About me

Having commenced working in the industry in 1983, I have accumulated technical experience on a diverse range of platforms. My roles have covered the full life-cycle of software development. I have successfully led and contributed to teams that have delivered applications to corporate and government organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Read on to learn more about my professional background and what others have had to say about my work.

Principal Consultant, Cockatoo Software Pty Ltd (2007 - )

Since founding Cockatoo Software in November 2007 I have undertaken assignments including:

• contributing to Blake eLearning’s ongoing development of ABC Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress and Mathseeds using tools such as Ruby on Rails, CoffeeScript and Ember
• implementation of a content management system for Golf Central Coast via customisation of RefineryCMS
• project management, maintenance and enhancement of the Myhealthworks web portal, a Rails web application
• development and maintenance of the Leading OHS web application using Rails 3 and jQuery
• maintenance and enhancement of an internal Ruby on Rails and Flex application for Bosch Rexroth Pty Ltd
• maintenance of a Ruby on Rails application that supports the operation of a shutters manufacturing company based on the NSW Central Coast
• management of a project to deliver a timesheet web application using Ruby on Rails
• advice about selection of technology to implement a website for Wyong Golf Club
• provision of Ruby on Rails mentoring
• development of a specialised content management web application with integrated social networking features for Plus2 using Ruby on Rails

Since late 2006 I have been a keen participant in the Australian Ruby community. I have co-organised Sydney Ruby meetups for several years, led the organisation of Rails Camp 9 in mid 2011 and was the founding President of Ruby Australia.

One of the highlights of my career was leading the organisation of RubyConf Australia 2013, the inaugural Ruby conference in Australia, which was held in Melbourne in February 2013.

Senior Consultant, Cirrus Technologies Pty Ltd (2000 - 2007)

During more than seven years with Cirrus Technologies I contributed to teams developing software using Java’s standard (Java SE) and enterprise (Java EE) editions for many clients. I also provided services as an instructor.

For example, I:

• played a leading role in developing a Health Insurance Comparison web application;
• contributed to the development, support and enhancement of a Station Turnout System used by fire brigade personnel;
• analysed, designed, developed and enhanced parts of a Sales Contact web application for a major insurance company;
• managed several web application projects for a NSW government department as well as well as developing much of the software and mentoring development staff;
• developed components of several Java EE sub-systems that contributed to replacing COBOL applications for a medium-sized insurance company;
• delivered many public Java SE, Java EE and WebSphere courses on behalf of a major global technology corporation.

In my spare time from 2000 onwards I explored many Java technologies, especially open source frameworks. In 2004 I began to take an increasing interest in the Ruby programming language and the Ruby on Rails web application framework.

Senior Consultant, Advanced Software Engineering Pty Ltd (1997 - 1999)

Amongst a variety of assignments during my time with ASE, major clients included Qantas and Woolworths. I assisted a Qantas software infrastructure team as they migrated from CSP to VisualAge Generator. In particular, I taught members of the team the fundamentals of the Smalltalk programming language. For Woolworths, I managed a team of ASE consultants as we developed a Bank Reconciliation system using COBOL/CICS/DB2 and demonstrated the value of Micro Focus software tools. Within ASE I managed the improvement of business procedures as part of the implementation of a Quality Management System. I also provided pre-sales support for Object-Oriented development tools such as VisualAge for Java, Toplink for Java and Simply Objects.

Earlier Positions (1983 - 1997)

In my early years as a professional programmer I used technologies such as PL/I, COBOL, IMS, CICS and DB2 on IBM mainframes. Having started in the IT industry as a trainee programmer for TNT, I moved on to work at IBM Australia where I gained project management experience. During 1988 and 1989, an overseas working holiday included the chance for me to work as a contractor at Lombard North Central in Redhill, UK. Continuing contracting on my return to Sydney, I provided services to major corporations including IBM, Woolworths and Westpac.

From about 1992 onwards I began exploring Object-Orientation and Internet technologies in my spare time. From an OO programming perspective, I began with Smalltalk and later moved on to Java.

Qualifications

I hold a Bachelor of Science from Sydney University and am a member of the Australian Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery.