About Me
What I Have Done...
Originally, born and raised in New Zealand's Waikato region, I possessed an enthusiasm for science and technology from an early age which continued throughout my schooling. After graduating from high school at Auckland's Kings College in 2000, I headed down to the famous university town of Dunedin to further my interests in business and technology at the University of Otago. In December 2005 I graduated with a BSc in Computer Science, and in early 2006 I completed my time at Otago by graduating with a Bcom in Economics, and a minor in Management.
It was then that I relocated to Vancouver where I began work as a QA Analyst for Providence Health Care. I was chosen to participate in a team of 50 professionals with the goal of replacing the core health information system in 7 of PHC's Vancouver hospitals. This multi million dollar project sought to overcome many challenging tasks such as seamless integration with over 44 other local and regional health systems (Lab, Radiology, Finance for example), not to mention a data migration from the 25 year old legacy system that we were to replace. My chief role in the project was as the developer for Rational Robot; a test automation tool produced by IBM. This allowed the project to significantly cut costs in QA as a smaller QA team was required than otherwise would have been. Additional duties included business analysis, consultancy, and capital account management. The project was successfully implemented with a big bang style of go-live in February 2009.
Currently, I am employed as the Technical Director for a Vancouver based creative agency called TBA Digital. TBA specializes in a range of media types such as web, film, print, and 3D animation. My responsibilities here include technical direction, web application programming, database configuration & management, server configuration & and management, application programming, and general problem solving. I have been in this position for some time now, for a couple of years before this I worked for TBA in the role of senior software developer.
What I Can Do...
Scripting:
PHP, C#.net, VB.net, JSP, JavaScript/AJAX.
Markup:
XHTML, HTML, CSS, XML.
Server Administration:
Microsoft (IIS, Server 2003 & 2008), Linux (Apache, PostFix, Dovecot, BIND, Tomcat), Solaris (Weblogic).
Database:
MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Berkeley Java DB, SQLlite.
Application:
C/C++, Java, Cocoa.
Mobile:
iPhone SDK, Android SDK.
Platforms:
Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OSX, Linux Debian/Red Hat/CentOS, Solaris 10.
Productivity:
Adobe Creative Suite, MS Office, Visual Studio, Xcode, Net Beans, Eclipse, Google Apps.
What I Am Interested In...
Professionally:
It may come as no surprise to you that my professional interest is centered on software. More specifically I am interested in software development for business with a focus on web technologies. Aside from an aptitude for programming I think these interests are reinforced by knowledge of business principles and abilities in verbal and written communication: traditionally this is an area of difficulty for software professionals.
Personally:
I've always enjoyed the outdoors and outdoor sports, some of my favorites include rugby, snowboarding, surfing, swimming, wake boarding, sea kayaking, tennis, and golf. Some of my recent excursions include snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies, and sea kayaking through Vancouver Island's Broken Island group. Like anyone though I do need down time too. This is when you might find me playing the guitar, or perhaps looking up a new recipe. Sadly you might also find me programming for one of my pet projects too, although I do enjoy it so it's not as bad as it sounds.