Coöperatieve Rabobank is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. Between March 2021 and December 2022, I was contracted as a technical specialist to assist with the implementation and evaluation of the Nexthink v6 platform. My core responsibilities in this role were the design and implementation of scripts deployed as Nexthink remote actions and Azure pipelines. The remote action scripts and automation pipelines were utilized to perform the concurrent collection of system performance and user experience data, perform system analysis and remediation tasks, and enable integration with other systems and processes. I was also responsible for advising and assisting collegues on the use of the Nexthink platform, and involved in the design and implementation of the Nexthink cloud platform to support almost fifty thousand workplaces across continents and timezones.

Lonza Netherlands are a biotechnology company based in Geleen, it was formed after PharmaCell was acquired by Lonza. Between May and Dec of 2020, I was contracted as an onsite backfill engineer. The core responsibilities were to manage the deployment and upgrade of desktops and laptops, ensuring the devices were imaged using the latest Windows system image, migrating user accounts and data, and ensure users were allocated the correct security groups and permissions to allow access to relevant system resource.

Barrhead Travel Group are one of the UKs largest independent travel agencies, present in more than 80 locations across the UK, with almost 1000 employees. In this role I was responsible for the overall ICT design and strategy, driving technology and supplier selection, and complete information and communications technology integration. During my time at Barrhead Travel I overseen the migration of our core datacentre. Designed and implemented a next generation Cisco Meraki based SD-WAN infrastructure to reduce site-to-site connectivity cost across more than 80 sites, increasing network reliability and efficiency. Virtualised the network and server infrastructure across the business for greater flexibility and efficiency and reduced cost. Designed and implemented a new Windows Server 2016 Active Directory infrastructure to support business growth plans over the next 5 years. And lead the project to upgrade more than 600 PCs to Windows 10, including fully automating the deployment of standard BIOS configurations, operating system, application packages, and system drivers.

Lambert Contracts specialise in building restoration, fire services, and building maintenance predominantly for the insurance industry in Scotland. In this role I was responsible for providing guidance and strategy related to the use of business information technology to the executive management team. I advised on the selection of relevant suppliers and procurement of hardware and software systems. During my time at Lambert Contracts I overseen the migration of the legacy Exchange Server 2007 deployment to Office 365, the migration of the Windows Server 2008 environment (deployed across four physical servers) to a Windows Server 2016 virtualised environment (deployed across two physical servers) using Hyper-V. I also completed the redevelopment of a bespoke ASP.NET Web Forms application utilising SQL Server 2008 to ASP.NET Core MVC utilising Entity Framework Core and SQL Server 2014, this included the migration and redevelopment of the business intelligence reports based on SQL Server Reporting Services.

Blackbaud specialise in providing software products to the not-for-profit sector. In this role I provided technical support and assistance to some of Europe’s best known charitable and educational organisations, such as British Heart Foundation, Plan International, National Deaf Children’s Society, University of Oxford, University of London, and University College London. As a member of the Enterprise CRM (Constituent Management System) Support team, I was tasked with assisting the technical support staff within our enterprise clients. This involved support and guidance on the correct use of the application, diagnosing and filing bug reports, troubleshooting and resolving issues with Internet Information Services, SQL Server, Reporting Services, Integration Services, and Analysis Services.

Almada specialise in providing ICT management services to the hotel and leisure industry. In this role I was responsible for designing, deploying, and maintaining network systems to support the 24/7 operations these clients require. I consulted in the selection and overseen integration of third party services including telecoms, property management systems, point of sale systems, distributed TV services, and guest network access services. I was also responsible for the integration and customization of the remote management and monitoring system and the help desk system used to provided 24/7 remote monitoring and support to clients.

During this period, I provided technical consultancy services to small IT companies. These services focused primarily on Windows infrastructure, network configuration, Group Policy, Remote Desktop/RemoteApp, SQL Server, application compatibility, automated deployment, and VPN technologies. I was also responsible for the installation, maintenance, and support of the Sage 200 desktop client and SQL Server database. This included utilizing the Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit to resolve issues running on Windows Vista. As well as implementing a read-only replicated instance of the SQL Server database to speed up reporting. I was also contracted to develop a mobile worker solution based on Windows Mobile 6, the .NET Compact Framework, and ASP.NET Web Services. In the mobile first environment today that seems common until you consider that the project started in April 2008, roughly 3 months before Apple launched the iStore in July, and a working prototype was delivered just 6 weeks later.

This was the most challenging and rewarding time I spent at EMA Global Technologies. Gaining experience of network routing, switching, and IP based telephone systems. I was responsible for designing, implementing, and migrating network systems. I was one of two engineers who designed and implemented a converged voice and data network to operate over a satellite WAN connection at the Braes of Doune wind farm.

In this role I gained experience installing, configuring and supporting Windows 2000/2003 Server, including network infrastructure services such as DHCP, DNS, Active Directory, and Group Policy. Installing, configuring, and supporting SQL Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Internet Information Services (IIS). I was involved in the installation of Cat. 5e/6 structured cabling systems, server racks, and uninterruptable power systems. During this period, I spent most of my time working onsite completing maintenance, upgrades, or system support.

In mid 1999 I started 6 weeks job experience at EMA to support my application to study computer science. After 2 weeks I was offered a permanent position. I spent the initial 12 months providing telephone support and receiving training in the workshop. After the training period I slowly migrated to field support services. During this time I gained experience building and repairing computer hardware, installing, configuring and supporting Windows NT/2000, Office 97/2000, as well as various desktop software packages.