Welcome

A system integration specialist, with over 5 years experience using the latest open source technologies to resolve enterprise-level requirements.

NOW FOR HIRE

I am actively pursuing a position in system administration and/or web development. I enjoy learning new things, solving problems, and providing team leadership.

Thanks for stopping by, and please be sure to drop me a note. It would be great to hear from you.

My code is my art. Like an artist, I take pride in aiming for my best. —Michael Weichert

Skills

An agile web developer and system administrator with extensive experience in many technologies that will allow your business to stay ahead of the competition while having a stable infrastructure to build on.

Content Management

Team Member Name

An expert with hands-on experience developing themes, modules, and plugins for popular CMS platforms such as Drupal, Wordpress, ExpressionEngine, and SilverStripe.

Some integration projects include Sphinx Search Engine, Google Maps, Clickatell, Moneris eSelect Plus, and PayPal to name a few.

Enterprise-Integration

Team Member Name

Process and system integration is a key component to any business infrastructure today, especially with the rise of SaaS and cloud computing. I have 2 years of experience implementing such solutions in heterogenous environments, working with technologies such as Windows Server 2003, Linux, Samba, LDAP, and Exchange Server.

Project Management

Team Member Name

As a proficient team leader, I have gained practical knowledge of best practices and approaches to using popular business systems such as JIRA, Redmine, FogBugz, SugarCRM, and Salesforce.

I'm waiting with anticipation for the opportunity to integrate some of these systems together, along with Asterisk and the company CMS.

Proven Skills:

Web Development

PHP (LAMP), ExpressionEngine, WordPress, SilverStripe (more)

At Clixar, the entire product offering was implemented by developing modules, plugins, and extensions for ExpressionEngine (EE). All modules and extensions were developed using the MVC pattern. The theme of the site was developed using EE templates, XHTML, CSS, and JQuery. A custom members area (think "My Account") was developed in assistance with a homegrown form builder extension. The entire application was powered by a complex module that integrated with the Sphinx Full-text Search engine, to process all searches and geo-related queries. I developed the entire back-end of the directory application, which is composed of over 10,000 lines of code, excluding the front-end developed mostly by the team.

My preferred platform for web development is SilverStripe, a recent addition to the PHP scene that resembles the blog engine WordPress. This CMS is built-on an MVC framework called Sapphire. All of my freelancing work in done using SilverStripe and Sapphire.
Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Ramaze (more)
My favourite language to develop in is Ruby, mostly because no other language allows you to be so productive. An initial prototype of the directory application I built at Clixar was built using Ruby, Rails, and Ramaze - a lightweight alternative web development framework as compared to Rails. The backend of the application was developed as a REST web service in Rails, while the front-end was developed in Ramaze consuming the web service using ActiveResource, an ActiveRecord-like mapper which maps REST resources to objects. Although the principal was sound, the solution could only have merit in an enterprise-class application that had a lot of traffic, as it required more development effort in terms of implementing caching and proxy servers. The decision was made to continue the initial version of the development of the directory using PHP, and revisit this model if needed in the future.
I've used Ruby with many projects:
- Clixar required screen scrapping bots which I developed that collected business listings from source on the Internet, such as Yellowpage.com and Superpages.com.
- Designed a Postfix mail filter for RapidMind which used Ruby to scan incoming e-mails to specific support-related e-mail addresses, and use a SOAP API to automatically create tickets in the project management system, JIRA.
- Using Ruby on Rails, Home Fashion Market's corporate website was developed.
JQuery, JavaScript, CSS, JSON, AJAX (more)

Although I work almost exclusively in the back-end, I thoroughly enjoy working in the front-end. I strongly believe that with the rise of SaaS and cloud computing, rich-internet applications (RIAs) will be taking wave next. I have used CSS and JavaScript with every web project that I've encountered. While working with Clixar, I used JQuery to populate form fields that had a relationship of some kind. For example, a province drop-down list is dependent on the selected country of the country drop-down list. Therefore, JQuery was utilized to send an AJAX-request to the back-end to determine what provinces were available for a selected country. Similarly, I used the same approach for categories and sub-categories.
Python, Zope 3, Plone (more)

Ruby is my most preferred language to work with, but Python would have to be a close second. The language itself is beautiful, but it's package management using Eggs is unreliable. With zc.buildout, this might someday change.

