Simon Harrison Email & Phone Number

Edinburgh, Gb

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

This was a move to a product delivery role within Registers of Scotland (RoS). I was tasked with the setup and management of new Database Engineering team. The main purpose of the team is the overall management of all database infrastructure within RoS.My main focus has been the creation of cross skilled team of engineers. This has allowed me to deliver a roadmap focusing on the management of database infrastructure through automation. Key projects include the migration of the remaining on-premise databases to cloud platforms and the stabilisation of the legacy Oracle estate. Within the team I foster a collaborative attitude to task delivery, this promotes knowledge sharing and avoid problems associated with single points of failure.My specialist knowledge of database technologies has been invaluable within the role as it gives me a greater understanding of the technical challenges required to deliver key Database projects.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

This was an internal transfer within Registers of Scotland (RoS), moving from operations to the Mapping Domain development team. The primary purpose of this team is to develop and support all the organisation’s mapping software and underlying spatial data. My skills as a Database specialist are incredibly useful as we are dealing with large scale ETL processes to migrate existing legacy data into modern GIS data formats. More recently I have become fully involved in backend development work relating to API’s for serving up the mapping related data. I use tools like Flyway to administer architectural changes to databases.My latest project has been using AWS to migrate our on-site databases into Aurora RDS. These databases are deployed and maintained using cloud development kit (CDK) and AWS code pipelines. With the knowledge gained from this exercise I have gone to help other teams migrate their database infrastructure. Additionally, I have been developing new API’s using AWS lambdas written in typescript.As a senior developer, I have management responsibility including supporting several junior staff and I have actively participated in the RoS management training program. I have also been involved in interview campaigns and a major project called Grow Our Own. This aims to give individuals the opportunity to move from different areas in the organisation into Software Development. I created and ran several workshops as part of this program.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

My first role within Registers of Scotland (RoS) was as a Database Administrator looking after a large and varied database estate. The database technology consisted of PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Informix, Oracle and SQL Server. In this role I worked with multiple teams supporting their existing database solutions as well as provisioning new databases across the organisation. To support the delivery of many databases I needed to have strong relationships with multiple stakeholders.A vital part of this work is ensuring robust disaster recovery is in place by the appropriate use of backup and replication technology. Due the complex range of database technologies at RoS, I utilised a wide variety of tools and techniques. In the case of PostgreSQL, I used Barman for database backups and Repmgr for replication across multiple servers. This role also included advising on and implementing performance enhancements for databases; and supporting and resolving major database outages.I am particularly proud of the work I did within a major task force to make all RoS IT services resilient to major site outages. Within this I was responsible for the MongoDB database clusters. In the end the task force was successful. We continue to perform regular disaster recovery exercises to ensure we can seamlessly failover all IT services to different sites.Another significant achievement was moving from existing legacy database technology to PostgreSQL. I used the infrastructure as code tool Ansible to automate the process. This simplified and increased the speed of new database delivery and ensured consistency of configuration across multiple teams. PostgreSQL is now the primary database technology used by RoS.

Ubertas is an IT Support and Services company working throughout the UK. Our main client was Registers of Scotland (RoS), where my role was database administrator for their large Informix and Oracle database estate. During my time with Ubertas I have also worked on a variety of development projects for RoS and other clients. My main responsibilities were tasks such as investigating and implementing methods of improving database performance, and disaster recovery of databases during hardware failures. I also provided third line support for various applications and monitored nightly ETL processes for the RoS legacy systems.At Ubertas I got the opportunity work more independently and develop new skills as needed in a small dynamic team. For example, one of the bigger projects I carried out was the replatforming of the legacy Sasine database application. This was built using Informix 4GL over 20 years ago. For this project I became proficient in a development tool called Genero, used to replace the outdated 4GL language. Despite challenges relating to incompatibilities between the legacy 4GL code and the Genero development tool I successfully completed the replatform.I worked on a number of other key projects such as developing an ETL application to load data extract files from a production Oracle database into an Informix database. I also setup the Ubertas helpdesk application using Service Now software. This application is now used to support all Ubertas clients.

Ingenico is a multi-national company that manufactures and supports point of sale terminals. I was a senior member of the database support team. My main role was the resolution of live issues impacting database operations. I performed a number of other key tasks such as producing automated reports for customers and internal business stakeholders. I used tools to perform large scale updates to Ingenico’s Informix databases and managed the software update process for chip and pin terminals across all customer sites. As this this was a support role I had a key focus on monitoring database operations and implementing proactive measures to resolve issues. I also worked closely with call centre staff and clients to meet business needs.

Beng (Hons) Internet Computing, 2:1

Education record