Senior Software Engineer

• Apr 2022 - Present

Senior Developer

• Jan 2014 - Apr 2022

My team is responsible to some of the highest traffic systems in Xero. All these services are tier one and need extremely high SLAs. One of these systems was handed over to my team in a bad state but over the last two years we have slowly been making improvements to make it more stable while maintain the performance of it. Oversaw enhancements to our core delivery competencies making sure that unit tests and code coverage are a recorded, that our base container images are kept up to date and that our documentation is up to scratch. We have use CodeDeploy reporting groups for the unit testing and currently code coverage but will be added to report groups when keeping the base images to update is a scheduled pipeline to get the asp.net base images from the MS container repository and update them the services we require. This means that our service has the latest .Net and OS security patches applied. Integrated three of our systems with Event Bridge to enable sending of analytics to our data lake ingestion system. Using my knowledge of AWS I have made sure that my team's infrastructure is up to date and implemented processes to make sure it is kept up to date. This includes making sure that instances are updated with current patches and that cluster instances can be replaced without fear of downtime. This process is currently being automated. Lambda has been one of my focuses, using it when it makes sense to either join AWS services or delivery complete systems. For two years fulfilled the tech lead function. Producing project plans, mentoring team members, leading the architecture of our system, and engaging with external stake holders. I have been involved in mentoring graduate developers, and it has been pleasing to see them grow and Show less

Senior Developer

• Jul 2010 - Jan 2014

Worked on integrating our systems with customers worldwide. This included working with NZ Post on their Parcel Pod trial, Walmart’s Click and Collect locker system, Belgium Post’s locker system and Rikers University delivery system amongst others. Built Integration using micro service and a service bus. Worked on web services to allow for customer integration. Responsible for maintaining internal and external web sites. Two of the web sites were multilingual. Integrated with the system responsible for communication with the lockers Presented to other developers at team meetings. Dealt with customers during the full development lifecycle form taking requires, designing solutions, testing, and delivery. For some customers this meant traveling to Europe for the meetings. Show less

Senior Developer

• Aug 2008 - Jul 2010

At FoldingSpace I was responsible for setting up an automatic build process to allow a one click build and packaging of our applications. Introduced unit testing and set up the build process to run tests. This has made the application easier to deploy. During my time at FoldingSpace introduces the use of IOC (Inversion of Control) and ORMs (Object Relational Mapper). This reduced the effort of developing the data access layer and allowed the creation of a more loosely coupled and testable system. I was technical lead on some projects which has involved defining the architecture, overseeing the teams work and mentoring junior developers. My role involved developing web applications working on both the front-end user interface, the backend business logic and database using Microsoft Index server, Windows Workflow, and SQL Server to allow processing of scanned documents and the management of those documents. I have had the chance to use the compact framework on windows mobile devices used in a warehouse environment communicate with the back-end services. Show less

Senior Developer

• Mar 2008 - Aug 2008

For Northgate I carried on my mentoring role, showing the current team new practices, features and tools which can be used to make the product better. Responsibilities have included peer reviews, code reviews, technical designs, and feature estimates. I have been involved with improving the code base by adding more logging and correcting programming and logic errors. For Northgate I carried on my mentoring role, showing the current team new practices, features and tools which can be used to make the product better. Responsibilities have included peer reviews, code reviews, technical designs, and feature estimates. I have been involved with improving the code base by adding more logging and correcting programming and logic errors.

Development Consultant

• Jan 2005 - Mar 2008

At Cambridge Assessment I gave technical interviews on behalf of Cambridge Assessment to evaluate senior technical development staff, including the development leads. Dealt directly with internal customers, taking their requirements, and developing solutions to meet their needs. Provided consultancy on upcoming technology within Cambridge Assessment to the development team. Delivered training to developers within the department in ADO.NET, C#, ASP.NET, WinForms and Implementation of design patterns. Carried out code reviews to make sure that our internal standards where maintained, and that code performed correctly. The main ASP.NET site was used by educational centres to enrol candidates, enter candidates for qualifications and get the candidate results. When results are posted the site comes under a heavy load and must cope with it. On the WinForms side I wrote an application which is used for computer-based exams. This application locked down the computer so that candidates could not leave the test or use the clipboard. The program controlled the material and time for the test by inter-operation with a Java server via UDP. Set up the first CI for the .Net team, running CruiseControl.Net, latter moving to TeamCity. Show less