I used Python for the majority of my work at RapidMind, as their CMS of choice was Plone. I learned to become very intimate with Plone and Zope, the web framework of which it is built upon, and created several plugins (more accurately called Products using Plone lingo) which were combined to implement a customer portal, which was an extranet developed for clients to access their contract information, submit support issues, and download the RapidMind SDK. The Plone Products that I developed, streamlined the workflow to create a new contract and grant users access to those contracts.

I look forward in the future for the opportunity to work with Google App Engine, a hosting and scalability solution to developing web applications in Python.
.NET using VB.NET & C# (more)

Before I knew anything about dynamic languages such as Ruby and Python, I was profound in the .NET framework. Although I haven't used it recently, it appears to be advancing in a rapid pace - even adopting dynamic language features in the soon-to-be-released, F#. Microsoft also has a port of Ruby in Beta on the .NET runtime called IronRuby, similar to the approach taken with IronPython. I think it would be fantastic for the opportunity to get back into the .NET scene, as I can use a great framework like .NET with my favourite language, Ruby.

While studying at TriOS, the program was heavily modeled around the .NET framework. As a result, I learned in-depth knowledge of the .NET platform and achieved the MCP and MCAD certifications.

At Home Fashion Market, I developed the company intranet using ASP.NET - but with a twist, using Mono on Linux to reduce the need of purchasing a Windows Server. The solution proved to work exceptionally well. The application would developed using a three-tier architecture, using DataSets for the data tier.

At Symbility Solutions, I developed the internal help desk software using C# and ASP.NET. The system was developed in three tiers, data access, business logic, and presentation. MS SQL Server was used with ADO.NET DataSet for data access, custom classes to wrap the DataSet objects were developed for data validation purposes in the form of business logic, and the presentation was completed using ASP.NET Forms, ADO.NET Server-side Controls, and of course HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Java (more)

While studying at TriOS, the majority of the curriculum was built around Microsoft and the .NET platform. Although I thoroughly enjoyed working with the .NET platform, I wanted to get some exposure to Java and therefore pursued the Sun Java 2 Certified Programmer (SJCP) certification while studying. I am regularly aroused to read about Java-related technologies such as Scala, JavaFX, and Stripes. As with most technology, I would appreciate the opportunity to get more intimate with these technologies.

At RapidMind, I developed a plugin for JIRA, the project management system, to modify the workflow of an issue, based on the status. When the status was changed to a particular value, the user would be assigned to a particular user-group. While developing the plugin, I was introduced to Maven, a build manager for Java as well as the IntellJ IDEA IDE.
Payment Gateway Integration (PayPal, Moneris, Authorize.net) (more)

At Clixar, I built an online business-listing directory for practitioners in the alternative healthcare sector. Like most online directories, customers could purchase priority listing status to affect the ranking of their listing in search results. To make the purchase, integration with a gateway was required. After evaluating options such as PayPal and E-xact, we decided to integrate with Moneris and their eSelect Plus product, as it was the only product at that time that supported recurring billing. The integration was developed in the form of an ExpressionEngine module, with a custom shopping cart supporting configurable products, virtual products, and product dependencies.

