Steven Brown Email & Phone Number

Lower Hutt City, Wellington Region, New Zealand

Wellington, New Zealand

In this time in the report writer position, I accompanied (with one other staff member) a select committee on their visit to Australia as part of the joint committee exchange programme. I was also involved with the development of a new electronic committee system, mainly with testing and writing documentation. I also had a second stint as an acting Clerk of Committee during this time when I postponed my attendance at EDA to provide cover for a committee whose clerk gained other employment.

Wellington, New Zealand

This position managed the provision of secretariat services to a particular select committee, including supervising someone in my previous report writer role and one other person. The role involved working closely with the Chair of the committee to schedule the committee’s work programme, including calling and receiving submissions on legislation and petitions, arranging hearings of evidence, producing the agenda for each meeting and writing the minutes, providing procedural advice, and… Show more This position managed the provision of secretariat services to a particular select committee, including supervising someone in my previous report writer role and one other person. The role involved working closely with the Chair of the committee to schedule the committee’s work programme, including calling and receiving submissions on legislation and petitions, arranging hearings of evidence, producing the agenda for each meeting and writing the minutes, providing procedural advice, and ensuring the smooth running of committee meetings. Show less

Wellington, New Zealand

I returned to Hansard to act in the role that supervised my previous position, while the incumbent was seconded to a project team. During this time, a replacement for the Hansard production system was being developed, and I served as a subject matter expert for indexing and compiling, working closely with the contractors undertaking the development. I was the team leader for a group of three, responsible for ensuring the timely and accurate publication of Hansard, and spent some time learning… Show more I returned to Hansard to act in the role that supervised my previous position, while the incumbent was seconded to a project team. During this time, a replacement for the Hansard production system was being developed, and I served as a subject matter expert for indexing and compiling, working closely with the contractors undertaking the development. I was the team leader for a group of three, responsible for ensuring the timely and accurate publication of Hansard, and spent some time learning the roles supervised by the other team leaders (Reporting and Editing). Show less

Wellington, New Zealand

During my time in Hansard, I had assisted Select Committees by taking on some report writing when Select Committee Services was short-staffed during a busy time. I enjoyed this work, and applied for the next Report Writer vacancy. In this position, I was part of a team of three providing secretariat services to a particular select committee. This involved reading all documents received by the committee (advice, evidence, reports from other agencies), attending all meetings of the committee, and… Show more During my time in Hansard, I had assisted Select Committees by taking on some report writing when Select Committee Services was short-staffed during a busy time. I enjoyed this work, and applied for the next Report Writer vacancy. In this position, I was part of a team of three providing secretariat services to a particular select committee. This involved reading all documents received by the committee (advice, evidence, reports from other agencies), attending all meetings of the committee, and writing the committee’s reports on each item of business before it. Show less

Wellington, New Zealand

In the Hansard Compiler position, I had also worked closely with the Office’s Website Administrator on the processes for uploading Hansard to the new Parliament website. This position was a resizing of the previous role to recognise the ongoing work on the index XSL, the work with the website uploading, and various other technical work with the production system.

Wellington, New Zealand

This position entailed preparing Hansard (the report of the debates in the House) for publication, in both online and printed versions. This involved entering corrections from proof-reading into the text, joining ‘turns’ into speeches, speeches into debates, debates into days, and so on through to (usually) four weeks in each bound volume. I also assisted with distributing early drafts to members for their feedback on the transcription of their speeches. During this time, the Australian… Show more This position entailed preparing Hansard (the report of the debates in the House) for publication, in both online and printed versions. This involved entering corrections from proof-reading into the text, joining ‘turns’ into speeches, speeches into debates, debates into days, and so on through to (usually) four weeks in each bound volume. I also assisted with distributing early drafts to members for their feedback on the transcription of their speeches. During this time, the Australian developers of the production system visited to work on finishing the indexing component of the system. I became involved in supporting the transition of the indexing process from fully manual, to manual entry into an XML schema, to a system where a code for each different collection of index entries was matched in the document XML, and XSLT was used to generate entries in the index XML. I learned enough XSL to fix errors in existing stylesheets and create new stylesheets that the developers had not gotten to. Show less

Wellington

By attending Enspiral Dev Academy, I put myself through 9 weeks of preparatory work (while still working full-time), then 9 weeks of bootcamp immersion (while on leave without pay), which added up to over 1,000 hours dedicated to coding. This included work on both the hard skills of learning the tools (as listed above) and how to best apply them to the problem in front of you, and the soft skills of finding the best way to arrange your working day, of improving your ability to focus and… Show more By attending Enspiral Dev Academy, I put myself through 9 weeks of preparatory work (while still working full-time), then 9 weeks of bootcamp immersion (while on leave without pay), which added up to over 1,000 hours dedicated to coding. This included work on both the hard skills of learning the tools (as listed above) and how to best apply them to the problem in front of you, and the soft skills of finding the best way to arrange your working day, of improving your ability to focus and concentrate, of working in teams in situations replicating real working environments, and of managing having more work and learning in front of you than can possibly be fitted into waking hours. Show less

Hamilton, New Zealand

(March to October each year)This position involved sitting at the issues desk in the Law Library, issuing ‘desk copies’ to fellow students, sorting lists of new books from publishers to staff to recommend what should be acquired for the library, keeping an eye on supply levels and other problems in the adjacent computer lab, and clearing the floor before the main library closed for the evening.

Hamilton, New Zealand

This position encompassed a wide variety of tasks over the years. A school-wide network was installed during my time there - I hooked up computers in each classroom, and in two computer labs. I set up and administered a server, including user accounts and DNS. I assisted teachers with lesson planning and developing their computer skills, and was present as a resource for both staff and students during sessions in the computer labs. I assisted with setting policies and future planning, and… Show more This position encompassed a wide variety of tasks over the years. A school-wide network was installed during my time there - I hooked up computers in each classroom, and in two computer labs. I set up and administered a server, including user accounts and DNS. I assisted teachers with lesson planning and developing their computer skills, and was present as a resource for both staff and students during sessions in the computer labs. I assisted with setting policies and future planning, and liaised with outside contractors. To quote from the reference I received on leaving:‘Qualities that became very apparent to all staff were his ability to problem solve, patience, to work long hours, to work without supervision and to be looking ahead at "big picture" scenarios.’‘I have no hesitation in recommending Steven for a position that has attributes similar to the above. He is a very intelligent person who is a true life-long learner.’ Show less

Bachelor Of Laws (Llb), Incomplete

From 1999 to 2003 I was enrolled either part-time or full-time as a Law student at the University of Waikato. I completed the 7 Part 1.

B.Soc.Sci., Computer Science

I completed a B.Soc.Sci. at Waikato in 1991, majoring in Computer Science, including, at third year level, Programming Languages (A+)..