Support Engineer

IT Consultant (Volunteer), Finca Ipe SA, Nr Platanillo, Costa Rica

Chris installed and managed a wireless LAN system, ensuring 24 hour uptime and reliability.  Part of the role included a handover of the completed system to local residents, ensuring complete understanding.  His responsibilities were mainly on a system manager level.

ntl:Telewest now Virgin Media, Bromley Ops

As a principal engineer, Chris' role was to support the DTV Platform ensuring maximum availability. These included key elements of the DTV platform including VOD, PVR, Content Partner sites, Pay per Play Gaming sites, Caching Servers, Content and Ad-servers. Chris also provided technical consultancy for all new Products and Projects. Ensuring all projects were fully impacted prior to deployment.  Providing technical support to the Interactive Engineering Manager, the man-management of a small team of Application Engineers and reporting to the Interactive Engineering Manager. Chris' job included:

• o Managing all technical issues within the team and department as a whole.
• o Ensure effective monitoring of all Applications including VOD, Content and PVR systems
• o Ensuring log file storage and availability
• o Ensuring report files storage and availability
• o Ensure hourly, daily and nightly automated tasks finish with no errors
• o Take corrective action in the event of a failure within the environment
• o Ensuring General housekeeping duties (e.g. file system size, log file size, etc) are completed and documented
• o React to alarms on NTL monitoring systems (BMC, Netcool etc)
• o Feed into capacity planning projects
• o Assist with project management and design of software upgrades, module additions
• o Liaise with Interactive Engineering Manager and other Principal Engineers regarding issues on components interfacing into the DTV Platform
• o Escalate and interface with 3rd line Technical Support and external suppliers to resolve issues
• o Manage scheduled and emergency maintenance activities during normal and out of hours periods.
• o Conduct security investigations and perform security-related activities to maintain the integrity of the platform.
• o Protect the production network and our customers from service disruption by proactively performing activities to maintain platform availability.
• o Perform operational impact assessment to all new designs and feature functionality changes.
• o Manage the deployment of all designs produced by product development, which have been successfully verified by the test procedure.
• o Implement and follow up application upgrade / modification requirements.
• o Scheduled out-of-hours cover via an on-call rota will be required to support the 24-hour, 365-day operations environment.

Servite Houses, Hammersmith

As Systems manager Chris was responsible for a 200+ Novell network and Unix based system, which included all administrative functions of those systems.  He was responsible for the Y2K, and on-going server upgrades and introduced new systems as required, along with preventative maintenance.  He also introduced a number of efficiency-procedures and a disaster recovery plan for the organization.

Walsh International, Leatherhead

Part of Chris' role here included training customers on the bespoke in house system software and aspects of SQL.  Chris also co-ordinated the existing training sessions.

Avro/Cosmos Plc, London

Reporting to the Systems Manager, Chris' responsibility was to ensure the smooth running of a busy IT/Networked Airline/Travel company, primarily 1st and 2nd line technical support, rectifying faults to component level and ensuring corrective action was carried out quickly and with minimum disruption to users.  Chris was also responsible for the proposal and implementation of new network systems and peripherals, which included installing and configuring a wide range of system resources and routing equipment.  The role also included: ensuring all system software was current and updated where necessary; maintained and administered a 130 user Novell and NT LAN, and a 700 + user WAN; installing and configuring gateways and allocating IP addresses as required over a private WAN;   configuration tracking of a busy HP-UNIX/Universe and updating resources and identifying potential problems and taking the proper corrective action.

Sage Publications Ltd, London

Responsible to the IT Director for the implementation of a Royalty payments sub-system. This also involved taking the requirement specification, designing, implementing and testing a pick based author payments system.    In addition Chris was assistant network manager running a Novell 3.1 LAN consisting of 200+ users.  He carried out 1st and 2nd line support, providing a manned telephone help line.

Ross Systems (UK) LTD, Northampton

Chris provided on-line support for this bureau based company, which included logging customer calls, logging into customer systems, locating and correcting errors, making program changes.  He also provided support assistance for financial, distribution and manufacturing systems, using the GEMBASE/PROMIX database product.

United Kingdom Systems LTD, Middlesex

Simulation programming construction and maintenance, programming radar screen map displays. Full documentation of simulation processing and map generation module.

Royal Air Force, UK

Developing and maintaining source code for the UK radar systems. Feasibility studies. Aircraft flight planning, aircraft/satellite tracking, SIM pilot, SIM interceptor controller.