Profile
For nearly 10 years I have been a VB.net / SQL Server developer, with experience of the full range of SQL Server technologies and extensive experience of most aspects of .net development. In recent years I have also developed Business Intelligence products using the full suite of SQL Server tools. This is in addition to secondary skills in PHP / MySQL gained from both my employment and personal projects. In the past year I have been responsible for managing development staff on large projects and mentoring new staff members in VB.net and SQL server.
During the time at my current company and previous ones, I have planned and overseen the implementation of source control and work planning / bug tracking tools, as well as design and set up testing environments, workflows and procedures.
From my current role I have a good understanding of developing and supporting software associated with business intelligence, staff management, forecasting metrics, accounts production, vendor and purchasing management, payroll and labour control and other aspects of the retail environment. However my experience in previous companies has given me a good grounding in the market sectors of logistics, warehousing, billing analysis, conveyancing and retail banking.
Key Skills
- SQL Server Development 2005 and 2008 (T-SQL, Stored Procedures, Design, Triggers) – 8 years
- SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services – 5 years
- SQL Server 2008 Integration Services – 3 years
- SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services – 2 years
- VB.net / ASP.NET (2.0, 3.5) – 10 years
- Telerik Controls for ASP.NET – 5 years
Secondary Skills
- PHP and MySQL (4 and 5) – 6 years
- CSS – 6 years
- HTML / AJAX – 5 years
- Web Services – 3 years
- GIT Source Control – 1 year
- Javascript – 3 years
Employment History
From / To / Company / RoleJuly 2009 / Date / Hybrid Dining Ltd (Little Chef) / Systems Development Manager
In my time at Hybrid Dining I have been in charge of all development activities both as lead developer and project manager, the most important of these has been the successful implementation of “Labour and Payroll”, a full integrated restaurant management system which brings together the human resources, staff and rota planning, holiday booking, payroll administration and Pay as You Earn (PAYE) data extraction into a single system which creates workflows between all of the activities within the company. This system also allows closer management of staff costs and future forecasting, with proven savings of at least £1,500,000 per year.
Other important projects have included data extraction from multiple EPOS providers and several other third party data providers into a standard data format as well as the ongoing task of providing reports on all aspects of trading for departments within the business.
Core technologies used were VB.net and SQL Server 2008 Databases with the SSRS / SSIS / SSAS technologies.
Sept 2007 / July 2009 / NBA Consultants / Technical Consultant
This role involved the design, development and support of intranet and internet applications.
As part of this job it was necessary to lease with customers, and to investigate client sites remotely to determine the issues and possible fixes. Where new components were needed, I also had to handle third party providers.
Other responsibilities within the company included maintenance of the network and the family of virtual machines employed at the company, as well as day to day running of the office infrastructure. As part of this role I introduced an online help desk system, created the farm of virtual machines for the various roles needed in the company, and persuaded the company to adopt Team Foundation Server for source code control, which I then administered.
Main projects included replacement of line printer invoices with a PDF generation system using D3 database, ASP.NET and Reporting Services for 2 clients, which also incorporated manual invoicing. I was also one of the lead programmers on a new logistics management system which is to replace a green screen system,
Core technologies used were ASP.NET, D3 database, SQL Server, SSRS and Telerik Controls / Reporting.
Aug 2004 / Aug 2007 / Countrywide Property Lawyers / Systems Developer / Analyst
My role within CPL was a development and support one, with my one of my core responsibilities involving leading the project to create an automated conveyancing case import system (from XML files) to remove the need for human entry and speed up the initial progress of the cases.
Core technologies used were Solcase and Visualfile Case Management Software and VB.net / SQL Serverfor non case management product development.
April 2001 / Aug 2004 / Ryder Systems PLC / Systems Developer / Analyst
My role with CPL was a development one, with the core tasks being the production of telephone billing analysis software components for major UK and European Telcos'.
Core technologies used were VB6, SQL Server and VB.net
Education and Courses
From / To / Institute and Course / NotesSept
1996 / Sept 1997 / MSc Applied Artificial Intelligence
Aberdeen University / Thesis Topic : Facial Feature Detection (achieved Distinction grade for thesis), developed using C/C++ on a UNIX platform.
Sept
1993 / Jun 1996 / BSc(Hons) Computers Science (2:2)
Coventry University / Honours Project : Computer Aided Learning package on the topic of Paged Memory Systems, developed using Visual Basic on a Windows platform.
In addition to my formal qualifications I have attended the Microsoft Business Intelligence Integration Services, Reporting Services and Analysis Services courses in the past 5 years.
Interests
Among my many interests, the primary one is writing, I am a regular columnist for a several local magazines, one weekly, one quarterly, specialising in beer and brewing trade, as well as covering real and craft ales. I also publish my work at My main work is feature and opinion pieces.
I also act as the creative and media officer of a successful local music festival which is in its third year and attracted over 1000 people in 2011. This role entails graphic design of the program, posters, promotional material and media packs. I also liaise with local media, both print and radio to promote the festival, and act as official photographer.
I am an active Assistant Scout Leader with my local group, and previous acted as Group Scout Leader for the entire group, and steered them through a tough period of transition, a role I had to step down from due to time constraints. My other interests include climbing, hill walking and I am an active gym member.