With various freelancer positions, I have integrated with the PayPal and Authorize.net hosted paypages.
Full-text Search Engines (Sphinx, Solr, Ferret) (more)

At Clixar, I built an online business-listing directory for practitioners in the alternative healthcare sector. Users needed to be able to find practitioners by asking for specific queries, such as "Show me all Chiropractors within 20 km of 123 Fred Street, Kitchener, ON that specialize in treating headaches, back pain, and neck pain - and that accept MasterCard as a payment method." With over 105,000 listings, MySQL could not perform the query fast enough. Several full-text search engines were tested and evaluated, including Sphinx, Solr, and Ferret. Sphinx was decided as the ideal solution, as it supported geo-spatial search out-of-the-box. The Sphinx integration was implemented as a sophisticated and flexible module built for ExpressionEngine, used to provide 3/4 of the functionality of the entire directory application.
Public API Integration, such as Google Maps, Clickatell (more)

At Clixar, I built an online business-listing directory for practitioners in the alternative healthcare sector. Users required the ability to display business listings on a map. To do this, first the listings had to be geocoded (calculating the latitude and longitude). An application which we called the 'GeoCache' was developed using CodeIgnitor to communicate with publicly accessible APIs, such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, fetch the geocode value, and cache it in a PostgreSQL database, with the PostGIS extension, for later use. We then developed a screen scrapping API for the Whois database to geocode IP addresses. With the Whois API and the GeoIP API provided by Maxmind, I was able to develop to a complete geocoding solution. Lastly, the Google Maps API was used to display the listings on a map.
REST, SOAP, XML-RPC Web Services (more)

An initial prototype of a business-listing directory application I built at Clixar was built using Ruby, Rails, and Ramaze - a lightweight alternative web development framework as compared to Rails. The backend of the application was developed as a REST web service in Rails, while the front-end was developed in Ramaze consuming the web service using ActiveResource, an ActiveRecord-like mapper which maps REST resources to objects.

At RapidMind, JIRA was used as the internal project management system. The idea was to store help desk tickets in JIRA as issues in a particular project to take advantage of JIRA's reporting capabilities. However, after collaboration it was determined that JIRA was not user-friendly enough for non-techinical staff to create their own issues. Therefore, I developed a Postfix mail filter was developed using Ruby that scaned incoming e-mail's that had support@rapidmind.com as the recipient. When found, the e-mail would be parsed and inserted into JIRA using a provided SOAP API.
cURL and Screen Scrapping (more)

For Clixar, business listings were required for practitioners in the alternative health care sector such as Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, and Physiotherapists, in five countries: Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. The ideal sources for this type of information are Yellowpages.com, Yell.com, Superpages.com, as well as profession association websites in those countries and related provinces, states, and shires. Complex, and difficult screen scrapping bots were developed to connect to the sources using Ruby and Regular Expressions to extract business listing content related to those professions. Some difficulties faced were the inconsistencies found among sources, such as the address format used, search result pagination, and request limits by ip address. The bots made use of public proxy servers, were multi-threaded, and managed using a Rails web application.

For Symbility Solutions, a database of cost and materials was required for all frequent items used in insurance adjusting claims. The ideal and most recognized database that existed at the time was Simsol/Craftsman Insurance Restoration Database, which was available by request in a proprietary markup-like format used for book publishing. I developed a parser using Visual Basic .NET to dump the data into an Excel workbook, using individual worksheets to provide a relational structure. A second revision was then made to also support XML generation and and XSLT stylesheet. This XML document was integrated with Symbility's commercial product to provide a reliable database to customers.
Regular Expressions and Parsing (more)

Most content management systems, including Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, ExpressionEngine, implement the Hook and Anchor Pattern. The implementation of an anchor is usually in the form of an extension for the CMS. For Clixar, I was responsible for developing an extension for ExpressionEngine to provide a Form helper implementation to provide the ability to add/edit/delete weblog entries outside of ExpressionEngine's control panel. This required parsing many custom special processing instructions in the templates to render the form, any parameters specified, as well as nested processing instructions.

Please see cURL and Screen Scraping for other examples.
MySQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL Server 2000, SQLite, MS Access (more)

At Clixar, I built an online business-listing directory for practitioners in the alternative healthcare sector. The directory was implemented using ExpressionEngine and utilized the MySQL database. To rapidly search the listing database, a full-text search engine was required. We opted for Sphinx as detailed here. For Sphinx to work effectively, the database tables should be in third-normal form. However, because of ExpressionEngine's dynamic nature, the database tables are not structured conventionally. To collect the data needed to feed Sphinx indexes, at least 5 joins were required. With over 105,000 records, the query was inefficient to meet our needs. The solution that I developed was to copy records to an aggregated table by utilizing triggers for insert, update, and delete operations.

