<a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5cmVjb3JkLmNvLnVrL2luLXlvdXItYXJlYS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS1jb3VwbGUtZGVueS1uZWdsZWN0aW5nLXRocmVlLTI5MzgyMzk40gFsaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHlyZWNvcmQuY28udWsvaW4teW91ci1hcmVhL2xhbmFya3NoaXJlL2xhbmFya3NoaXJlLWNvdXBsZS1kZW55LW5lZ2xlY3RpbmctdGhyZWUtMjkzODIzOTguYW1w?oc=5" target="_blank">Lanarkshire couple deny neglecting three-month old baby boy before he died</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="#6f6f6f">Daily Record</font>

Lanarkshire couple deny neglecting three-month old baby boy before he died - Daily Record

<a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5cmVjb3JkLmNvLnVrL2luLXlvdXItYXJlYS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS10aHVnLWF0dGFja2VkLWFidXNlLXZpY3RpbS0yODU0ODUzNtIBamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5cmVjb3JkLmNvLnVrL2luLXlvdXItYXJlYS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS9sYW5hcmtzaGlyZS10aHVnLWF0dGFja2VkLWFidXNlLXZpY3RpbS0yODU0ODUzNi5hbXA?oc=5" target="_blank">Lanarkshire thug attacked abuse victim on same day he was banned from contact with her</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="#6f6f6f">Daily Record</font>

Lanarkshire thug attacked abuse victim on same day he was banned from contact with her - Daily Record

Kingston University

.Net Core Developer  -  Pi Nerd

Supported and redeveloped multiple internal and external Classic ASP applications into ASP.NET Core, enhancing functionality for underwriters and solicitors and ensuring seamless operation alongside the existing systems without client disruption. Created Web Apis for organizational use and a custom PDF generation NuGet package.
Key Accomplishments:
    • Migrate existing systems from creating word documents via Active X on the user's local machine, to creating them in the Web Api. Served as a memory stream direct to the user's machine. Resulting in insanely fast document creation times and reduced load on the user’s machine. 
    • Upgraded all login processes (internal and external) from Classic ASP code to C# using custom code on top of DPAPI and NTLM to ensure a seamless upgrade and enhanced security.
    • Converted a key legacy Classic ASP web app to ASP.NET Core Blazor Server app. Used MudBlazor as the key framework to assist rapid development.
    • Onboarded the team with Azure DevOps and Git, mentoring them in best practices.
    • Continuous system enhancements (implementing caching strategies, better error handling and logging using ElmahCore and Serilog) always with an eye on low latency.

Legal & Contingency Limited

Developer

I worked in a small team in Comms and Marketing at QBE and my main role was development and support on websites for UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada, Dubai, and various micro sites. I was brought on to provide additional capacity at a time when QBE Europe was transitioning a lot of its websites from static files into an ASP.NET CMS (Umbraco) on a new platform managed by DXC. This project was a key objective for the Comms and Marketing team and the new website was not only a technical transition but a complete redesign of the QBE brand and a key part of the marketing strategy. Comparing the year since site launch to the year before, unique document downloads have increased by over 800% and site page views by 90%.

My work involved liaising with the build partners, secops and IT management to ensure the sites went online in a safe controlled manner. I made architectural recommendations, built and configured IIS web and SQL servers, UAT testing and installing of the new code base, and provided user training on the new system. After the sites went live, I provided 3rd line support and made improvements to the C# code base, Razer templates and SASS based CSS to reduce further time spent on maintenance and improve overall usability. 

I worked with the network security team to harden the IIS installation and code in response to pen tests in a time critical manner. This was to ensure compliance with the Cyber Essentials program and thus allow us to acquire at least one piece of business worth £80 million.

I also performed a huge variety of miscellaneous tasks building microsites for various B2B insurance products, DNS management, SQL Server development (stored procedures, SSIS), bulk email management, event and staff photography, and maintaining a variety of intranet sites (email comms system, document repositories, etc.)

QBE Europe

Developer and Server Administrator

Through Angell Industries I provide IT development and project management services to a wide range of individuals, teams and companies. Working with companies both locally and abroad, providing a full range of services from hosting and server advice to development (mostly ASP and SQL based, but also wordpress/php). I also spend a good amount of time in self study; looking into languages, devops and security.

Angell Industries Ltd

Senior Developer for the relaunch of the Carnival UK Online Booking Engine, a customer facing website. Acted in a servant leader role, facilitating better communication between the developers and the business team.

