John Connor

Experience

• 

  Tameside College

  Aug 1992 - Mar 1993

  IT Technician

  Ultrix support, general techie.

• 

  ITSA

  Mar 1993 - Apr 1995

  Unix Support

  Working to ISO 9001 as a contractor supplied by SNI to ITSA Distributed Systems Support, I worked at civil service EO grade as a Unix Support Officer on the STAP (Single Terminal Access Project) project. Much user contact was involved, usually over the phone but sometimes if the systems were on-site in Lytham or Blackpool, face to face. Our team was also the first line hardware support for any equipment connected to the Unix server, and so all server-related hardware problems.Within the team, I was part of a 3 man "Technical Escalation Team" - effectively 2nd line expert support for the rest of the team, providing expert backup to other team members. As part of this expert role, I was able to suggest and provide many solutions, usually in the form of awk and Korn shell scripts, to the numerous known problems on the systems. Alongside live support, I worked as part of the DAME (automated systems management, part of SRSM) exploitation team. In this unit, I designed and wrote an activity logging and reporting system for DAME activity. I also implemented many of the shell wrappers for DAME on the remote servers and a terminal usage audit package. This contract was interesting, challenging at times, but never dull. The fact that user's incidents were prioritised meant working to some tight deadlines sometimes, but this did not make the job any less enjoyable and made one wish to fix problems better. During my time at the DSS, I became involved with the piloting of new systems and was often “Unix Support’s man on site”. I visited customer sites to facilitate the testing of new hardware and software. I was also involved with the final testing of the MFS (multi-function server) software and spent many weeks on-site in Salford and Aberdeen helping users to progress smoothly from their old systems to the new one as well as making sure everything worked. Key Deliverables: Unix support; Shell scripting; Colleague mentoring Show less

• 

  Fujitsu UK

  Jan 1996 - Jul 2019

  Role/Assignment:Senior Unix/Linux engineer within the Enterprise Management Centre of Excellence team.Major task so far has been the production of an Ubuntu Linux Desktop build for a large international bank. Also worked supporting projects I previously owned which transferred to nearshore teams. The other major project I have been working on this year is implementing the move of a 3000+ domain internal DNS system, with multiple views, to another provider. I am currently working in a DevOps and agile environment with the bank's development teams to produce a proof-of-concept desktop build designed to flexibly meet their requirements for their software development needs. Highlights:• Ubuntu build• Active Directory Integration• Canonical Landscape integration• DNS integration• Shell scripting• Perl scripting• Python scripting Show less Role/Assignment:Senior Unix/Linux engineer for Internet Managed Services team which merged with the Unix GB team in December 2009. From 2003, I began to work increasingly on Government projects, though still supported the remnant of the ICLnet systems. I was again involved in email and DNS design and implementation. I began to focus more on Linux. Highlights:• Developed and maintained Solaris, RedHat and SUSE Linux hardened builds • Responsible for the email and DNS design and development of an initially Solaris-based email, DNS & web portal for cross-government use. This is now Linux-based and serves many hundreds of thousands of users daily. It handles 200+ million emails per month • OS build & support for 150+ server farm for Ministry of Justice (MoJ). BladeLogic used extensively here. • Designed & implemented an Exim-based mail solution for NHS Helpdesks. • Implemented a BlueCat-based DNS systems for multiple government departments using DNSSEC. • Designed and re-implemented the above BlueCat-based DNS systems for multiple government departments • Various hardware refreshes for the above projects • Support (hardening & OS) for MoJ proof-of-concept system on K5 I have also mentored colleagues and lead small development sub-teams. Key Deliverables:Solaris & Linux server support. Internet systems expert.Design & development of services. Open source software.Shell scripting.Perl scripting. BladeLogic.Ansible. Show less Role/Assignment:Initially working as an Internet Support Specialist at ICL Multimedia Solutions, I was the lead Unix systems specialist in the support team, responsible for all areas of system administration within ICLnet: ICL’s Internet Service. We hosted web sites for companies such as the BBC, Arcadia and Rolls Royce. Affinity Internet (VIP), who were responsible for such ISPs as Breathe and TinyOnline, with a registered user base of over 2.5 million. Much of my work was concerned with the ISP systems and their email and DNS design, implementation and operations. Some of the highlights were: • Developing a web-based system called “WebCheck” in Perl & Java for automated monitoring of websites and servers. The latest version of this system is still in use today across multiple customers. • Lead engineer on beeb.com service, the BBC’s first foray into Internet entertainment services. • Designed, developed and implemented a new DNS infrastructure for ICLnet and Fujitsu customers including Netscape (AOL), ensuring it was more resilient and robust than current systems.• Co-designed and sole implementer of the email system for the VIP (Virtual Internet Provider) project. • Designed & implemented the user web sites system for the VIP project.Developed and maintained Solaris OS hardening guide used for all server builds. Key Deliverables:Support of all Solaris & Linux servers. Internet systems expert.Design & Development of services. Open source software.Shell scripting.Perl scripting. Show less

  • Technical Services Engineer Practitioner

    Jan 2018 - Jul 2019

  • Principal Technical Support Specialist

    Sept 2003 - Dec 2017

  • Lead Systems Engineer

    Jan 1996 - Sept 2003
• 

  CGI

  Jul 2019 - now

  Unix Technical Architect

  • Senior Unix Technical Architect

    Oct 2024 - now

  • Unix Technical Architect

    Jul 2019 - Oct 2024