Listings in the directory had to be available for geo-proximity searches. To do this, all listings had to be geocoded with a latitude and longitude. Geocodes were stored in a cache implemented using PostgreSQL and the PostGIS extension. For more details, please click here

At Symbility Solutions, I developed an internal help desk system using ASP.NET and MS SQL Server. Please see here for more details.
Unit Testing, Continuous Integration, and Deployment (more)

For Clixar, I developed some bots to screen scrape some online sources for data (see here). Because a website can change at anytime, unit tests were developed to ensure that the bot is able to extract the data properly. A continuous integration system was implemented using CruiseControl. Cron jobs were scheduled to trigger daily integration tests. CruiceControl would then notify when a problem was encountered.

Also at Clixar, I built an online business-listing directory for practitioners in the alternative healthcare sector using PHP, and I established a deployment and continuous build workflow. Each developer had their development working copy from Subversion. I developed a BASH script for developers to use before committing their data to SVN, which created a SQL dump of their local database and include it in their commit. The integration server would then checkout the latest version from SVN to a staging server, produce a SQL dump of the staging database, generate a diff report of the developer's database and the staging database, and execute the necessary SQL statements to propagate all changes. All quality assurance testing would occur on staging before deployed to production, which used the same mechanism. I designed and implemented the solution using several Ruby scripts.

At RapidMind, I was responsible for administration and maintenance of their continuous integration system called Pulse. When I arrived on scene, the build server was running out of disk space because of the number of builds accumulated. I developed a BASH script which would copy and archive builds older than 1 month to our backup server to be included in the regular backup schedule. The script was scheduled to run once a day using cron.

System/Network Administration

Linux (Ubuntu & Novell) and Samba (more)

I have always had a keen interest in alternative operating systems, since high school. I used BeOS as my primary operating system for two years, until Be Inc declared bankruptcy, and switched to Linux as the alternative. I achieved my Linux+ certification in 2004.

At Clixar, all our services were hosted on Linux servers. This included all servers reserved for development-related activities, including the staging server, production server, and intranet server - which hosted the following services: Subversion, CruiseControl, Redmine, and SugarCRM. All servers were operating using Ubuntu Server 7.10.

At RapidMind, the infrastructure was a heterogeneous environment with computers running different Linux distributions, Mac OS X, and Windows XP. The mail and collaboration server was Exchange. I supported and assisted with research, a solution to provide all client computers access to the Exchange server. For Linux workstations, the Exchange-Brutus connection was used. Mac OS X users used Entourage, and Windows users used Microsoft Outlook.

At Home Fashion Market, I migrated the entire network infrastructure from a Windows Small Business Server 2003 to Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, as the SBS server had reached maximum capacity. A Windows primary domain controller was simulated on Linux using Samba, and OpenLDAP was used as an alternative to Active Directory. The mail server was migrated from Exchange Server 2003 to Scalix, a collaboration server based on open source software. Microsoft Office was replaced with OpenOffice. All locations other than Head Office were converted to Linux thin clients using 2X ThinClientServer. The savings were dramatic and the solution was incredibly stable and reliable.

On my own, I have been strongly keen in evaluating Mac OS X Server. With iCal Server, and no licensing costs, this looks like a very attractive option for heterogenous environments.
Postfix, Dovecot, Scalix, SpamAssassin & ClamAV (more)

At both RapidMind and Home Fashion Market, I implemented a mail filtering gateway using Postfix, SpamAssassin, and ClamAV. Collaborative services, such as Razor and DCC were also configured. The gateway was partitioned from the internal network using a DMZ, and received outgoing mail from the internal mail server.