We worked on the P&O Cruises (http://www.pocruises.com ) and Cunard (http://www.cunard.co.uk ) brands with the objective of making a faster, cleaner, more profitable interface. I was responsible for large sections of the site including Dining preferences, Flight bookings, Hotel reservations and Guest Details screens. I also worked on all areas of the site during the post live improvements period. Initially part of a team of 5, this reduced down to just 2 (myself and another developer) to oversee the final weeks of development, go live and post implementation support.

The project was incredibly successful, going in on time with no major bugs and no customer reported incidences. A significant achievement.

Business case for the project was a 21% increase in conversions, the 11 week average since go live has been 30% with a comparable increase in revenues.  

The new system is visibly quicker, and even on customer drop outs more steps in the booking journey are being completed than before. 

This has been accompanied with record breaking numbers of bookings/revenue (over £900k) on the system over the first weekend of the project. 

In the 2 months after the go live until the end of the contract, myself and the other developer on the project ironed out over 100 defects and enhancements. I also produced screencasts to guide future developers and support personnel through the system, outlining it’s many new features, how to debug the system and implement new features.

The project was one of the key 8 objectives for Carnival UK in this financial year.

Skills used: Javascript, JQuery, Classic ASP, SQL Server 2008, DHTML, CSS, mustache, XML, GIT, SOAP, VBScript, Hybrid Agile (Scrum based), Jira

Carnival UK

Developer and Scrum/Tech Team Lead

I work with Active360 on a part-time basis, delivering high quality stand up paddleboarding (SUP) lessons to all levels of students. From complete beginners to advanced, I cover everything from basic safety and getting started to advanced paddling techniques and river knowledge. 

During my time with Active360 I have improved my training, coaching, facilitating and leadership skills and am now one of their top coaches. As a paddleboard coach, it's my task to guide people on the river and provide a safe and fun environment for them to learn in, helping them to develop and achieve their targets in the sport. Working with key stakeholders in the river environment, including the Port of London Authority and the RNLI, I've helped to improve river safety and establish relationships to create a better future for the sport.

Currently working towards my Port of London Local Knowledge Endorsement which will allow me to be one of the first coaches to lead paddleboard groups through central London. A truly challenging environment to work in.

Think360 Sports Ltd trading as Active360

Sports Coach

Tech Lead for the Author Services Website (AS), Wileys online portal for journal authors to track the status of their articles through the production process. Took on a project management/scrum master role to guide projects through the complete SDLC at a technical level.

http://authorservices.wiley.com is visited by more than 3,500 authors around the world daily, about 400 articles are registered each day and more than 1180 journals are now benefiting from the services. Nearly 300,000 articles have been tracked by authors since its launch in 2004. During my time with Wiley, in addition to ongoing maintenance to the site, I made key improvements.

Decrease of 27% in helpdesk calls due to improvements in Registration, Login and connecting authors to articles.This also improved take up of articles from 61% to 92%. 
Developed an article metrics pilot project, which integrated data from Google Analytics to provide authors with a view on the popularity of their articles.
Implemented PCI compliant revenue generating solutions for AS to support the Online Open and Open Access publishing models. Phase 1 of the Online Open project resulted in a 250% increase in orders over a 5 month period compared with the previous year.

Notably, the last of these projects, (the Wiley Author Licensing Service) was hugely successful. Launching after 10 weeks of intense development (despite estimates forecasting 8 months) supporting over 900 journals with no bugs and no strain on customer support. Authors were able to complete the process in an average of 3.5 minutes. A process which required 5 integration points with separate systems via XML SOAP. This system is projected to generate additional revenue of approximately $8 million over the next 3 years, and save Wiley $180,000 per year on licensing fees.

Skills used: Javascript (inc. JQuery), Classic ASP, SQL Server 2005/2008, DHTML, CSS, XML, Tortoise SVN, SOAP, VBScript, Agile (Scrum based), Jira

John Wiley and Sons

Developer and Web Application Architect

Senior Developer of their main product (a Classic ASP/SQL Server CRM system for financial advisers). This application has helped generate significant revenues for clients such as Barclays Captial, Gerrard Investment Management, RBS, Walker Crips Group, Jubilee Financial Products, Lehman Brothers and NDF Administration, SIP Nordic, BNP Paribas and Altus Financial Products. Responsible for bug fixing, adding new features, optimising the database, generating custom reports and implementing new iterations of the system for new clients. Managed data imports from various client and third party data sources from the relatively well managed (such as FSA database) to the chaotic (any number of excel spreadsheets). Created automated systems to process regular data imports, via email directly into the database and to produce regular email reports and XML extracts from the database. Became a specialist in fuzzy data matching, cleaning and de-duplication. Worked on other side projects such as a postage invoicing system using data feeds from the order management module of the CRM. Advised on many other technical issues, such as remote data backups, server security, open source software recommendations and so on. 

