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Alvin E. Finch
EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS
CAREER PROFILEAs a Software Professional working in the IT industry for more than 30 years, I have extensive experience in developing and supporting various products including document production, communication and accounting/database systems. This has involved extensive customer contact at all levels of organisations. I am able to work alone, as part of, or leading a team. I am self-motivated, and pro-active; generally my enthusiasm motivates the rest of the team. My technical knowledge includes a range of software and hardware; use of various operating systems; communications protocols; structured design techniques and relational databases. Much of it gained in the airline and defence industries.
I am able to adapt rapidly to new working practices. As a problem solver I am quick and
effective in spotting differences in patterns and work logically to implement systems, or
identify and rectify problems. CAREER SUMMARY
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
I advertise in local publications. I also have repeat trade, and referrals from satisfied customers. I am a Bracknell Forest Borough Council Trading Standards Scheme member. I provide help and expertise to individuals and small companies.
This ranges from software/hardware trouble shooting and Virus/Spyware Most of the work is based around Microsoft operating systems (Vista/XP/2000/98), and products. (Microsoft office etc) I have also provided airline-ticketing consultancy to Datalex (Various Unix and NT systems), and other contract services.
SITA ATS (formerly Equant AS) provides business solutions to the travel, hospitality and transportation industries. I worked both in the development department and in the Customer Applications Group providing customer contact, troubleshooting and support for a range of high profile clients including BA, EL AL and Scandinavian Air Services. (These applications were based on NT/UNIX, SQL, with web services- JSP, Tomcat, Apache etc) Web bookings were held in an Oracle database. A variety of different communications protocols are supported including legacy systems such as ALC. I also worked on several Multi threaded (SLIQ) Unix systems – Solaris & AIX. Based on C and Java – Eclipse IDE). I took up the CAG position after several months in the development department as a designer and developer. Other achievements include:
Engaged for the first two years on a contract basis the position became permanent. As well as customer contact and support for a Network Management System. I was also involved in further developments and enhancements. The system was built for the MOD/RAF (Uniter). This was subcontracted to HP from the MOD/RAF and Marconi. This required the design, construction, QA and testing of new developments, and the (sometimes lengthy) investigation of defects in the existing software and systems. The system was primarily Unix based, with a 4GL GUI, C and embedded SQL. The hardware base was HP Unix boxes and CISCO routers, with supporting PC’s. Achievements at HP include:
During this period I also left HP and worked for Internet Security Systems in Reading. This was for about three months. At ISS I attended several seminars on security matters, and a UML course. HP having found no one to fill the role I had left as a contractor offered me the post of Application Specialist as a permanent position.
In parallel with contracting to HP I fulfilled a contract with PDI, assisting in developing an Internet on line purchasing system based on Microsoft IIS using C++.
In this organisation, reporting to the General Manager, I advised and provided consultancy, technical information and services, to all areas of the company operations. I was available for pre-sales technical backup, technical project management/team leading of developments, and first/second line customer support. Key projects included:
I created message specifications for an Electronic Data Interface between Tour Operator Tomas Cook and Computer Reservation Systems and. I also Managed, and guided other staff in the implementation of the EDI system. The system was implemented on AIX with MicroFocus Cobol.
Progressing from Programmer to Consultant I gained experience in a variety of projects:
I formed the company to create a travel system in conjunction with Blackbird Computing. The contracting assignments and Racal and Northern Telecom (Nortel) provided the funds for a business partner and myself to create and market the travel system. Blackbird and Nest also worked in partnership with a computer and marketing company, and a London based Travel Agency. Nest & BlackbirdDesign programming and marketing of the Robin Travel system. This used a custom-made Viewdata controller (Z80 & PLZ/Assembler) to capture data, allowing the monitoring of sessions with principals such as Skytrack (airline) and TOPS (Tour Operator). Booking data was captured on-line and transferred to files on a PC for later document production. Nest at Racal CommunicationsAnalyst/Programmer and supervision of system testing for the 'Bitstream' project. Bitstream was a background data communication system utilising idle time on telecom lines. The system was designed for use in remote meter reading, freezer alarms etc. (PDP11 & Macro11) Nest at Northern TelecomMyself and my Colleage from Blackbird lead the design and programming of the Autodial Backup Supervisor for Barclays Bank and implementation of EFTPOS demonstration software. ABS provides management of alarms from the banks' communications network using data stored in a relational database. A simple operator interface was provided to backup failed leased lines via public network dial-up lines. This involved spending some time at BNR in Canada. (Vax/VMS & C, Cobol, Seed Database)
Here I was involved in the Design, development and support of Document Printing and Accounting Systems. The first system was based on RT11 and Macro 11. The second system was based on BOS/2000 and MicroCobol. The project was originally based in South Africa. Until 1999 this was the premier accounting/document/ticket production system for UK travel agents. I was also involved in the design and programming of a PSS X25 communication subsystem for the Travicom 2 communications controller. (PDP11, CORAL. C, MASCOT)
I gained valuable experience in the support and development of the Hydrographical system 'Hydroplot' for the Royal Navy. Hydroplot monitors a ship's navigation equipment and produces real time positional information and logging of data for later processing on magnetic tape. I was also engaged in support of Torpedo tracking and data reprocessing systems. For a period I was seconded to the technical writing division to produce technical documentation for a battlefield control system. This project was based in the USA. I worked on the design of the Seabed Operations Vessel system to replace HMS Reclaim (HMS Challenger) (SIR assembler, CORAL, MASCOT, Fortran, Algol)
FOREIGN LANGUAGES HOBBIES AND INTERESTS Writing (published novel “Cold Suspenders”) – Politics – Bracknell Forest Borough Councillor – Bracknell Town Councillor – Webmaster for the BCA, and Local MP – School Governor - Local rugby – Morris Dancing – Guitar. . |
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