At Home Fashion Market, Windows Small Business Server 2003 had been implemented and was 150% over-capacity. To avoid vendor lockup and licensing costs, the Scalix collaboration server was installed and the Exchange information store was migrated. See here for more details.

For my own mail server, I have used Dovecot for IMAP services.
Scripting (BASH & WSH) (more)

At RapidMind, I had developed several BASH scripts in the role as a System Administrator. The corporate website was hosted with a third-party in a shared-hosting environment. The sales department required reports for the website statistics, and therefore I developed a script which would download the Apache log files from the shared host, create and publish a report using Webalizer, and e-mail the sales department a link to the report.

I was also responsible for tracking I.T. inventory. I developed BASH scripts for the UNIX clients which used various UNIX utities as well as /proc to create a hardware profile for that machine. The script would also make of the UNIX uname command to determine what operating system was being profiled, and use APT, RPM, Fink, or Macports to produce a dump of all software installed.

Likewise, I had developed a simliar utility for Windows using Windows Scripting Host (WSH) using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) objects.
Active Directory, LDAP (more)

At RapidMind, Windows Server 2003 with Active Directory was installed and used a primary domain controller, and integrated with Exchange 2007 for collaboration requirements. For staff changes, I was required to either add or add the user account to Active Directory and configure the mailbox in Exchange.

At Home Fashion Market, I migrated the entire network infrastructure from a Windows Small Business Server 2003 to Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, as the SBS server had reached maximum capacity. A Windows primary domain controller was simulated on Linux using Samba, and OpenLDAP was used as an alternative to Active Directory (more here). Using the csvde command, I was able to create a dump of Active Directory and develop a simple Ruby script to import the records into Samba and OpenLDAP. Additionally, I had replaced Exchange with the Scalix collaboration server and configured it to authenticate against OpenLDAP and PAM.
Windows Server 2003, Exchange 2003 & 2007 (more)
I have had experience administrating both Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2003. Please see here for more details.
Windows Terminal Services, VPN (more)

At Home Fashion Market, Terminal Services was used to provide business applications implemented at Head Office to remote retail stores. I consulted and contracted a communication-brokerage company called LineLink to install a 7MB Fiber at head office and to supply the retail stores with an alternative and reliable ISP connection. I established IPSec VPN tunnels between Head Office and all Locations, and used QoS tactics to optimize RDP-traffic. I configured two Application servers that utilized Windows Load Balancing to distribute heavy loads. With a significant improvement in infrastructure, the solution proved to save money each month.
Blackberry Enterprise Server (more)

At RapidMind, approximately 10 blackberry devices were in use by staff, and a Blackberry Enterprise Server was in place to support their requirements. I was responsible for troubleshooting any communication requirements, as well as managing user accounts and devices.

Given the opportunity, I would like to evaluate the use of Mac OS X Server syncing with iPhone devices, as it looks like a cost-effective alternative to BES and Blackberries.
JIRA, Redmine, FogBugz (more)

At Clixar, I implemented an open source project management system called Redmine, built using Ruby on Rails. To date, I believe it an excellent system and more capable than all of the proprietary systems that I have used. I have extensive experience with Ruby on Rails, and therefore it was easy for me to integrate a support form from Clixar's web application with Redmine, to create a proficient help desk solution.

At RapidMind, I was responsible for maintaining and administrating JIRA, the project management system in place. I managed all user accounts, as well as performed all upgrades. I reconfigured the system to provide ideal workflows, with assistance from a plugin that I developed. I also researched and extended the system using third-party plugins for advanced use-cases.

At Symbility Solutions, as a member of the Quality Assurance team I used FogBugz daily. After becoming a proficient user, I developed a help desk system that resembled FogBugz, as instructed by the President of Symbility Solutions to do so.
Salesforce, SugarCRM (more)

At Clixar, I implemented a SugarCRM installation and integrated with the Asterisk PBX to provide VOIP capabilities. Integration was also implemented with lead-generating web applications that I had developed.

