly with staff from EPSRC. Also involved in administration of the local Novel and NT networks and installing the ISDN connection to head office.
  1994 - 1998 Self employed
    Writing shareware for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/98 including various utility programs. My best selling product, Spell Checker for Edit Boxes, is being used worldwide by many organisations including the Westpac banking corporation of Sydney, and the Victoria Police Force (both of Australia), Lockheed Martin Aerospace, Hewlett Packard, and various departments of the American government and military. I was commissioned to translate the program into Welsh and Dutch on a commercial basis.
  1992 - 1993 Nortech, Thornbury
    Weekend employment. Sales staff in a small computer shop helping customers choose computer systems that met their needs.


Experience
    I have programming experience in C, C++ (including MFC), VB, PHP, UbikScript, Pascal, PERL, LISP, Modula-2, Prolog and assembly language. My C/C++ programming experience has been under Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98/NT and Linux.

Development experience using the SSADM methodology as well as more ad-hoc incremental requirements capture. In addition to this I have extensive experience of database design. Through my work with WS Atkins, Genesys Solutions and more recently Kusala I have gained extensive experience of extracting and evaluating client requirements and of bespoke software development. Additionally my shareware software releases have helped me develop the skills required for software support.
Working with Kusala has helped my develop my project management skills working as a leader of a small team of developers and co-ordinating their use and development of shared library code. This included performing code reviews and providing support to the other developers including independent contractors.

I have limited experience of administering small NT Server and Novell 3.11 networks as well as more extensive experience with Linux systems. My networking experience has included setting up and administration of IP level firewalls, DNS, DHCP, proxy servers, Web and FTP servers as well as static IP routing and switched networks.


Summary of skills and experience
   

I have been involved with computers for over 15 years and now consider myself a highly skilled technical specialist in this area. Throughout university and work my expertise in using Oracle, Access, MySQL, PHP and Postgres have been improved and honed by real life complete system development experience of new and legacy systems. I'm adaptable and pay close attention to detail as well as having excellent planning and organisational skills both for individual work and as a member of a team.

My main focus has been on system design - creating complete systems to fit a clients requirements; this has included the main elements of system specification, database design and interface design / implementation. But as well as technical skills I also try to bring a sense of craftsmanship to my work - by trying not just to produce a solution but to produce the best possible solution, both from a system design and more importantly an end user perspective.

For other information and contact details please see the rest of the site.
Reference supplied on request only.
     
  Pages Copyright © 2002 Brian Quinion, Last updated 13/11/2002