Personal Details 

Education/Qualification

Present             Studying for MCSE 2000 with NITLC

March 2003      CompTIA A+ Certified

1993 to 1994    Attended course at Microtech on Distributed Processing.  The course included Modules on neural networking, distributed operating systems, languages, robotics control systems and hardware theory.  These courses lead to a NVQ IV qualification.

1981 to 1983     Westfield College, BSC (Hons) in Computer Science.

            Battersea Grammar School.                  

                        6 GCE O's including Math’s and English      

                        3 GCE A's Math’s, Physics, Chemistry         

                        2 GCE S's Math’s, Chemistry   

Summary

H/W used     All current PC technology, up to and including the latest Compaq and Dell servers, IBM RS6000's. Oki range of printers, Mannessman-Tally range and HP range of printers including Jet-Direct cards.

O/S's used    MS-DOS up to 6.22, Windows 3.x, Windows95, Windows 98, Win2000 Server and Workstation, Win Me, Windows XP Professional and Home, Windows NT4 Server and Workstation, OS/2.10, UNIX, System 7, AIX and Linux .

S/W used     MS-Office in all flavours including Office 2000, Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape 3 and 4, Internet Explorer 3, 4, 5 + 6, TCP/IP, MS Exchange 5.5, MS-Mail, NetWare 3.1x, NetWare 4.10 + 5, GroupWise 4.1 + 5, LAN Manager, Lotus Notes 3+4.5+4.6, Smart Suite, CCMail, ArcserveIT 6, Aldus PageMaker, Word Perfect 5, 5.1,6, Mac Write, Crystal Reports, installing and configuring SAPR2 and R3, Business Objects, Propath Sense HR, Norton Ghost, Image Cast, Dr. Solomon’s and various other packages. I have used various terminal emulation packages including PowerTerm, Extra and SNA/3270. Xeres POS systems. Help desk packages include Remedy and Utopia.

Langs. Used   C, Clist, Occam, Basic A, MS-Basic, Rexx and some exposure to Visual Basic, Prolog, Visual C++, and Visual FoxPro. 

Employment History

06/03 – now     [snip]                            Project Manager (Permanent)

Working in Cyberark 2 as the project manager for the ethical recycling of computers for the new SEEDA project, Get Wired For Free (GWFF). This involves New Deal people in the re-building of computers, and the installation and maintenance of Windows XP and Office XP. I am responsible for eight people, based in Maidstone.

12/02 – 06/03  Househusband

                whilst job seeking, I was also caring for our 2 daughters and looking after the house.

11/00 – 12/02   XKO Network Systems                        Support Engineer (Permanent)

As an engineer for XKO I was responsible for the Southeast area of the country, supporting over 100 various sites. My patch was everywhere East of a line between The Wash and West Worthing, including London, so as you can imagine, there was a lot of driving. The job entailed everything from fixing printers up to re-configuring RAID arrays on Win2000 to doing site audits and advising on equipment that needed upgrading. This occasionally meant a ground up quote, where I had to source prices e.g. pc’s with all that entails. Apart from supporting Windows NT/2000 servers out on various sites, I was also involved several times in installing the infrastructure, i.e. structured Cat5 cabling and patch panels. I had to prioritize my own workload, as I was given a list of sites to visit in any one day, and I had to plan the route and fix the problems when I got there. XKO developed the Xeres software, which was a POS system, based on Unix, which I had to support, so I had to expand my Unix and Linux skills, the particular flavours being AIX and Red-Hat. The job was more hardware than software based, but I was trained on the job, so to speak. All the other engineers had Linux with a bit of PC knowledge, but as you can see, I have the reverse of that. 

11/00 - 04/01   Montgomery School                 Network Support Administrator (Contract)

At Montgomery, the head of ITC was on long term sick, and I was asked to come in to basically firefight. I had to set up the network so that the students could use it properly, as it had deteriorated over time, with hacking occurring and other damage of the physical sort. I set up a separate domain for the admin side, to separate it from the curriculum, and also a back up regime using ArcserveIT. The desktop was exclusively Win 95 and the servers ran NT4. The mail system was Exchange 5.5. The computers used were a mixture of Tiny, RM and the School Website ran on a Cobalt cube. I installed the Dos-based SIMS software. The anti-virus software I installed was McAfee. The school was in special measures, and I had to work extremely hard to get their network running properly. The imaging software used was Norton Ghost. 

01/00 - 10/00  I.P.I UK Ltd. (Prada)             IT Consultant/Administrator (Contract)

This role was very much customer focused, helping people from managing director level, to being aware of the customers in the shops. Whilst at Prada I procured and installed several new Compaq 6500R and ML530R Proliant servers for both this country and Europe, with all that entails, and also upgraded their present servers. I set the SLA's to be adhered to within the UK. I set up a back-up regime using ArcserveIT 6 at all sites, which ran a mixture of NetWare 5 and NT 4.0, and installed and configured additional software ie IIS. The desktop was a mixture of NT4 and Win98, also a long-term test of the viability of Win2000 Server + Workstation with Office2000. Lotus Notes was the e-mail system and a standard of Office 97. I set up the POS system at all shops, including Harrods and Selfridges, the central database being Oracle-based, and the shops accessing it via the WAN. The hardware involved was Compaq slim-line desktop PC’s, with the latest Sony TFT screens. They also had laser readers to enter stock codes, though this could be done manually. I used PCAnywhere to control all PC’s on the WAN. I set up an anti-virus programme, using the latest version of Dr. Solomon’s. I also was the principal buyer of hardware, with a budget of over £35k per month, during which I saved the company several thousand pounds. I also was involved in a project for HR software. I helped to set up the video conferencing suite for talking face to face to Italy. I was involved in all the normal admin functions, i.e. setting up users, resetting passwords, setting up ISDN lines, routers, hubs etc. and was the only 2nd/3rd-line support person for all sites.  I used Norton Ghost to set up most machines on the network. 