At RapidMind, I provided assistance to all Salesforce users, and diagnosed and resolved issues with Outlook-syncronization and the Salesforce Offline Edition.
Asterisk, VOIP, TrixBox (more)

At Clixar, I implemented a VOIP PBX using Asterisk and the Trixbox distribution. I configured three trunks, 5 extensions, voicemail options, day and night IVRs, and provided echo-cancellation solutions. I also integrated the Asterisk with SugarCRM, which would display the contact of a caller in SugarCRM when an extension was being called. I instructed each employee how to configure EyeBeam as a softphone client.

Although I haven't had the chance, I am looking forward integration Asterisk with web applications using the Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI). I have a book ready, called Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 & 1.6 Programming by Packt Publishing, but I require the opportunity.
Subversion/SVN (more)

At Clixar, I implemented a password-protected repository using Subversion and htpasswd to manage all development. ModSVN was utilized with Apache to provide the service.

At RapidMind, I was responsible for managing a Subversion setup using the same configuration. I also implemented a second Subversion repository to provide a document management server, using auto-versioning. The solution provided an alternative to Windows shared folders, and was accessible by remote users.

As a user of mostly open source source, I often use SVN to checkout projects. When developing Rails applications, I often make use of the svn:externals property to auto-fetch from repositories.
Apache, Ngnix, Squid, HAProxy, Pound (more)

At RapidMind, I implemented Apache as a front-end to all business applications as virtual hosts, often making use to mod_proxy and mod_rewrite to perform the requests. I configured all of RapidMind's services to be protected by SSL, as the services were often used remotely.

I developed customer portal using Plone to exclusively manage contracts with new customers using Plone, implemented using ZEO Cluster and three Zope clients. Load balancing was required to cluster the Zope clients, and therefore I evaluated and tested both HAProxy and Pound. I installed and configured Pound, because of it's ease of use, and used Ngnix as a front-end over Apache to optimize memory usage with a Python application such as Plone. The solution proved to be incredible scalable and reliable.

At Home Fashion Market, I implemented a web proxy using Squid to restrict sales staff from accessing the world wide web, only allowing users to access whitelisted websites. Additionally, with workstations distributed across the floor at the retail stores, authentication was implemented and integrated with the OpenLDAP server to ensure users were authorized access to the Internet.
DHCPD, DNSMasq, Bind 9 (more)

At RapidMind, I was exposed to DNSMasq, which is both a DHCP and DNS server with auto-updating support. I was responsible for adding static DHCP entries for each new workstation, as employees of the development department preferred to have static ip addresses assigned. I also configured CNAME records for business services increase accessibility.

At Home Fashion Market, I implemented DHCPD and Bind 9 to provide DHCP and DNS services, and configured auto-updating.
cPanel (more)

At Clixar, the company required the ability to sell hosting packages. I evaulated several hosting panels, including cPanel, DirectAdmin, LXAdmin, and ServerCP+, but decided upon and implemented cPanel because of it's popularity and API.
Monit and Wireshark (more)

At Clixar, I implemented monit to monitor availability of business-related services, such as the project management system (Redmine), customer relationship management system (SugarCRM), and the PBX (Asterisk/Trixbox).

To assist with networking issues, I often use Wireshark for packet sniffing requirements. I find it assisting while developing screen scrapping applications well, to view POSTDATA - though tools such as Firebug are becoming increasingly more suitable.
Network Cabling (more)

At Home Fashion Market, I realized that a lot of money was being spent on purchasing CAT-5 cables. To cut costs, I learned how to wire and crimp the cables myself, including cross-over cables.

Employment

He has a diversified knowledge base in a wide variety of languages, architectures and environments and quickly adapts to new situations and challenges easily adopting the correct approach to trouble-shooting and implementation of new enhancements. I never experienced a problem Michael could not resolve.

