J-Walker.Net

John Walker

Address

Macedonia Street, North Haven, Adelaide. SA5018

E-Mail

john@j-walker.net

Nationality

Dual National: Australian / British

Professional Profile

MCSE qualified with over seventeen years experience working within the IT industry. Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Server operating systems (Win NT, Win 2000, Win 2003, Win 2008) and Novell Netware (version 3.12 to 6.0) with history of planning, configuring and implementing a large number of these systems. Over two years experience working with Citrix Presentation Server and VMware. Planned, configured and implemented both Active Directory and NDS networks. Experienced in managing networks with between sixty and over one thousand users. Ability to support all the Windows desktop operating systems and a large number of applications. With over of five years experience as an IT Systems Manager, three years experience as a team leader and over four years experience as an IT Contractor. Has a large amount of experience in planning, leading and overseeing large scale projects.

Attributes and Skills

  • Ability to manage the IT department. Able to create and work within the departmental budget and to plan the allocation of the department’s resources.

  • Experienced in the presentation of status reports and other relevant information during regular management meetings.
  • Can build and support servers including hardware and software setup. Server operating system configuration includes Windows 2008, Windows 2003, Windows 2000, Windows NT4.0 Server together with Novell Netware operating system from versions 3.12 to 6.
  • Support of desktop workstations and their operating systems ranging from Windows 3.1 all the way through to Microsoft Vista. The support of a large number of applications including all versions of Microsoft Office.
  • Skilled at the installation, configuration and maintenance of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.
  • Provides IT and technical support to staff that are located at over eleven stores within South Australia.
  • Planned and configured the company’s Citrix Presentation Manager 4-5 server farm over four servers. This delivers a standard set of applications to all locations.
  • Implemented Wyse thin client technology (including Wyse Device Manager) as an alternative to desktop computers within the organisation. This has increased security, reliability and performance whilst lowering the overall operating/ownership costs.
  • Experienced with the supervision of both full time and contract staff.
  • Able to work as part of a team or on my own initiative without supervision.
  • Experienced in working to tight deadlines within pressured environments.
  • Upgrade and installation of network components such as routers, hubs and switches.
  • Good problem solving abilities, good interpersonal and communication skills.Able to communicate at all levels within an organisation.
  • Responsible for the planning and execution of projects ranging in size from desktop operating system upgrades to the installation of brand new networks.

Qualifications and Professional Status

2000

Became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) for Windows NT 4.0.

1990

Gained a Business and Technician Education Council’s (BTEC) Higher National Certificate in Software Engineering.

1986

Gained a BTEC National Certificate in Engineering (Electrical / Electronic Engineering).

IT and Systems Manager

Unibooks, University of Adelaide, Adelaide

From February 2003 to the present

Employer Overview

Unibooks is South Australia's largest academic and professional bookseller with eleven outlets in three of South Australia’s leading universities. It is also the preferred supplier of textbooks by the Open Universities of Australia. Unibooks began operations on the Adelaide University Campus in 1929 to serve the academic and student community on campus.

Management Experience

  • Answering directly to the General Manager, I am employed as the IT and Systems Manager with responsibility for the management of the Information Systems Department. I am responsible for planning the future direction that Unibooks will take in regards to all aspects of information systems and IT equipment.
  • Report on the status of projects and present other relevant departmental information at regular management meetings.
  • Responsible for setting, controlling and working within the department’s budget.
  • Acted as project/team leader on a number of large projects including a desktop operating system and hardware upgrade, the update of the company’s proprietary software package used for the day to day operation of the company.
  • Create documentation for the many procedures used within the IT Systems department.
  • Create management reports using Crystal Reports and the Microsoft Office Suite.

