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Contract History

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Qualifications
B.Sc. Computing Science University of Essex
M.Sc. Computing Software and System Design University of Newcastle
Ph.D. Colour Science University of Teesside/Newcastle
Professional Qualifications
MCPD: Enterprise/Web.Windows Application Developer (C#) Visual Studio 2005, 2008 + 2010
MCSD: Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (C#) Visual Studio 2002/3
MCITP: Database Developer SQL Server 2005 and 2008
MCITP: Business Intelligence (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS) SQL Server 2008
MCTS: Silverlight 4 Development Silverlight 4
Oracle SQL and PL/SQL 1Z0-001 and 1Z0-101
Skill Matrix
C#, VB.Net, .ASP.Net, Winforms, .Net framework (1.0-4.5), XAML and XAML/WPF 7 years
Business Intelligence: ETL, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, DTS and Crystal Reports 4 years
SQL Server (T-SQL) 10 years
Oracle (PL/SQL) 7 years
Silverlight 3.0 (Beta and release), 4 (Visual Studio 2010) and 5 (Visual Studio 2012) 1.5 year
WCF, COM+, COM, MTS, Component Services, MSMQ, and Web Services 5 years
ASP.Net, MVC 1+2, jQuery, and Javascript 1 year
IIS, HTML, SOAP, XML, XSD, IE, Firefox, etc. 4 years
Technical architecture, analysis, and design (Rose, Visio, DSDM, etc.) 3 years
Architecture, database, UI and code optimisation 2 years
Financials: Mortgages, Risk, ThinkFolio, XEC, asset management etc. 4 years
2013 Jul - 2013 Aug: WPF/XAML and SSIS/SSRS Developer: The Weir Group

I worked on two projects at Weir split 50/50: developing a new WPF application to scan and process Excel documents, and designing, developing, populating and reporting on a data warehouse and cube unifying invoicing data from the 60 companies that comprise the Weir Group. Extremely tight deadlines with prompt delivery of accurate solutions essential. Usual C# coding techniques: OO, Excel Interop, multi-threading, customized generics, extension methods, etc., WPF and XAML. SQL, SSIS, SSRS and SSAS for data warehousing and cube design, population and reporting.

  WPF, XAML, C#, MVVM, VS2012, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS and SQL
2013 Mar - 2013 Apr: ASP.Net and jQuery developer: Northgate Public Sector

Working with Northgate on their Athena project porting an existing traditional winforms application by changing the large and frequent post backs to AJAX post backs and moving the C# control handler’s interactions from the server (code behind) to client side with extensive use of jQuery, JSON and AJAX. Note 2 month contract: I and four others were brought on 8 weeks before scheduled UAT to try and return the project back to its scheduled delivery date. Note Northgate bought the public sector business from Anite (who I had contracted for in 2004).

  ASP.Net, C#, jQuery and Javascript, AJAX and JSON
2011 Oct - 2013 Feb: SSRS/SSIS/SQL Developer: Glasgow Caledonian University

Direct liaison with Glasgow Caledonian University senior managers on the design and build of Sharepoint hosted custom SSRS reports on their core student administration system (SQL Server 2008 R2 – replicated from live). Approximately 70+ core reports covering the university’s finance, administration, planning and UK Border Agencies compliance divisions including tabular, matrix, drill-down (hyperlink) and sub- (embedded) reports. The two core databases contained over one thousand tables each originally sourced from non-relational flat-files - the database contained no referential integrity and only around 20% of the tables had primary keys: the resultant stored procedures were often (as a consequence of this) extremely complicated and required to be highly optimised. Extensive use of advanced SQL techniques: scalar and tabular UDFs, indexed views, triggers to capture deleted data so it could be reported upon (the only way to track changes made by the third-party software), index detection and creation, CTEs, etc. Around 10+ SSIS jobs to load data into the system from Excel, CSV, flat-file and XML sources including C# scripting components to cleanse and supplement the data, and four windows applications (C#) to perform ancillary tasks. Development of standardised UDFs for the ETL process. [2/2 – previously migrated data into this system using SSIS in 2008 from legacy system – see earlier contract]