Skills used: Javascript (inc. JQuery), Classic ASP, SQL Server 2000, DHTML, CSS, MS Access, XML

Clarendon Marketing

Senior Developer for this market leader in the property search market. Managed the data and stored procedure transition of the SQL Server Database from SQL Server 7 to SQL Server 2000, testing all procedures, triggers and data-sets before go live. Migrated the report generation code from its existing platform (Access 97 VBA code) to a set of SQL Server XML report generation Stored Procedures and host VB6 COM Object, which generates all the required XML on the fly. 

This essential project was completed on time for the re-launch of the Sitescope brand. Undertook many performance monitoring and data management exercises to optimize the running of the systems and provide streamlined support to the customer services department. Sitescope was so successful it became the market-share leader in its field and was bought out by its main competitor (Landmark). During that transition I was the main technical contact between Sitescope, Landmark, the customer base and the resellers of Sitescopes services to ensure the smooth transition of service.

Skills used: Javascript, Classic ASP, SQL Server 2000, DHTML, CSS, XML, Access

Sitescope Ltd

Responsible for coding the interfaces between disparate data sources and the main SQL Server 7 database. Data sources included text files and SAP data stores (using the SAP DCOM Object builder to create the MTS DCOM components necessary to access SAP data. Actual interface code written in VBScript and as DTS Packages controlled from a web front end using a mixture of Classic ASP and VB COM. In order to activate interfaces as a disconnected process, SQL Server Agent jobs were created to initiate the tasks; status reported back via temporary message tables. Interfaces used full error trapping (wrote a custom COM object to support error reporting from DTS back to VB Script and then the web screens. Interfaces were fully audited, allowing developers and users to inspect the actual data changes made over the life of the application.

Skills used: SQL Server (t-sql, dts, agent)

Barclays Capital

In charge of maintaining and expanding the Granada International Sales web site, a web based sales channel for Granada programme content. The site provides access around the world to over 800 users. The Classic ASP front end communicates via a custom COM object (written in VB6) to a SQL Server 7 backend. Administration of programme data is handled via a custom VB front end, using the same COM object (and an additional maintenance object) to access the data. Administration of user data is handled using a third party content management system, CyberSword. Performed a number of upgrades to the custom front end and COM object to provide new functionality and correct errors. Also joint-handled an upgrade to the programme data into the Granada databases, handling the data import and conversion in a sophisticated DTS package. Additionally handled a number of database fixes (to ensure data integrity). Established a complete database backup and maintenance plan strategy for the main databases. Provided miscellaneous web support services.

Skills used: Javascript, Classic ASP, SQL Server 7, HTML, CSS, VB6, Cybersword

Granada Media plc

Technical Team Leader for the main Web Development Project in the HR IT department. Was responsible for a small team of developers, on a high resilience/high security HR Compensation Application. This system allows the top senior managers in Barclays Capital globally to input/view and report on compensation recommendations for all their staff. Took full responsibility for the web interface architecture and programming. Met with senior management to discuss required functionality and to walk-through proposed screens. Application developed using Visual Interdev 6.0, talking to a NT4/ IIS4/ SQL Server 6.5 backend. Security provided using SSL 3.0 and NTLM authentication.

Skills used: Javascript, Classic ASP, SQL Server, DHTML, CSS

Senior Intranet Developer for the AT&T EMEA Intranet (approx. 3500 users). Produced architectural and technology specifications for UK Intranet, in conjunction with senior users and management. Developed a Classic ASP Job Vacancies application, enables query of HR Job Vacancies database and online submission of applications. Developed a Classic ASP directory application for AT&T EMEA, serving over 50,000 queries every month. I also became very active in the growing field of VOIP and spoke at a couple of conferences, including Internet Telephony Forum (Maximising Market Opportunities Through Internet Telephony) October 1998, London.
Authored publishing process definitions, design standards, and test standards. Rebuilt main web server from ground up to implement IIS 4.0. Previously responsible for development of supportive application for the complete IT Programme Lifecycle.

Skills used: Classic ASP, SQL Server, HTML, MS Access

Stephen Angell