Technical Experience

  • Migrated the original, single, Windows NT4.0 Server to a new MS 2003 Server in order to provide stability to the user base. Currently the company uses a total of eleven Windows based servers and one AIX machine.
  • Planned and implemented the company’s Active Directory structure to incorporate both local and remote campus locations.
  • Upgraded the desktop operating system from Windows NT4.0 to Windows XP.
  • Created a secure, managed, roaming user desktop environment by using Group Policies within the Active Directory structure.
  • Implemented the company’s backup strategy.
  • Moved the company’s existing AIX based e-mail system to Microsoft Exchange 2003. This vastly improved reliability of the company’s communication system while at the same time increased its usability and features.
  • Updated Microsoft Office 97 to Office 2003. Office 2007 is also being delivered via our Citrix Farm.
  • Installation Wyse thin clients together with a four server Citrix Presentation Manager Farm provides consistent and high desktop/application availability throughout the organisation.
  • Supported an IBM RS6000 system running AIX that is used for hosting the company’s proprietary software. This system hosted the company’s original e-mail system which was replaced by Microsoft Exchange 2003 which I installed, configured and continue to maintain.
  • Updated the Unibooks web site to provide an online purchase capability. The website has, and is continuing to flourish, with over $2.5M worth of on-line sales being processed so far this year.
  • Introduced Microsoft SharePoint Services to provide a company intranet. Many SharePoint applications have been installed to provide a rich source of company information.

Support Experience

  • Provide end user support for over 100 Unibooks employees covering a total of eleven full time and two temporary sites.
  • Supports thin client as well as regular desktop operating systems.
  • Support of Microsoft 2003 Server, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and Citrix Presentation Manager.
  • A wide range of application supported including Microsoft Office and VMware's ESX Server.

Systems Engineer

E.D.S. located at Holden Automotive Manufacturers

November 2002 to February 2003

Employer Overview

EDS helps clients manage the business and technology complexities of today's digital economy. They support more than 3.3 million desktops worldwide.

In 1914, the Holden & Frost company produced its first custom-made car body and by 1924 (renamed Holden's Motor Body Builders) it operated one of the world's most advanced production lines and was the exclusive body supplier to General Motors in Australia.

Duties

  • Employed on contract by EDS as a Systems Engineer at the Holden Automotive Manufacturing plant, I worked as part of the Online 2000 OL2K) roll out team.
  • Tasked with the standard build of new Compaq computers via automated build script, Active Directory and SMS technologies.
  • Fine tune the standard build to each users’ individual requirements ensuring that all requested applications were installed and working correctly.
  • Working within a very customer focussed, pressured environment to strict deadlines.
  • Performing the rollout of the new computer to the end user ensuring customer satisfaction.
  • Taking ownership of any rollout issues and following problems through to resolution.

IT Support Team Leader

The Bruche Police Training Centre, Cheshire, UK

From Feb. 1999 to Aug. 2002

Employer Overview

The Bruche Police Training Centre was one of the largest training centres in the UK to offer Police Probationer Training to over four hundred students at any one time. In April 2002, the organisation became known as Centrex. Prior to this date, the organisation was known as National Police Training (NPT) and formed part of the Home Office. Centrex now forms part of the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA).

Duties

  • Working under contract and answering to one of three Service Delivery Managers within the organisation, I was employed as a Systems Engineer and later as Technical Support Team Leader.
  • Network Administration for over one hundred and sixty local users and their workstations plus a further three remote sites.
  • The build and installation of rack mounted Compaq Proliant 3000 Servers installed with Novell NetWare.
  • Upgrade of user workstations to Compaq Deskpro hardware running the Windows NT 4.0 desktop operating system. MS Office was installed as the default application suite.
  • Installation and support of Novell GroupWise messaging system to replace MS Mail.
  • Extensive use of ZENWorks for both server and workstation. Used for both workstation builds and remote management of user workstations and remote servers.
  • Novell NDS tree configuration and support.
  • Installation of Windows 2000 Active Directory based network domains at satellite training centres.
  • Planed and implemented several new networks including infrastructure, topology and server configuration.
  • Worked to tight deadlines. Able to manage time efficiently and capable of working in a multitasking environment.
  • Produced detailed documentation describing technical and support procedures.
  • Three years experience of team leadership of both local and remote support staff. Responsible for eight full time and numerous contract Systems Engineers.
  • Provided high level 3rd line support throughout the organisation working on my own initiative and without supervision.
  • Developed a web based asset and call logging system using MySQL, PHP and Apache web server. This enabled all my team to centralise and standardise their information regardless of location.

