Contact Details

Trade and Professional Qualifications

Current profession

NPTC Level 2 Certificate of Competence in the Safe Use of Pesticides.
Merrist Wood Campus: Horticultural Workshops - Lawn Care and Repair.
IoG: Affects of Weeds, Pests and Diseases to Sports Turf and Grass Identification.

Previous profession

FAST Approved Software Manager.
Supporting Microsoft Clustering (958).
Brainbench Linux Administration.
Brainbench NT4 Workstation.
Brainbench NT4 Administration.
Supporting Windows 2000 & Designing Windows 2000.
Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.
Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0.
Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 in the Enterprise.
Accelerated Microsoft Windows Server 4.0 Enterprise Technologies & Microsoft TCP/IP.
Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Directory Services Structure.
Supporting Windows 2000 & Designing Windows 2000.
Updating Support Skills From Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 to Microsoft Windows 2000.
Unix Level 1.
Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51.
Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51.
Microsoft Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS 6.2 for Support Professionals.
Effective Communications.
AS/400 System Facilities ( E4SF ).
Inter Personal Relationships in Organisations.
Real-Time Programming: A Hands-On 'C' Workshop.
PC Networking: Hands-On Workshop.
Irma and the 3270 Environment.
Symphony Advanced.
Symphony Intermediate.
Lotus 123 Advanced.
Lotus 123 Introductory.
dBASE III Programming.
Programming in 'C'.
Three day course on Inter-Personal Skills, Leadership and the Manager.
Three day course on Instructional Techniques.

Profile

A widely experienced IT professional with an in-depth knowledge of the industry. Self motivated with a history of completed projects for both major corporations and smaller companies in the UK and abroad. I am enthusiastic and possess excellent interpersonal skills and understand the importance of putting the customer first.

Career And Experience Summary

Full Skills History

Sysadmin.
Network Manager.
Network Support.
Team Leader of a Windows NT/Exchange Roll out
Windows NT Domain Administrator.
Exchange Administrator.
Desktop support.

Operating Systems

Debian GNU/Linux.
Ubuntu.
CentOS ( Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone ) Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RedHat Fedora, Red Hat Linux.
Windows 2000 Small Business Server with Active Directory.
Windows XP Professional.
Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional.
Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation.

Applications

Key Achievements / Key Experience

• Successfully planned, designed and implemented High Availability Linux clusters for the email and Web servers of Power Internet.
• Improved services and saved licensing costs by moving existing Windows servers to Linux without loss of service at MMCC.
• Successfully planned, designed and implemented a Windows NT to Windows 2000 roll-out and moved all users/servers across in a single weekend at MMCC.
• Part of a team that successfully migrated a Merchant Bank from Novell to Windows NT4 in the UK, Hong Kong then set up new offices in Seoul, South Korea.
• Successfully installed and configured the servers for the Track Access Planning System used by Railtrack on their separation from British Rail.

Employment Summary

Career History

Baldman Ltd

November 2007 to November 2008

Company

Formerly a franchise for Myhome Lawn Cutting and Care but after Myhome went into receivership I carried on alone. After changing the operation and advertising to my own the company improved considerably.

Position

As the only employee I did everything from driving the van, distributing advertising cards and cutting grass.

Power Internet Limited

September 2004 to September 2007

Company

Power Internet is one of the longest established Internet service and solution providers in the UK with offices in Milton Keynes and a network based in Telehouse and Global Switch, Docklands.

Position

Hosted Systems Manager:
I administered, supported and applied upgrades to all the servers belonging to Power Internet and to those customers who elected to have this service.

I built all servers, both for Powernet and for those of Powernet's customers who requested it.

Achievements

• Successfully designed, built and implemented various email systems using High Availability clusters and matched fail-over pairs of servers moving the old Sendmail email servers to Exim.
• Planned and implemented the move of the DNS servers to new hardware running a mixture of BIND, djbdns and dnscache.
• Planned and implemented the move of all web server customers from a single BSD server to a fail-over pair of Linux servers.
• Planned and implemented the move of all POP3 customers from a single BSD system to a matched fail-over pairs of servers running Linux.
• Planned and implemented two new backup systems.

MMCC Consultants Limited

February 2003 to September 2004

Company

MMCC Consultants Ltd is an independent company providing full life cycle software services utilising relational database platforms, especially Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle.

Position

Network manager of a small programming company looking after the day to day running of the network.

Achievements

• Successfully planned, designed and implemented a Windows NT4 to Windows 2000 conversion, updating the system to a Microsoft Small Business server with Active Directory.
• Redesigned the network topology to incorporate moving to a more secure environment.
• Replaced the Windows firewall with a Linux based system which I designed and built.
• Moved the Windows based web servers to Apache, running on Linux.
• Moved the Windows file servers to Linux servers running Samba.
• Set up a secure VPNs to enable home users access to the office environment.
• Implemented a SalesLogix CRM installation.

