About
For more specific information about the businesses I have worked for along with details on some of the projects I have had the opportunity to be part of please see my Experience in Reverse Chronological Order
Overview
- IT Professional with over 30 years of experience
- Highly motivated, dependable trouble-shooter and problem-solver
- Customer-focused and am committed to quality in every task
- Valued worker who performs confidently and effectively under pressure and enjoys a good challenge
- Enthusiastic learner who swiftly grasps new concepts and technical skills
- Excellent communicator and good listener
- Third line support experience for many years
Bio / Profile
I have a keen passion for technology, especially programming since a very young age.
Programming all started for me when I taught myself AMOS on the Amiga and then progressed to creating amateur games on the ZX Spectrum 48k and the BBC Model B during the mid-eighties.
During 1990 I got my first opportunity to be part of a computer help desk team looking after around four hundred staff. This soon progressed to a Mainframe Computer Operator role working twelve hour shifts and which involved monitoring the overnight batch jobs which in-turn produced scheduled departmental reports.
Commercial programming started for me during 1992 when I was trained as a Mainframe COBOL programmer. After several years the business moved to Open Systems and this gave me the opportunity to cross-train into Microfocus COBOL (GUI) and Microfocus 4GL (Batch) programming.
Not long after the .NET Framework 1.1 was made available by Microsoft back in April 2003 I was again cross-trained to use ASP.NET / VB.NET which we used to create various Web Applications / Customer Portals and Internal Systems.
This was just the beginning for me and along the way I have acquired numerous skills working in I.T.
You can view my other Technical Skills below: -
Main Skill Sets
Frontend Development
- Windows Desktop Applications using .NET WinForms (Client Server & Standalone)
- Web Applications / Websites using ASP.NET
Backend Development
- Windows Services using .NET (C#/VB)
- Batch Scripts using VBScript & DOS Batch Script
- SQL Server Stored Procedures (T-SQL)
- SQL Server Triggers / Functions
- SQL Server Maintenance Plans
- SQL Server Jobs
Mobile Development
- Native Android Apps
Troubleshooting
- Software Bugs
- Server Performance
Documentation
- Functional Specifications
- Knowledgebases
Additional Technical Skills
Programming Languages
- Java 7/8
- ASP.NET
- VB.NET
- C#
- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
- AJAX
- SQL
- T-SQL
- VBScript
- Centura/Gupta
- COBOL
- Informix 4GL
- XML/JSON
- InstallShield Scripting
- JScript (ECMA Script)
- QuickBASIC
- VB6
- Delphi (Pascal)
- AutoIt Scripting
Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows Server
- Unix / Linux
- OS/2
Other
- Database Administration / Design
- Android Studio
- IntelliJ IDEA
- WinForms
- Azure
- Visual Studio
- Team Foundation Server
- SQL Server
- IIS
- GitHub
- SVN/Tortoise
- Redgate Tools
- MySQL
- Sage CRM
- Sage 200 Integration with Sage CRM
- Microsoft Visual Basic 6
- Centura Team Developer
- Microsoft Source Safe
- Photoshop
- Flash
- InstallShield 7/5.5
- Microsoft Office / Visio
- Unix / Linux VI Editor
- Trello
Personal Interests / non-commercial
- AI Prompt Engineering
- Cryptography
- Penetration Testing for Web Applications
- Ramp / Load Testing for Web Applications
- Cryptocurrencies / Blockchain Development
- YouTube Channel - Hidden in AI - Hidden Object Games using AI generated images.