Systems Engineer

Heysham II Nuclear Power Station, Lancashire, UK

From Sep. 1998 to Jan. 1999

Employer Overview

The Heysham II Nuclear Power Station provides the electricity for most of Northern England and part of Wales. There are a total of four Gas Cooled Reactors installed at the site near Lancaster in the UK.

Duties

  • Working under contract, I was engaged on a large scale MS Windows NT 4 desktop roll out.
  • Worked as a member of a small team as well as under my own initiative.
  • Used Microsoft SMS to provide a standard workstation build.
  • Installation of the workstation to the end users desk.
  • Provided a brief end user orientation on the new operating system and applications.
  • Installation of new network printers using HP JetDirect print servers.
  • Worked within an extremely customer focussed environment.
  • Communication with management levels within the organisation.
  • Worked to tight deadlines when delivering new workstations to the end user.

Technical Analyst

GOSS Graphic Systems, Lancashire, UK

From 1994 to 1998

Employer Overview

GOSS Graphic Systems (Formerly Rockwell Graphic Systems) was one of the world leaders in the manufacture of offset and digital printing presses used throughout the worlds newspaper and magazine industries.

Duties

  • Network Administration of eight servers including five Novell NetWare 3.12 / 4.11 used for file and print resources and three Microsoft NT 4.0 Servers used to host MS SQL, MS Exchange and Citrix WinFrame installations. I installed, configured and maintained all server operating systems and applications.
  • Upgrade of IBM LAN Manager to Novell Netware 3.12 operating system.
  • Upgrade of Novell NetWare 3.12 operating system to version 4.11.
  • Designed, tested and implemented the company’s NDS Tree.
  • Large exposure to NAL and Novell ZENWorks.
  • Installation, configuration and development of a Lotus Notes database system used to record call logging requests and status.
  • Installation and administration of MS SQL and Exchange Server systems.
  • Configuration of RAID storage devices within all servers.
  • Administration of the company’s NT 4.0 domain.
  • Supported applications included MS Office, IBM PC3270, Rumba, Citrix WinFrame, CorelDraw and Adobe products.
  • Provided team leadership duties to one full time member of staff as well as two part time contractors.

Whilst at GOSS Graphics I attended the following courses.

Core Technologies of Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft Mail Administration

NetWare 3.x to 4.1 Update Course

Microsoft Exchange Fundamentals

NetWare 4.1 Administration

Core Technologies of MS Exchange Server

NetWare 4.1 Advanced Administration

QA Training Course in SQL

IntraNetWare Install and Configuration

Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Administration

NetWare 4.1 Design and Implementation

Network Administrator / Programmer

Presspart Manufacturing, Lancashire, UK

From 1993 to 1994

Duties

  • Network Administration for up to fifty users.
  • Support of a fault tolerant, mirrored Novell NetWare 3.12 Server.
  • Support and development of an in-house turnkey production management application using Microsoft C.
  • Provided support for applications such as Lotus 123, Paradox, WordPerfect and DOS / Windows 3.1.

Analyst Programmer

Detectronic Limited, Lancashire, UK

1991 to 1994

Duties

  • Software development in an R&D environment using C, C++ and machine code.
  • Worked on my own initiative and as part of a team using strict software version control.

Other Technical Information

I have a sound knowledge of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and exposure to Windows Server 2008. I also have a great deal of support experience of the Windows XP and Vista desktop operating system. I have experience in web site design and understand the SQL programming language as well as HTML, PHP and JavaScript. I support installations that include Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL and Citrix Presentation Manager.

I am a fully qualified open registered cabler (TITAB) enabling me to install both telephone and structured cabling.

Other Information

In my current role at Unibooks I have been fully trained as, and undertake the duties of chief fire warden for the company. I have also been trained as a Senior First Aider.

In my spare time I enjoy four wheel driving and I am a committee member of the Land Rover Register of South Australia. I am currently in the process of learning how to sail. I own my own Laser sailing dinghy and hold a membership at the Henley Beach Sailing Club.

References are available on request