—Stan West, Clixar CEO

Web Developer / Self Employed

2009-2010 Paisley, ON

Worked part-time on evenings and weekends to various clients providing web development services
Integrated websites with several third-party APIs, including iContact, USPS Webtools, ShareASale, and PayPal
Developed bots to concurrently conduct searches to hundreds of online databases and search engines
Integrated SugarCRM with an Asterisk-based PBX providing advanced call centre functionality
Designed and implemented web-based energy savings calculator using Javascript and JQuery

I.T. Systems Administrator / Avvasi, Inc

2009-2010 Waterloo, ON

Managed heterogenous environment consisting of various version of Windows, Linux, and Mac
Provided System Administration for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2, Exchange Server 2007, Blackberry Enterprise Server, and VMware ESX
Installed & configured Linux-based PPTP VPN, as well as custom-developed an Administration interface in Ruby on Rails
Designed and implemented revision control system using Subversion (SVN), integrating with Active Directory for authorization and authentication
Implemented robust PRI-connected PBX using Asterisk and various other open source technologies, with a focus on addressing redundancy and high availability requirements
Deployed issue tracking system using Redmine, integrated with Active Directory for authentication and Subversion for source code management
Developed scripts using Ruby for backup and recovery needs

Chief Technical Officer / Clixar, Inc

2008-2009 Mannheim ON

Responsible for all aspects of overall technology vision, commercial software development, and I.T. infrastructure for a software development company offering online marketing products and service for the alternative healthcare sector, with a team of three programmers.
Designed and implemented network infrastructure using open source technologies
Engineered and developed sophisticated back-end for online business-directory, classified ad platform, and event management software
Developed complex parsing algorithms and bots to fetch business listings from the Internet using several sources
Streamlined application deployment process using continuous integration system and self-developed automation scripts
Implemented SCRUM software development methodology and project management system to monitor tasks, help desk, and employee timesheets
Installed VOIP PBX using Asterisk to facilitate all telecommunication requirements and cut costs

System Administrator / RapidMind, Inc

2007-2008 Waterloo ON

Responsible for administration and maintenance of crucial business systems for all departments, including customer relationship management (Salesforce), project management (JIRA), intranet and wiki (Confluence), revision control (Subversion), and content management (Plone), build automation (Pulse), and accounting (Quickbooks) for a software development company of 50 employees, offering a platform for multi-core development
Connected mobile employees with collaboration requirements using Blackberry Enterprise Server
Accountable for security of all systems, including the creation and archiving of all employee accounts
Assisted with implementation of Active Directory using Windows Server 2003 and migration from Exim to Exchange 2007
Collaborated with Director of Development and I.T. Manager to conclude research for project management system and groupware clients in a heterogenous environment comprised of Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operation systems
Developed system automation utilities such as website statistics report generator and help desk integration module for Postfix and JIRA
Developed customer portal using Plone to exclusively manage contracts with new customers
Implemented IBM BladeCenter for remote multi-core development

I.T. Manager and Webmaster / Home Fashion Market, Inc

2005-2007 Cambridge ON

Managed network infrastructure and provided technical support for a furniture retail company with 7 locations and 100 employees
Established ITIL processes for disaster recovery, software deployment, and network security
Partitioned LAN to create a DMZ; installed Linux server to provide PDC-related services using Samba
Implemented open source groupware suite using Scalix and migrated Exchange 2003 information store
Established IPSec VPN between head office and other locations to provide business applications using Windows Terminal Services
Converted all locations to a cost-effective infrastructure substituting ISP services and providers and utilizing Linux thin clients
Developed Wiki to centralize information and intranet to help deliver corporate policies using ASP.NET and Mono
Created corporate website utilizing technologies such as Ruby on Rails, AJAX, and Apache, and Mongrel
Provided staff technical support for Microsoft Office, Windows XP, Linux, and business applications

Client Support Specialist / Symbility Solutions, Inc

2004-2005 Kitchener ON

Provided customer technical support for commercial software, as well as tablet and pocket computers to companies such as Economical, Allstate, and Gore Mutual for a software development company producing desktop and web insurance adjusting and estimation software
Designed, developed, and managed help desk software utilizing ASP.NET
Resolved customer service conflicts tactfully and diplomatically
Developed a parser in Visual Basic .NET to extract data from a proprietary format into XML to be used in the commercial product
Created test plans and test cases for quality assurance for the commerical product