Maintenance One Services Limited

April 2002 to February 2003

Company

Part of Intelligent Maintenance Systems working exclusively for the Tesco supermarket chain.

Position

Maintenance One have a Red Hat Linux server installed in every Tesco store (approx. 600) to monitor the temperature and airflow on all freezers. Our task was to ensure the Linux servers were operating and that all required services were running. If a freezer was reported as down we had to ring the store and inform the duty manager. If the store was closed for the evening we rang the duty manager at home and informed them.

As the John Lewis help-desk were in the same set of offices we also supported them in their use of Microsoft applications.

Local companies

November 2001 to April 2002

Company

Various.

Position

Once Copernicus GBS had gone into liquidation and being unable to find work in my own field I worked for an agency supplying temporary workers in the Milton Keynes area.

I worked night shift in a warehouse for Vauxhall sending out spare parts for cars and later filled shelves in the local Tesco supermarket, also at night.

Copernicus Global Billing Services Ltd

June 2000 to August 2001

Company

A London based, web-enabled, managed service provider for outsourced billing and payments collection.

Position

Copernicus was a small company of about 20 people and I had the role of user support of the Windows systems.

Unisys servers running Windows NT4 and Debian Linux with Samsung, Sony and Toshiba laptops running Windows 2000 Professional. We had a co-located space in the COLT building in London and I built and maintained all the equipment.

I also had responsibility for the daily backups and off-site storage of data tapes.

Shell Services International

April 1998 to June 2000

Position

I worked in the Microsoft Windows NT Server Competence Centre supporting the global multiple master domain model. This consisted of over 1100 servers and over 30,000 users. My responsibilities included the configuration, optimisation and maintenance of the global enterprise environment. The global WINS set-up, liaising with administrators in various countries ensuring the WINS servers were working at peak efficiency. 24/7 third line server support and proactive server maintenance such as updating firmware, service packs and applications. Management and implementation of several pan-European projects.

Civil Aviation Authority

November 1997 to April 1998

Position

IBM

Position

SocGen-Crosby Limited

Position

Originally a three month contract to support users with MS Office and installing Compaq servers that became a ten month project to migrate users from Novell 3.12 to Windows NT 4.0 and the mail system from MS Mail 3.2 to Exchange 5.

After the completion of the London Office I was asked to go to Hong Kong to help with the migration there.

While in Hong Kong I was asked to go to Korea to set up a new office. This involved setting up a new Exchange 5 server and connecting it to the Exchange system in Hong Kong via RAS using a dial-up modem.

Railtrack --- UK Wide

Position

I set up a national network of Windows NT 3.51 servers as hosts for a Sybase System 10 application called APlan. These were all connected by the BT SMDS WAN using TCP/IP and local Novell NetWare servers using IPX/SPX. The user clients were Windows for Workgroups, running on NetWare, using TCP/IP and NetBEUI for connection to the NT Servers.

Railtrack --- London WC1

Supporting over 300 users in their use of Microsoft applications. I also installed and maintained the Compaq Proliant servers running Novell NetWare V3.12.

Kingston and Richmond FHSA

Company

The Kingston and Richmond Family Heath Services Authority.

Position

Supporting over 60 users with Microsoft Windows applications. File servers were Novell NetWare V3.11.

Kennedy and Donkin

Company

Civil engineering company based in Godalming, Surrey.

Position

Supporting over 200 users with Novell NetWare servers in Godalming and Manchester.

UBS Phillips And Drew

Company

Phillips & Drew have changed their name to UBS Global Asset Management.

Position

Supporting over 3000 users with their use of Microsoft applications. Running Novell NetWare V3.12 on the servers. Installation and support of PC's and software on the Dealers floor of a major city bank.

United Artists (Scotland) Ltd

Company

Satellite and Cable TV company based in the South Gyle area of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Position

Supporting users and Novell networks in five branches in the Edinburgh region of Scotland.

D.B. Consultancy Services Ltd

Company

Small programming company based in the South of England.

Position

Programming in dBASE IV of a levying system for the Horticultural Development Council. Work included converting an existing Smartware system to dBASE IV.

Before 1993

I worked for:
Lombard North Central in Redhill, Surrey
The British Distributing Company ( Bridisco ) in North London.
Wholesale Fittings in their Berners Street, London W1 offices.

Leisure Interests

Chess, sketching, classical guitar, music of various sorts.
I have a full UK driving license for both car and motorcycle.

References

Oliver Norton - My manager and an ex-director of Power Internet Ltd - email address available on request.
David Evans - Co-Worker at Power Internet Ltd - email address available on request.

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