Development Consultant

• Mar 2004 - Dec 2004

Compex produces a software package for the parking industry. During my time I was responsible for maintaining their existing package and involved in the writing of their new Windows package which was using SQL Server as a back end. I was also involved in writing a web based front end to the new SQL Server version. .Net was evaluated, but the decision was taken to write it in Java using Structs. My responsibilities also included helping the help desk with any problems which they were unable to resolve themselves. These ranged from issues with the database to problems with Windows permissions. Show less

Development Consultant

• Jun 2002 - Mar 2004

At Carlson marketing I was involved in writing a loyalty points system. This included developing and optimising the product, which involved optimising the database and making sure that the client’s large database was performing optimality. The development process involved taking a functional requirement specification and writing a detailed design document, which were either implemented by myself or another developer. As part of this project I wrote web services, DTS packages for ETL from third parties and an installation set for installing the client application. For the second part of the project I was involved in interviewing other contractors for the project. This required me to write a SQL Server test and part of a Delphi test for the contractors to sit and conducted the technical interview. I implemented design standards to make the project easier to extend and maintain in the future. Show less

Development Consultant

• Nov 2001 - Jan 2002

I was involved in upgrading the projects to Delphi 5, 6 and to SQL 2000 as the back end. I also completed the migration of an Access 2 database to Access 2000 and VB6 using MSDE as the backend. I web enabled one of their Access projects used for time entry by using Delphi 6’s Websnap and dbExpress to an Oracle 8i back end. I was involved in upgrading the projects to Delphi 5, 6 and to SQL 2000 as the back end. I also completed the migration of an Access 2 database to Access 2000 and VB6 using MSDE as the backend. I web enabled one of their Access projects used for time entry by using Delphi 6’s Websnap and dbExpress to an Oracle 8i back end.

Analyst/Programmer

• Mar 2001 - Sep 2001

At Scottish Radio holdings I was involved in updating an in-house planning system from Delphi 1 to Delphi 5. There were major enhancements done to this system including moving it from a Paradox database to Oracle 8.1.7 using Direct Oracle Access and PL/SQL. I was involved in improving the speed over their Wide Area Network as well as general enhancements to the system. I participated in the design, and implementation of the data access layer to get the data from the business objects to the database and vice versa. I was solely responsible for setting up the application to communicate electronically with a B2B system being set up for the radio industry. As part of this I had to attend meetings in London on behalf of the client with the IT radio industry liaison group for this project. Show less

Programmer / System Analyst

• May 1998 - Dec 2000

At Software Mechanix my role ranged from developer to DBA. I designed and developed client/server solutions using Delphi and Visual Basic usually backing to either an Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server database using business components running under Microsoft Transaction Server. I was client facing in this role working with our clients from taking the original requirement, walking through the initial prototype, through user acceptance testing and finally having the project signed off. During my last 6 months with Software Machanix I was contracted out to BT Funds Management, an investment bank in New Zealand and Australia where I worked in conjunction with a team from Cap Gemini. While at BT Funds Management I wrote business objects for Transaction Server using Sybase and MS SQL as the backend. I was also responsible for moving part of their system from MS SQL 6.5 to MS SQL 7. Show less

Programmer / System Analyst

• Jan 1995 - May 1998

My time at Serrata was spent adding features to an off the shelf accounting package called “Serenade” which is used by a number of organizations around New Zealand. During this time I was responsible for converting the package from a DOS environment using Dataflex to a 32 bit environment using Visual Dataflex for Windows (a major upgrade). I also wrote Delphi applications and components to supplement Dataflex. These involved writing a DLL that allowed use of a mapped memory file, which Dataflex was unable to do at that time. I also wrote a windows graph program to take information from “Serenade” and display it graphically. There were also custom applications written in Delphi. I also helped write a VB application used for pension schemas as well as a C program for displaying graphs from “Serenade”. As well as my development responsibility I was also responsible for the network environment including servers and workstations. Show less