steven :: Release 2.0

Monday, July 18, 2005

Online Resume

Overview
I am an Xml and .Net consultant with over 11 years experience working with Internet technologies. I have experience with most Web Services and Xml technologies from Xslt to the Xml Schema Language, RDF and Xml Topic Maps. I have been heavily working with Xml, Xslt and schemas in Xml in commercial projects since 1998.

I am also a Microsoft architect, with many years experience in working with DNA and .Net including C#, VB.Net, SQL Server (including TSql) and a number of other Microsoft products. I also work closely with Microsoft and I am also a member of XmlInsiders, a group of industry experts invited and sponsored by the Microsoft Xml Team.

I am author of “Beginning C# XML”, “Beginning VB.Net Xml”, “Application Development with MSXML 4.0”, “Professional Xml” and “Professional Xml 2nd Edition” which have sold over 100,000 copies in several languages. I am also author of many more books and articles on Xml, Web Services, DNA and .Net. I continue to be involved in reviewing and editing established technical titles, although I have taken a step back from writing such titles. I have worked for IBM Global Services in Canada, Scottish Enterprise, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest creating and innovating in web environments.

I have worked for companies such as Scottish Office, IBM, Scottish Enterprise, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest as well as a number of smaller businesses in consultancy positions.
My personal web site is at http://www.stevenR2.com/ and contains more information about my work as well as pointers to Urls. I am also father of a 2 year old son, Xavier.

Technical Skills & Knowledge
I have extensive commercial knowledge of the Microsoft Development platform, including:

all versions of Visual Studio (including 2005 beta)
.Net development framework and languages (C#, VB.Net, ADO)
DNA Enterprise Architecture and Development
UML and practial project lifecycle experience
Web Services, SOAP and Xml technologies (e.g. XSLT, Xml Schema, RSS, OPML and so on)
all Microsoft Operating Systems
many Unix flavours as well as some Linux knowledge
SQL server databases, Ingres, Oracle, Access
Client Scripting with JavaScript, VB Script

I have exposure to range of additional technologies and skills. If such a skill is not listed, please ask and I will advise of my experience.

Business Experience Overview

With Scottish Enterprise and IBM Global Services, I was responsible for leading small teams (as part of much larger teams) and full lifecycle project development, from interfacing with the business to capture requirements to development, testing and production. I was also involved in evaluation, recommendation and purchasing decisions of key products, including Search Engines, CMS Systems and Portal Systems. With both positions I had to maintain relationships with a number of key consultancies and product providers.

As a consultant I have also been heavily involved in full lifecycle project development through to project maintenance and enhancements. This has also given me experience of full responsibility of projects as well as creating working relationships with a number of partners (e.g. marketing).
Additionally over the last 12 months I have created a community framework, working with individuals from around the globe to form “virtual teams” as well as networking at a high level with a number of companies across the globe.

Writing & Publications
Details of the books and articles i have had published can be found here.

Experience
July 02 – Ongoing NTAL Glasgow, Scotland
Entrepreneur & Consultant
During this time I have combined the creation of a new community portal framework development with external consultancy and development.

Specifically I decided to concentrate full time on continuing the development of a .Net community portal framework I had been working on. Now in beta testing, this framework allows live interaction, searching and more between registered users providing products and services to the community. It was build using both VB.Net and C#, runs off an SQL Server 2000 database and stores much of the data in Xml format using a number of Xml technologies (such as Xslt). It also offers syndication features using RSS as well as an increasing number of web service enhancements to enable direct integration.

During this time I have also been involved as a consultant on a number of .Net projects. Specifically, I:-

Completed the writing of http://www.venturetogether.org using ASP.Net, C#, Xml and ADO.Net. It also supports a number of languages and provides Web Services interfaces. SightKeys at http://www.sightkeys.com was developed using ASP.Net, C#, SQL Server and Xml. Additionally ADO.Net was used to interface with SQL Server 2000. Developing a .Net based system for a Scottish recruitment agency. Completed the development of the site at http://www.bidecom.com to use ASP.Net and C# architecture, a reverse auction business with which I maintain a relationship. Developed a unique personalization system based on .Net architecture. Developed a web site for a client at http://www.team-scotland.co.uk which is an ongoing development. This was ported from Perl to ASP.Net. Completion of a .Net recruitment portal.

Jul 03 – Oct 03 Scottish Executive Glasgow, Scotland
.Net Developer and Architect
Edina software contracted me as a developer and architect on a project being worked on for the Scottish Executive, gathering statistical data from all the schools in Scotland and providing a simple means for uploading, cleaning and analysing a very large volume of data.

The system used an ASP.Net front end providing full uploading, data view and manipulation capabilities supporting Xml files of over 100MB. The backend was a SQL Server 2000 database engine and SQLXML was used to bulk upload Xml data using annotated mapping schema. ADO.Net Types datasets provided the data view with t-sql stored procedures and the Microsoft application blocks being a primary method of data retrieval.

