Warren Rocchi

Experience

• 

  South African Police Service (SAPS)

  Jan 2003 - Jun 2008

  Constable

  Warren joined the SAPS as a reservist but quickly found himself working shifts as a permanent force member. Due to his dedication and commitment Warren was approached to become an assistant in the North Eastern Firearms and Tactical Training unit. Here he trained members in firearm competency and hand to hand combat.

• 

  Specialised Operations and Risk Consultants

  Feb 2004 - May 2004

  Soldier for hire

  Drawing on his experience garnered within the South African Police Service, Warren started contracting for SOPRCO who in turn contracted to SBV providing armed vehicular escorting of fidelity services. Warren also provided security services on the then under construction oil and natural gas pump station PSGII being built by Petrofac Lefarge in Russian occupied Tbilisi & Tetrisqaro, Georgia. Armed only with crossbows, primary duties were to maintain a secure perimeter of the construction site. Primary threats encountered were Russian military, Georgian mafia and Siberian wolves. Sometimes all at the same time and mostly before breakfast! Show less

• 

  CRU Design

  Jun 2004 - Mar 2005

  Lead Graphic Designer

  SynopsisWarren joined a small graphic design agency and their sister company in Mozambique. Much of their business came from the Mozambican Consulate and Edcon Maputo. Warren left Cru Design/Art C in order to pursue a career in IT. He still designs in his free time mainly for personal use, friends and family.Key ResponsibilitiesWarren managed the Johannesburg studio, met with clients and provided art direction for the design team. He would travel to, and work in Maputo as and when business required it. Show less

• 

  Art C Limitada

  Jun 2004 - Mar 2005

  Lead Graphic Designer

  SynopsisWarren joined a small graphic design agency and their sister company in Mozambique. Much of their business came from the Mozambican Consulate and Edcon Maputo. Warren left Cru Design/Art C in order to pursue a career in IT. He still designs in his free time mainly for personal use, friends and family.Key ResponsibilitiesWarren managed the Johannesburg studio, met with clients and provided art direction for the design team. He would travel to, and work in Maputo as and when business required it. Show less

• 

  Tial Technologies (Pty) Ltd

  Apr 2005 - Oct 2008

  Software Engineer

  Warren joined TIAL as a software engineer but quickly found his niche in supporting their flagship package. This is where Warren discovered SQL server and his love affair with the SQL language and managing databases began. Warren's quick learning ability and attention to detail culminated with him landing TIAL's flagship account and becoming Account Executive for TopExec Management Bureau. Warren's employment at TIAL ended in 2008 when he was headhunted and subsequently accepted the challenge at a small Administrator, however he still interacts with TIAL on an almost daily basis and the friendships and relationships he forged in those early years continue to assist Warren's career to climb.Key ResponsibilitiesWarren provided total support for (and for all related facets) TIAL’s short term insurance policy & claimsadministration system, SystemA. These responsibilities included supporting an excel based reporting solution, designing and maintaining complex crystal reports, maintaining, backing up, and replicating SQL databases via MSSQL, setting up and maintaining database & terminal servers through a client server system setup, installing and upgrading SystemA, MSSQL Server, Crystal Reports, MS Office and a variety of integrated applications. Show less

• 

  CIB

  Nov 2008 - Aug 2015

  Warren also stepped up to the plate by assuming the IT Manager role (acting) when the urgent need for a leader of the IT Department arose towards the end of 2013. Without any formal IT qualifications, Warren relied on his ability to identify talented individuals, superior delegation and was instrumental in pulling together a broker department and rescuing a failing infrastructure. Warren continued to steadily hold the reigns whilst CIB sought for the perfect candidate to take their IT department forward. Asked why he did not pursue this position for himself Warren admitted that he wanted specialize in SQL server.Key Reponsibilities:All hardware, software networking and communication mediums used by CIB withthe exception of SystemA policy & claims administration system, CubeV3 reporting solution, Ratingengines and their associated databases. Full network Administrator access or can grantaccess to any location on the network via active directory permissions. Show less After starting as a department head within the IT core Warren once again climbed the ranks and his new core responsibilities were to provide stable, reliable short term insurance claims & policy administration systems and databases. Another crucial function that Warren fulfilled to was the continual development and improvement of the Systems, processes, products and offers within the organisation. He achieved this by managing an onsite staff compliment of 10 and several offsite resources. Warren reported directly to his MD and translated business requirements into effective and efficient technological solutions that took the company from strength to strength. Warren also took full advantage of the corporate infrastructure to study further and continue to further his expertise into the DBA and SQL fields.Key ResponsibilitiesDatabase Administration, transfer of data to and from various 3rd party service providers, costing,procurement & budgeting, all automated financial & bulk processes (raising premiums, creating collection files/ACB mag tapes, collection agency submissions, loading unpaids, ad hoc payment runs, increases, renewals (Inflationary increases, changes in cover, M&M devaluation), bulk SMS, emailing, mail merges, SMTP mail & web services). Facilitate workflow of requests via helpdesks, allocate work, designate tasks to staff & on site techs, streamlining processes, reducing and eliminating any bottlenecks. Full, accurate documentation/SOPs of all processes. Maintain servers (Page file, memory allocation, roles, set up as per Microsoft best practices, monitor / resolve capacity issues, Win updates & anti-virus definitions) Provision of highly confidential data for audits. Show less

