Summary

Highly experienced systems administrator with over 7 years experience of Linux/UNIX systems administration and over 3 years experience in a busy and successful Internet hosting environment provisioning and maintaining primarily LAMP servers based on Debian Linux and industry standard open-source services.

Solid understanding of networking principles and Internet protocols and services along with experience in their implementation, maintenance, monitoring and diagnosis.

Friendly customer facing manner that has helped to foster good relations with many customers, clients and colleagues over the years.

Employment History and Experience

Technical Team Manager: May 2006 – Present, The Positive Internet Company, London.

• After one year as a Technical Support Engineer at Positive Internet, I was asked to become the manager of the technical team of support engineers which meant taking on a number of further responsibilities.

• A more senior role in dealing directly with VIP customers and liaising with the Customer Account Manager and the directors.

• Close involvement with the directors in making policy decisions relating to the running of the company and strategic directions.

• Responsibility for making sure that the support queue is properly manned and that all tickets are answered in the required time period as dictated by our support promise to our customers.

• Maintaining an overview of the teams work, prioritising each engineers work as necessary and ensuring that deadlines are met.

• Interviewing and hiring new members for the technical team and giving appraisals and reviews for the current team.

Technical Support Engineer: May 2005 – April 2006, The Positive Internet Company, London.

• Supporting a large network of Debian Linux servers in a busy ISP environment.

• Responding to support queries via the email ticketing system and phone support to managed VIP customers. Part of the 24-hour on-call team for responding to server alerts and VIP customer problems.

• Systems administration of managed shared and dedicated servers running Debian GNU/Linux with Apache, MySQL, PHP and other network services such as SMTP, DNS, IMAP/POP3 etc.

• Performing regular software upgrades and security patches. Routine server checks and maintenance.

Senior Support Engineer: June 2004 – February 2005, Abbey Support Limited, London.

• Working with a small team of engineers providing IT support to a number of small to medium businesses in the South London area.

• Building, installing and maintaining Windows and Linux based Small Business Server installations.

• Microsoft Windows NT4, 2000 and XP Desktop PC maintenance and repair.

• Macintosh OS 9 and OS X installation and maintenance.

IT Manager: January 2001 – June 2004, Top Deck Ski Ltd./Top Deck Tours Ltd.London.

• Maintenance of a SCO OpenServer installation and Filepro database system including backup and a small amount of ongoing development.

• Implementation and maintenance of Linux based file/print, email and internet services, VPNs and telephone systems.

• Responsibility for all company IT systems, inter-office networking, desktop support etc.

Support Technician: January 2000 – December 2000, Arthritis Foundation of New Zealand

• A desktop support role in the national administration office, on a part-time basis. It also involved consulting on networking, new hardware and software and implementing a basic Linux based file-sharing and Internet proxy server.

Freelance Musician: March 1992 – December 2000 – Professional percussionist.

• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, 2000 Contract sub-principal percussion

• Auckland Philharmonia, 1997 . Contract percussion, acting principal timpani.

• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, 1996 Contract percussion, acting principal timpani.

• Wellington Sinfonia, 1995 – 1999. Principal timpani.

• Strike – New Zealand's leading percussion ensemble – founder member.

• New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, 1997. Contract work.

• Various operas, shows, session recordings and TV and radio events.

Other Work: 1989 -1999

• Freelance photographer – weddings, events.

• Assistant to the Broadcast Engineer at Massey University student radio station where I was also a volunteer DJ.(1989-1991)

• Summer Contract archiving analogue audio tapes from the Electronic Music studios at Victoria University in Wellington, NZ. This involved restoring and transferring to DAT tapes of various vintages and conditions and creating a database for future reference. (1994)

• Various other summer holiday jobs.

Formal Qualifications

• Bachelor of Music, majoring performance – 1994, Victoria University, NZ

• Bachelor of Science, majoring electronics and physics – 1991, Massey University, NZ

Personal Attributes

• Able to analyse and problem solve thoroughly and efficiently.

• Enthusiastic and able to learn quickly.

• Excellent communication skills.

• Able to work well with others, team player.

• Courteous, proactive and responsible.

• Cheerful outlook and sense of humour.

Other Interests

• Music: All forms of music – with a couple of exceptions. I am still actively involved in music making, being involved as a drummer in a band with regular gigs throughout the UK and also playing with a number of amateur and semi-professional orchestras in London. I also enjoy being in London and seeing bands and orchestras, in particular as a season ticket holder to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall every summer.

• Photography: I am keen on traditional and digital photography and am still asked on occasion to take photos for friends and family weddings.

• Travel: I am a keen traveller and look forward to seeing more of Europe and the UK.

• Cuisine: I love cooking a good meal and sharing it with friends and family.