My specific duties where as follows:-

The creation and development of Annotated Xml Mapping Schemas and Xml Bulk Upload using both the unmanaged (COM) version via Interop as well as the managed (.Net classes). Full development of the ASP.Net front end using C#, involving file uploading, data wizards, data viewing, data management with C#, DHTML and HTML. Transactional Business and Data layer development using C#. Data grids to support display and manipulation of the information and multi-tier ADO.Net used to access the SQL Server backend and retrieve the data. The data was managed using types datasets. Windows Service development to provide real-time Xml Schema file validation. Xml Schema and Xslt development to provide transform and validation of 3rd party Xml files for inclusion within the system.
The parting email from my project manager read (reference available on request):

“It's been a real pleasure working with you.
It's not too often that you get someone with tremendous technical
ability who also has the vision to understand the whole development
picture, and the ability to relate well with customers.
If you ever need a reference, I'd be more than happy to supply one.”

Jan02 – July02 Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, Scotland
IT Architect
Scottish Enterprise is a government agency and working on a portal to provide the country with a single accessible area to access information online. The budget is tens of millions of pounds and involving over 300 people in the project.

Created a meta-data directory and rendering framework to contain details on content that internal and external staff wished to publish and have personalized towards internal and external users. The directory was Xml based and the rendering used Xslt to transform and present the content. The Xml was retrieved from a SQL Server 2000 database using SQLXML 3.0 and the SQL .Net managed classes as the data format.

Also acted as systems architect and development lead of technical operations, including gathering requirements, writing up requirements, creating functional specifications and following project through full lifecycle. As an example, I was involved in requirements gathering, systems design and some development work with Exchange 2000 and Instant Messaging.

Nov01 – Jan02 Writing Chile, South America
Wrote “Application development with MSXML 4.0”.

Feb01 – Nov01 IBM Global Services Winnipeg, Canada
IT Architect
Working as the primary Microsoft and Xml consultant in the Winnipeg area within IBM Canada. Longer term focus of implementation of Microsoft web technologies with IBM technologies, such as WebSphere etc…

Was involved in creating an presentation architecture, using Xml and Xslt for the governments “Better Systems Initiative”, a multi-million dollar initiative to put the city on the Internet – had global coverage at its launch as one of the worlds most unique Internet to business process integration. Involved dealing with processes such as company registration, business start up and other processes. I specifically create the overall technical architecture specification and processes document involving best practices, preferences and technology introduction. Was involved at a high level in one of IBM’s top portal development frameworks using in businesses such as the DOW Jones and large global financial institutions.

Also presented an executive level Microsoft .NET technical and business presentation, to help IBM Canada advance their corporate strategy.

Other work involved creating business proposals and financial and resource estimates for projects over $100,000.

Mar 99 – Jan01 Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, Scotland
Developer/Architect

Developer for various projects. Initial work was based on web based transactional applications with Visual Basic 6, XML, Xslt, Site Server, DHTML, SQL Server and most Microsoft web technologies etc…responsible for the adoption of Xml technologies.

Over the last year I have been heavily involved in a very large government business portal. Here I have taken an overall project position, involving product evaluations and recommendation, integration and basic management of sourced components of the portal. Beyond this, I have been working on security and infrastructure decisions as well as development using technologies such as XML, Visual Basic and other MS technologies.

I have been involved in working with some major consulting and product companies, such as Cedalion (a top XML solution provider company in Europe), MCS, Sequoia, Semio, Escaliber and Verity to name but a few. These are all major players in the corporate enterprise markets.

I was a developer and architectural lead in a team of around 15 developers between the company I was contracting in (Scottish Enterprise) and the consultancy company. I was the technical lead for SE, while also being very much involved in feeding in business concerns to the development processes. I have worked in very much a leadership position in the project. Furthermore, technical documentation and specifications has also been within my remit.

Mar 98 – Mar 99 Royal Bank of Scotland Edinburgh, Scotland
Developer
Microsoft Technologies Developer in large WAN based online training project for one of the worlds largest banks. Using Windows Media technologies programmed to work though Web Browsers to allow satellite based live training with full question and answer sessions via the browser and Voice over IP.

Project was based on MS technologies such as Visual Basic, Windows Media (Netmeeting), XML, ASP etc… Involved all areas of the development lifecycle through to live production and consulting with MCS UK.

Aug 97 – Mar 98 NatWest Birmingham, England
Developer
IntranetCreated and evolved the NatWest Mortgage Services intranet and was involved in steering committees for entire NatWest group intranet and internet developments. This involved evaluating and developing with the latest web technologies as well as leading and training others in these technologies.

This involved promoting technologies such as ActiveX, IIS, ASP etc… and creating many applets to promote the Intranet, such as a communications directory.

Sept 92 – Aug 97 Soliton Computing Glasgow, ScotlandConsultant Web TechnologiesWorked with small businesses throughout Glasgow to advise on web technologies and development, utilising CGI, Perl, HTML and early web technologies (and yes, even some Java!). Had a portfolio of 50 small businesses by 1995.

Jun 94 – Sept 94 European Commission Milan, Italy
Client Development
Contract project to develop an application to measure and project solar cell efficiency based on a combined software/hardware project using Visual Basic and Office.
EducationSept 96 – Jun 97 Stathclyde University Glasgow, ScotlandDiploma in Information Technology SystemsWorked on various areas of computing science, from C programming to project analysis and design.

Sept 92 – Sept 96 Strathclyde University Glasgow, Scotland
BSc Honours in Applied Physics
Degree was based on combined Physics, Computing and Italian subjects.

Skills
I speak some Italian and I am learning Spanish and speak a little French. I also enjoy travel, am married and have a 2 year old son.

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