  • IT Manager

    Sept 2013 - Aug 2015

  • Strategic Systems Manager

    Nov 2008 - Jun 2014
• 

  HostCo (Pty) Ltd

  Jun 2014 - Sept 2016

  Operations Manager

  An integral cog within the upshot of HostCo (Pty) Ltd, from the initial concept Warren not only drew up business plans, built costing models and developed SLA's, but also led a team of experts in their field and fully implemented the infrastructure from beginning to end – This included needs analyses, custom product setup, training, website development, marketing, electronic & physical stationery, HR contracts and staffing issues. HostCo continued to attract more and more new clients and enjoyed a steady growth from inception. HostCo remains to function serving independent intermediaries across Southern Africa that require holistic administration solutions.HostCo was a huge learning curve for Warren, definitely a challenge to the status quo, and although the move from technical and eventually to business through management proved invaluable Warren couldn't help but every now and then to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty by thrusting himself into hugely technical tasks with no potential foreseeable solutions. Show less

• 

  EBSphere (Pty) Ltd

  Oct 2016 - Mar 2019

  Software Consultant & SQL Developer

  Hired as a SQL Developer, Warren served as a consultant within EBSphere's K2 support team. Being completely at home in T-SQL and financial services he was based onsite at EBSphere’s largest and flagship client ensuring that business requirements are interpreted into technical specifications; and robust bespoke solutions were implemented with full continuity and scalability. Warren expanded his knowledge into new systems, databases and clients he was exposed to within the employee benefits industry.Key ResponsibilitiesProfiling clients through observation and mapping of processes. Identifying and rewriting inefficient code using advanced SQL functionality and optimisation techniques. Manage code in source safe and redeploy after thorough QA and UAT testing. Develop extensive HTML reporting solutions for client output needs. Show less

• 

  Dimension Data

  Apr 2019 - Jun 2019

  Senior Data Warehouse Devops Specialist: Group GIS - EIM Platform

  Having recently joined Team DiData Warren has settled into the swing of things in Group Information Services on the Enterprise Information Platform. His current challenges are to internalise the support of a multi tier data platform whilst simultaneously building it's next gen replacement on SAP S4HANA on SUSE for Linux.

• 

  NTT

  Jul 2019 - Aug 2020

  Senior Data Warehouse DevOps Specialist: Group I&T - EIM Platform

  With the mega-merger of Dimension Data, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone and 26 other companies; Warren continued to service Group Information Services on the Enterprise Information Platform. After playing a significant role in the IMO process he continued support of a multi-tier data platform whilst simultaneously architecting its next gen replacement on SAP HANA on SUSE for Linux.Key ResponsibilitiesDevelop and co-ordinate solutions in response to features and stories assigned to the team in a fully Agile environment. Support, monitor and co-ordinate resolutions for tickets, changes, problems and incidents logged to the team. Review and deploy solutions via TFS. Engage with relevant stakeholders obtaining authorization where necessary. Evaluate new technologies and build POCs. Refine backlogs, prepare design specifications and provide detailed solution documentation. Show less

• 

  NTT Ltd.

  Aug 2020 - Jun 2021

  On successful implementation and ops handover, Warren once again looked for a challenge, and found it in NTT’s Cloud based Global eCommerce platform. Leveraging off his experience of managing support teams, System and DBA administration, DevOps and superior troubleshooting capabilities Warren started transforming the way the global parts of the team collaborated and worked together. Warren’s efforts were quickly recognized through promotion to senior engineer. Because of the social disconnect within the team caused by remote working, Warren implemented a Team Social Collaboration platform that consisted of fun monthly online social gatherings,celebration of birthdays and cultural events as well as recognition of individual and team milestones.Key ResponsibilitiesDevelop and co-ordinate solutions in response to features and stories assigned to the team in a fully Agile environment. Support, monitor and co-ordinate resolutions for tickets, changes, problems and incidents logged to the team. Review and deploy solutions via TFS. Engage with relevant stakeholders obtaining authorization where necessary. Evaluate new technologies and build POCs. Refine backlogs, prepare design specifications and provide detailed solution documentation. Build, Maintain and Monitor cloud infrastructure components and related services.Respond and manage incidents based on severity and SLA. Essentially ensure business continuity through scalable, robust business solutions with full continuity. Show less

  • Senior Engineer: Devops Direct

    Sept 2020 - Jun 2021

  • Engineer: Direct DevOps

    Aug 2020 - Sept 2020
• 

  Cobalt Analytics

  Aug 2021 - May 2024

  Data Engineer

  “Why Cobalt?” Well, we think it’s the perfect analogy for your data. It’s often hidden, relatively useless in the raw form, difficult to control, and even poisonous if used incorrectly. However, when handled by experienced and knowledgeable practitioners, it has practical applications that make it extremely valuable.Colloquially known as Goblin Ore, cobalt can be compared to the mischievous nature of data, and the havoc it can wreak when not controlled.The atomic number of Cobalt (27) is also the International Dialing Code for South Africa, our home country, and one in which mining plays such a vital role. It is commonly stated that data is now the most valuable resource in the world, and South Africa has always been at the forefront of valuable resources Show less

• 

  Moyo

  Jun 2024 - now

  Senior Data Engineer

  The extensive footprint of our consulting services team, backed by our vast experience and industry knowledge, is testament to our ongoing commitment to enabling value-adding and industry-leading solutions for our clients.