Software Developer (Co-op) / Blue Eyed OS

2001-2002 Virtual Placement

Independent study and co-op overseen by an IBM work-based assessor, contributing development to an open source project aiming to recreate BeOS
Developed an operating system font handling component utilizing FreeType and C++
Learned C/C++ programming languages in Linux and BeOS environments
First student in Ontario to participate in a virtual co-op placement
Awarded Canada Millennium Excellence Scholarship to Seneca College of Applied Arts to pursue the Computer Programming and Analysis program

Instructor / Bluewater District School Board

2001 (2 months) Walkerton ON

Instructed night school course teaching adults basic computer and Internet knowledge to over 20 students
Developed and organized all course material and curriculum
Provided tutoring, technical support, and computer repair for students requiring after-hours assistance

Network Technician (Co-op) / Walkerton District Secondary School

2000-2001 Walkerton ON

Administrated Windows Server 2000 network with over 250 users and client devices
Provided staff technical support for PCs, software, printers, and overhead projectors
Troubleshooted and repaired PCs and peripheral devices
Monitored network resources including server logs, network activity, and backups

Other Employment

General Maintenance Technician / Residence of Bill Wight, Neustadt ON
Assisted and supported a service veteran offered by the Veterans Independence Program
Youth Support Worker / Walkerton District Community Support Services, Walkerton ON
Taught youth with learning disabilities linguistics, mathematics, and interpersonal relations
Research Analyst / Holiday Resort Group Inc, Walkerton ON
Conducted tele-surveys to gather research information
Store Attendant / Siggi's Video Plus, Mildmay ON
Responsible for sales, cash handling, food cooking and preparation, and lottery

Education

Enterprise Application Developer / TriOS College

2003-2004 Kitchener ON

Graduated with Honours with an average score of 95%
While attending, achieved the following certifications: Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD), Sun Certified Java 2 Programmer (SCJP), and CompTia Linux+
Gained in-depth knowledge of .NET framework

Computer Programming and Analysis / Seneca College of Applied Arts

2002-2003 Toronto ON

Maintained 3.9 GPA in first term
Received Top Tuition Scholarship award
Received Canada Millenium Excellence award
President of the Windows Club
Conducted tutorial sessions for the Linux Club

OSSD, Walkerton District Secondary School

1999-2002 Walkerton ON

Placed on Honour Role in Grades 11 & 12
Received Toronto Dominion award from TD Bank for Entrepreneurial Studies and Business Plan Development
Received W.D.S.S. School Store award
Received Science Brain award for achieving highest score in Grade 11

Other Facts

Maintain active subscription to Safari Books Library
Active reader of the Pragmatic Programmers Bookshelf
Pursuing MCSA and MCDBA certifications (1 exam remaining for each)

Certifications

2004 Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)
2004 Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
2004 Sun Certified Java 2 Programmer (SCJP)
2004 CompTia Linux+

Learning is my passion. I do not know how else to describe it.

Welcome

NOW FOR HIRE

Skills

Content Management

Enterprise-Integration

Project Management

Proven Skills:

Web Development

System/Network Administration

Employment

Web Developer / Self Employed

I.T. Systems Administrator / Avvasi, Inc

Chief Technical Officer / Clixar, Inc

System Administrator / RapidMind, Inc

I.T. Manager and Webmaster / Home Fashion Market, Inc

Client Support Specialist / Symbility Solutions, Inc

Software Developer (Co-op) / Blue Eyed OS

Instructor / Bluewater District School Board

Network Technician (Co-op) / Walkerton District Secondary School

Other Employment

Education

Enterprise Application Developer / TriOS College

Computer Programming and Analysis / Seneca College of Applied Arts

OSSD, Walkerton District Secondary School

Other Facts

Certifications

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