  SSRS and SSIS 2005/2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, and C# (windows development)
2011 Mar - Sep: ASP.Net Front-office: Ignis Asset Management - Glasgow

Direct liaison with senior traders to provide analysis, design and build of a decision planning system for quantitative investment for approximately £30bn portfolio of funds. The system enables senior traders to specify house rules (broad, regional, country, etc), benchmarks, exclusion mandates and fund specific rules to calculate target positions for all Ignis managed funds based on custom target calculation and breach resolution algorithms. Feeds from fund management systems (including ThinkFolio) provided actual positions of the funds including support for collectives, sub-funds and ACI funds; the difference is used to determine how the funds deviate from their target positions. The system then proposes trades (collectives, futures and direct stock) for funds with one or more deviations in excess of a user definable threshold (at the broad or regional level – either system wide or at the fund level) that balance the fund to zero or to a user-defined target deviation (either system wide or fund specific). Functional specification was developed by me and another team member from direct liaison with the senior trader; and the system was developed in ASP.Net (C#), WCF, and SQL Server using Agile practices with demonstrations of progress on a daily to weekly basis

  VS2008, ASP.Net, C#, WCF, NHibernate, SSIS, SSRS, CastleWindsor, RhinoMocks, AJAX Control Toolkit and SQL Server
2011 Apr - July: Silverlight 4 Developer: UnifiedFX - Glasgow

Devlopment of a CISCO phone endpoint management system allowing near real-time interaction with a range of CISCO phone models: see what the user sees and activate any phone button remotely. Silverlight 4 OOB application coded in C# with XAML animation and asynchronous communication with device's IP address

  Silverlight 4, C#, .Net4, XAML
2010 Sep - 2010 Dec: ASP.Net MVC 2.0/BI: Brewin Dolphin - Edinburgh

Design and development of financial applications built using ASP.Net MVC2 (C#) and embedded (local) SSRS reporting, jQuery, nUnit, and Unity; SOA architecture based on WCF services. Loading and extraction of corporate actions data to/from Advantage and CAPS using SSIS with SQL Server databases and CSV flat files.

  VS2008, ASP.Net MVC 2.0, C#, WCF, SSIS, SSRS, jQuery 1.4.x, nUnit, Unity, and WebServices
2010 May - 2010 Aug: ASP.Net MVC 1.0: Standard Life - Edinburgh

Front-end development of Standard Life’s (FNZ) Open WRAP system in ASP.Net MVC with RESTFul web services to the domain. ASP.Net MVC solution with IoC via Castle Windsor: pages built using HTML, jQuery, AJAX post-backs and Fluent extensions, unit testing using xUnit and Rhino Mocks, GIT source control and continuous build using Nant and Team City.

  VS2008, ASP.Net MVC 1.0, jQuery 1.4.x, AJAX, JSON, Castle Windsor, xUnit, Fluent, GIT and RESTFul Svcs
2010 March + 2011 Feb: Windows/VBA Developer: Student Loans – Glasgow

[2010 March] Five week fixed price contract extending their timesheet system and porting the system to VS2008, Oracle 10 and Excel 2007.
[2011 February] Four week fixed price contract extending the reporting tools, VBA work and training on Oracle installation.
System was originally designed and developed by myself in 2006/7. d Windows Developer: GIGNA – Glasgow

Design, development and support and .Net web and windows applications: Absence recording system (web), Billing and invoicing System (web), and support application (windows applications and services). Significant security analysis and upgrades to their international corporate websites. DTS and SSIS applications interfacing to and from SQL server with AS400 and Oracle.

  VS2005, C#, ASP.Net, WinForms, IIS, SQL Server 2005, DTS and SSIS
2008 June - 2008 Sep: Business Intelligence: GCAL – Glasgow

Specification, design and development of SSIS packages and support systems for data migration (Oracle to SQL Server), data cleansing, and interfaces to ancillary systems for a Student Records and Finance system at Glasgow Caledonian University. Extensive use of complex SSIS packages interfacing to Oracle, SQL Server and files.