11/99   12/99   Jarvis (FM) Ltd.                      IT Technician (Contract)

I was working at Barnhill Community High School, installing servers, PC’s, laptops, printers, etc. The software used on the network was NT4 Server with NT Workstation and Windows 95 on the desktop. Applications supported included MS Office 2000. The software used to “burn” images onto PC’s was “Image Cast” which was able to totally install PC’s in 8 minutes!  

09/99  10/99   William Mercer                Desktop Support (contract)

Based at Chichester, I was one of a team of 4 supporting all the standard Microsoft applications for about 700 users. The network operating system was Novell 4.11 with CCMail as the mail system. 

06/99  08/99 IT Services Post Office          Desktop Support (contract)

I was based in the city, doing 2nd and 3rd line support of all outstations, using my Win95, NT, MS Office, SAP and Lotus Notes skills. One of the packages I supported was the National Crime Database, which used Access and Crystal Reports. To see a further description of software supported, please look further down this CV. The support team, of which I was a part, moved over 1000 users, in stages, to the new PO Head Office, at Gavrelle house. I was also involved in the migration from MSMail to Notes 4.5. The helpdesk package used was Remedy’s SRT. 

04/99  06/99  CBS News Inc                 Desktop Support (contract)

Whilst at CBS, I was involved in the support of about 80 PC’s, with varying operating systems, fixing any problems that occurred. As the company is a media one, this meant that they had to be fixed quickly, on the fly, so to speak. Also I supported the comms infrastructure (Satellite, landline and other links). We also had a strict backup routine that had to be followed, as the largest amount of time the network could not be used was 1 hour. This meant shift-work, with one of us on solely for 8 hours in a 16-hour working day. The software on site was as follows. Win 95 + NT 4. NetWare 3.11, 3.12 and 4.1, Novell GroupWise 4.1 and the Corel Office Suite, plus various other packages. 

12/98   02/99  Southern Electric                    Desktop Support (Contract)      

Based at their Maidenhead office, I was involved in 2nd line support of their OS/2 and Win 3.1 machines, fixing any problems that occurred. They had the Lotus SmartSuite group of products on the desktop. Also I had to support their CCMail system, re-booting servers etc. 

06/97  11/98   IT Services Post Office          Desktop Support (contract)

I was based in the city, doing 2nd and 3rd line support of the desktop. This involved fixing the many and varied problems that occurred, with both Win95 and 3.11(both network and locally installed) and the various software packages that were installed. These included the Microsoft office range, Internet explorer, TCP/IP installation and support, Visio, Reflections, Primavera, MSMail (both local and remote), MSExchange and various other packages. I also performed some mail administration functions such as creating new users, resetting passwords, resetting mail gateways and externals etc. I also was involved in the rollout of 400+ Y2K compliant machines running Win95, and also NT4.0 workstation. The helpdesk packages that were used were Utopia and Remedy. 

05/96  06/97  British Telecom PLC           PC Support Engineer (contract)

At Gresham Street I was involved in 2nd line deskside support of users. There was a mix of Windows 3.11 and 95. I was also involved in helping to set up Netscape 3.01 for users, and fixing the problems that always occur. I also had to support the Old Street site, doing the same sort of thing as at Gresham St. Most of the users, at both sites, have MSOffice, which, again, I had to support. They also used the SNA/3270 emulation package, which I supported. There was also some telephone work involved, as we supported users on the BTRA (BT remote access) side of things.

At the Holborn Centre I was involved in 1st and 2nd line support of users. This involved using my NetWare, MSMail, MSOffice, and Windows (both 95 and 3.11) skills. I also helped in the system administration side of things, re-setting passwords, and setting up new users, etc. As part of the CSO section, I also helped users that were remote from Holborn. This part of the job was a sort of help-desk role, with all that entails.

At Canterbury I was part of the MS-Mail support team, answering calls related to mail problems. I also set up new users, routes, etc. As part of the network support team, I used Novell 3.12 and 4.10 to reset passwords, set up new users etc. This is a multiple server environment, with over 2000 users being supported on 18 LANs. 

08/95  04/96  Duckham’s Oils Ltd.                PC support technician (contract)

During this time at Duckham’s I helped to install a new mail server. I also set-up and configured the portable PC's (Toshiba T2150CDS) used by the sales force. I helped to procure IT Hardware, finding the best prices for the kit, and saving approx. £5000. I helped in the day-to-day running of the network, (NetWare 3.12) trouble-shooting the various problems that occurred. I also helped with the MS-Mail administration, setting up new users, making users able to dial in remotely, etc. 

05/95  10/95   Legal and General                    Contract Operator 

03/95  05/95  DCS at Pfizer’s                    Help Desk Operator (contract) 

12/94   02/95  Watson’s Services Limited       Senior Ops support technician (contract)

Whilst at Watsons I helped manage Client Data (mainframe and PC/LAN), helped in equipment set-ups and installations, and provided first-line support for B/T comms problems and all LAN attached devices (PC's, printers, plotters etc.)  

09/94  12/94   Duckham’s Oils Ltd.                PC support technician (contract)

I aided in the set-up of a new Novell 3.12 network, and the interconnection to other systems. These included M/F and UNIX connections. I also helped in the implementation and upgrade of a new MS-Office package. 

08/94  09/94  Frizzell Insurance Ltd.           Senior Operator (contract) 

Pre       08/94  I was working for various companies as a contract operator.