Experience

Sol1
• Australia
• IT Services and IT Consulting
• 1 - 100 Employee
• Head of Broadcast Integration

  • Jan 2021 - Present


Vizrt

• Norway
• Software Development
• 400 - 500 Employee

• Senior System Engineer

  • Feb 2009 - Dec 2020

  Viz Ardome and Viz One are Media Asset Management systems written primarily in Perl and can use IBM DB2, Oracle or PostgreSQL as the database backend. Working with large broadcasters across Australia/NZ, each broadcast customer has different storage, systems, workflows and equipment to interface with, as well as different media formats so each installation is custom and develops as the customer's workflows and equipment evolves. My role has encompassed the various phases of system design and implementation, mentoring & peer code review, trouble-shooting, bug fixing & cleanup, system administration, cloud deployment, storage and network throughput analysis, monitoring, ... A MAM system interfaces with a large number of systems and so we are often the first port of call for issues which end up being traced to other systems which we work around. Broadcast media also has a large number of interesting historical design features such as interlacing, non-integer frame rates, telecine frame rate conversion, anamorphic pixels, etc which spice up integrations and bug fixing. As well as linux, Perl & SQL, I regularly use Javascript, Ansible, JSON, REST, Python & XML, competently read other people's Java and C, C++, and have had occasion to use Lua and even Microsoft Windows. For media storage I have had experience integrating and troubleshooting with FTP, SMB, NFS, Isilon, IBM TSM, SGI DMF, Spectralogic Black Perl, AWS S3 + Glacier.



United Group

• Bangladesh
• Executive Offices
• 300 - 400 Employee

• Software Engineer

  • Mar 2006 - Jan 2009

  It was here that my eyes were opened to the difference between IT and Engineering: - in IT if it's tested once it works, in Engineering the system is required to function even if half the cords or equipment is missing. - In Engineering the goalposts and rules are set at the beginning of the project and in IT that is seldom the case. - In IT there are only ones and zeros, but in engineering there are in between values, clocks are not always synchronised, all values are approximate. Three main projects here: - C drivers and maintenance for Compass satellite base-station switching and monitoring for ABC News Interchange - Major updates to a Perl control system and writing drivers for a range of devices such as MODBUS relays and consumer radio receivers, as well as embedded system development in C for the redundant operator control boxes, writing a software dynamic audio range compressor in C for JACK audio. The system is (was?) used in the Radio Rebroadcast + Public Address safety systems in the Lane Cove and Sydney Harbour Tunnels. - Media Asset Management system (Vizrt Ardome) installation at Sky Racing along with architecting and implementing custom perl software (AutoIngest) to Ardome via SOAP APIs to record Horse + Greyhound races from live feeds, trim them based on timings from betting closed and results information, and archive the races and results. This system is still running 12 years later and has recorded, cut and archived over one million races automatically. My relationship with Sky Racing continues with my work at Vizrt

• Programmer

  • Nov 2003 - Feb 2006

  Two main projects here: - a Perl-based Windows GUI frontend to rdiff-backup as an early foray into online backup - a web-based Perl / PostgreSQL replacement for a Microsoft Access system which has expanded beyond safe size Two main projects here: - a Perl-based Windows GUI frontend to rdiff-backup as an early foray into online backup - a web-based Perl / PostgreSQL replacement for a Microsoft Access system which has expanded beyond safe size



Switch Super

• India

• Data Gymnast

  • Jul 2001 - Nov 2003

  This is where my love of Perl & SQL grew and developed. We also used Aegis for version control and testing which gave me a deep appreciation for integrating tests. Founding member of a startup whose product was dispensing very tailored financial advice focussed on superannuation in an online way. Object Oriented Perl on Debian Linux using PostgreSQL as the DB backend. Some other interesting parts such as modifying thirdparty PDF forms to enable them to be templated / saving the customer from filling in their own forms.



Pacific Power

• United States
• Utilities
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Webmaster's Apprentice

  • Dec 1996 - Jul 2002

  A paid work/experience position / holiday job for 10 weeks which turned into a full time contract position followed by a "Temporary Permanent" role and then when I left to join Switch Online I came back for the odd day or three of consulting from time to time. As internet access was being granted to individuals in Pacific Power, part of my job was training people one-on-one on how to use Netscape Navigator + Mail, search the internet using Altavista, as well as adding them accounts using LDAP and adding their internal and external email addresses into the mail forwarder. Initially Digital Unix workstations and then RedHat Linux was deployed for remote DHCP and DNS servers to the various power stations. Sysadmin and Dev - Intranet utilities were built in Perl.