  SSIS, VB.Net, Oracle 10g, SQL Server 2005, ASP.Net and IIS
2007 May - 2008 May: Finance, Web and BI Developere: SWIP – Edinburgh

Front office support and solution architecture for XEC (XIP Enterprise Compliance) and ThinkFolio financial compliance systems including Moodys, Fitch, Standard and Poors, and Bloomberg integration. Security architecture and development of a management analysis and reporting system using Advantage and SQL Server Business Intelligence tools: integration, reporting, and analysis services; ASP.Net front-end utilising web services to SSIS and DataStage. Security, Technical Design, and Implementation Plan document preparation

  VS2005 (C# web app and services), SQL Server 2005, SSIS, SSAS, and IIS
2006 Oct - 2007 Feb & Apr: 5 months, Banking: Student Loans – Glasgow

Design and build of an integrated timesheet and client billing system with extensive Excel VBA, windows forms front-end, asynchronous business logic, and an Oracle back-end. 

  VS2005, VB.Net, ADO.Net, Excel VBA and Oracle
2005 Aug - 2006 Oct: 9 months, Insurance: CIGNA Life – Greenock

Re-architecture of two Microsoft enterprise web applications (one sourced from a Microsoft Gold partner) to obatin improved performance and scalability.  Analysis, design, and build of an ebnterprise level ASP 2.0 absence recording system including web service design, build, and security. 

  VS2005, ASP.Net 2.0, VB.Net, XML, XSD, Jscript, SOAP, WSE3.0 and SQL 2000
2005 Jul, Nov-Dec: 3 months, Finance: Martin Currie – Edinburgh

Analysis and development of data loading systems to securely upload and cleanse financial data utilising a VB.Net front-end and a SQL Server back-end (including DTS interfacing to Excel, encyption, and FTP).  Analysis and development of a windows based production control workflow tracking system in C#.

  VB.Net, C#, ADO.Net, DTS, Excel, and SQL Server 2000
2005 Feb-Apr and 2006 Mar-May: 6 months, Manufacturing: VCS – Glasgow

Design and development of a graphically and mathematically complex windows-based graphical modelling systemwith extensive graphics and mathematical programming (non-Euclidean interpolation and extrapolation algorithms); originally developed in VS2005 Beta 2 and subsequently ported and extended to the release version of VS2005.  Support for flexible application extension via OO API and reflection..

  VS2005 [full and Beta 2] C#, ADO.Net, SQL Server 2005
2005 May-Jun: 2 months, Public Sector: NHS – Glasgow

Migration and tuning of windows forms based clinical systems from VB6 to VB.Net and architectural analysis of a third party system.

  VB.Net, VB6, SQL Server 2000
2004 Jun-Dec: 6 months, Finance: Data Explorers – Edinburgh

Design and development of enterprise web based financial analysis tools to monitor the performance and profitablity of clients' securities lending activity: share price reporting, commodity trading analysis, and risk analysis.  Front end, including custom web control development, and web services in ASP.Net using C# with a SQL Server 2000 back-end.

  C#, ASP.NET, Web Services, XML, SOAP, ADO.Net, and SQL Server 2000.
2004 Apr-May: 2 months, Public Sector: Anite Public Sector - Glasgow

Analysis and Design of Scottish Prosecution Service support system.

  Visio and design document preparation.
2003 Oct-2004 Jan: 4 months, Finance: Scottish Widows - Edinburgh

Re-architecture and performance tuning of their live business critical mortgage banking system; this included liaison on business requirements with users, the performance tuning of the client applications, the re-architecture of the middle-tier components, and DB de-normalisation and query optimisation.

  VB6, MTS, XML, and SQL Server 2000.
2002 Jun-2003 Sep: 18 months, Retail: Co-operative Society – Newcastle

Business analysis, system architecture design, and software development of two n-tier applications: a pricing/discount system and a contracts tracking system. The designs were undertaken using rational Rose and the front-end developed in C#.Net/VB.Net (from some existing VB6 code) with Component Services (standard and queued COM+) hosted middle-tier, and a SQL Server 2000 back-end. Reporting was developed using Cognos Impromptu.

