On this contract I was tasked with trying to tackle the long term bugs and glitches in Zopa's C#/MSSQL based system. It was a great way to see inside an enterprise-sized financial C# system and thoroughly examine the architecture and it's problems. This role taught me an awful lot about working in a coding team, and about the bugs that arise in complex interconnected systems.

Although not a SysAdmin, I was asked to perform this role to cover for the loss of Zopa's SysAdmin at the time. My generalised problem solving, broad experience, quick pickup and financial background allowed me to help Zopa out until a true SysAdmin could be brought in. It was quite a challenge but was very good experience.

Contracting position supporting Futures Trading on multiple markets and systems.

On leaving MFGlobal on a permanent basis, was retained on a contract to build a new Pats trading system in three months, as a backup for the TT system. I was charged with providing the implementation layout, hardware specification, resilience strategies and capacity/overload estimates, based on experience gained being the main Pats support exec at Man and GNI for many years.

IT Trading Support for Derivatives (Futures/Options), CFD and Forex systems, specialising in problem solving, trade tracing and performance tuning for front- and back-office systems. A great portion of the work was analysing and tackling problems with client web access and WAN to trading systems, with an emphasis on assisting algo-trading systems requiring very high performance. I was a Eurex Admin for MISS server work, and I was the UAC Technical Compliance contact for the eCBOT. Man/MFGlobal required flexibility in terms of working remit, times worked and working conditions, but offered challenges, responsibilities and resources that were unparalleled. I gained valuable experience supporting high volume systems pushed to failure in varying scenarios, and learned a lot about how to diagnose and deal with bottlenecks and faults under pressure.At Man, I was second to the Trading Support Manager, which meant that when he was not on the desk, I was running a team of seven Support Execs. I was encouraged to take on more management tasks, but I preferred the technical aspects of the role.

IT Trading Support, Futures/Options/CFD’s, concentrating on PATS support for web based trading, but also supporting Future Dynamic’s Crossfire system, EMOS back office system, general trading floor support and external client support. GNI was interesting because the IT Trading Support team were positioned on the Trading Floor with the traders, so that they could ‘access’ their support staff as and when they needed, simply by raising their voices.At GNI I designed the initial GNI TechSupport web pages in HTML, to distribute updates, and provide software tools to remote clients.In 2001 I trialled and then took on ExpertCity’s remote support software. This enabled our team to access client’s PC’s remotely, and effectively revolutionised how remote support operated, from phone based assistance to directly operating the remote machine. This gave our private external clients much more effective support and improved relationships as well. ExpertCity’s system went on to become Citrix/GoToMyPC.

Implementation and after-sales Support for Future Dynamics futures trading systems and back office applications. Responsibilities included planning large, complex installations for clients like Nomura, Bank One, ADM, ABN Amro and Fortis etc. I was required to work with Sales teams during pre-sales periods to establish trust with clients, and was often required to entertain prospects. Once a sale was made, I would work with the client to plan and implement a system, and then act as primary technical contact during the customisation and teething period.