  C#, VB.Net, VB6, ADO.Net, COM+, Rose, Impromptu, and SQL Server.
2002 Feb-Apr: 3 months, Manufacturing: SANMINA-SCI – Irvine

Business analysis, design, software development, and test of an Intranet hosted document storage system utilising SQL Server 2000 back-end, VB6 middleware, and ASP front-end.

  VB6, ADO, COM, SQL Server 2000, and ASP.
2001 Mar-Sep: 6 months, Utilities: Northern Electric – Newcastle

Software development of an n-tier pre-payment electric metering system, VB6 front end and middle tiers (MTS hosted), SQL Server back-end database, and report writing using Crystal Reports.

  VB6, ADO, COM, MTS, Crystal Reports, and SQL Server.
2000 Sep-2001 Feb: 6 months, Finance: Brittanic Asset Management - Glasgow

Requirements gathering, business analysis, design and development of a financial service company’s intranet utilising ASP/HTML front-end, VB6 MTS hosted business logic, and SQL Server back-end including database design and administration.

  VB6, ADO, MTS, XML, ASP, Rational, and SQL Server design and DBA.
2000 Jan-Aug: 7 months, Utilities: Real-Time Engineering - Glasgow

Design and development of an n-tier NETA compliant energy trading system based on a VB6 front-end and Oracle back-end; including performance tuning of Oracle database and VB6 code.

  VB6, ADO, COM, DCOM, MTS, ASP, Rational Rose, and Oracle.
1999 Sep-Dec: 4 months, Retail: Sock Shop - Lake District

Design and development of a client-server warehousing, stock control, and invoicing application based on a VB6 front-end and SQL server database with reporting facilities developed using Crystal Reports; included extensive SQL Server development DBA responsibilities.

  VB6, ADO, COM, Crystal Reports, and SQL Server 7 development DBA
1999 Jun-Aug: 3 months, Manufacturing: Solectron – Dunfermline

Design and development of production line support systems for a major electronic component manufacturer developed using Visual Basic, SQL Server, and Crystal Reports.

  VB6, ADO, Crystal Reports, SQL Server 7, Excel 97, and BarOne.
1999 Feb-May: 3 months, Finance: Countrywide Home Loans - LA California

Development of a USA-wide mortgage-banking system with a Visual Basic front-end, Visual C++ MTS hosted middle-tier, SQL Server back-end, and XML for data transfer.

  VB6, ADO, COM, XML, SQL Server, and Visual C++ 5.
1997 Sep–1999 Jan: 18 months, Transport: British Airways – Newcastle

Analysis, design, and development of two DSDM based client-server applications: a fuel-tankering planning system and a flight-crew management system. Both applications built using a Visual Basic front-end interfacing to Excel and Word and an Oracle 7 back-end.

  VB5, ADO, COM, DAO, Oracle 7.x (PL/SQL and Pro*C), and DSDM.
1997 Jul-Aug: 2 months, Utilities: National Power - Sunderland

Design and development of software to bulk load data into an Oracle database using SQL*Loader including data validation, verification and compression.

  Oracle 7.x, Pro*C, PL/SQL, and SQL*Loader.
1997 Apr-Jun: 3 months, Manufacturing: British Steel - North Wales

Team Leader working for British Steel. Design and development of an automated backup of real-time production line data to a 20-disk optical jukebox; including custom driver development (Visual C++), front-end in Oracle Forms, middle tier in Visual C++ and Pro*C.

  Visual C++, Oracle 7.x, PL/SQL, Oracle Forms, and Pro*C.
1997 Jan-Mar: 3 months, Manufacturing: Berghaus Clothing - Washington

Design and development of a client-server windows application based on an Oracle back-end and Delphi/Excel front-end that provided ordering, production, and warehousing facilities for a major outdoor clothing manufacturer.

  Delphi 1, Oracle 7.x (SQL and PL/SQL), Microsoft Excel, and Dbase IV.

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