March 2015 – Present Third Financial Software Developer/R&D Team Leader
Joined Third Financial when Lucidus closed for business. Third produces the leading
Wealth Management tool which is based around a Windows Forms front end talking to
a series of WCF services connected to a SQL Server database using a mixture
of ADO and Entity Framework.
While I joined as a lowly developer, I have demnstrated a skill set that ThirdFin want and
have been instrumental in the development of a web app using Angular2/4. My abilities led
to my promotion to R&D Team Leader.
Some of my achievements to date have included:
- Architecting a strategic WEB based development using .Net Core, Angular 2, Bootstrap and Web Services. This to replace an existing web solution and an iPad app and to form the starting point for an online trading system.
- Pulled together the team of developers for the Angular 2 app and managed that team, liaising with the Founding Director of the company.
- Success of the Angular 2 app led to promotion to Team Leader for the whole R&D function.
- Spec writing, spec reviews and estimating. Scheduling of work for the R&D team.
- Maintenance and bug fixing of the Tercero wealth management system (C#, DevExpress, Winforms).
- Design and development of new features for new and existing clients, taking a BRD and producing technical specifications, software and documentation.
- Expansion of the use of DevExpress components including introducing some previously unused components.
- Second line support.
Analysis, design and coding of inter-bank interfaces.
- Introduction of new tools such as Resharper and WebStorm.
As team leader I have direct responsibility for five other people including
- Allocation of work.
- Direct reporting to the CEO & CTO.
- Liaiseing with project managers to ensure projects are properly resourced and delivered on time.
- Mentoring of junior team members.
- Scrum master
Oct 2013 – March 2015 Lead Developer
Returned to Lucidus with the intention of upgrading the existing VB6 Business
Modelling application to meet the needs of the new Value Based Sales
processes. At the same time, to redesign and redevelop the tool-set to C#.
- Actively redesigning and redeveloping the VB6 suite of applications to C# using
the DevExpress controls suite.
- Added functions to the existing VB6 application that reduced the time to
produce a sales model from 4 weeks to 45 minutes.
- Developed an Effectiveness Assessment tool (C#/Winforms) to gather structured
information from the client for use in the modelling process. This led to
more consistent data being collected and the automation of information fed
to the model builder.
- Improved customer benefit from our services by developing a Sales Person Performance
Tracking system (C#/Winforms) capable of identifying sales opportunities at
risk of being lost allowing early intervention to take place.
- Analysed, redesigned and am rewriting the business modelling tool in C#.
- Redesigned the Lucidus website using BootStrap3/PHP.
- Coached the CEO on the use of LinkedIn to higher the company profile.
- Provided support for customers in the USA and South Africa.
Feb 2013 – Oct 2013 Avelo (Trigold) Developer
I was invited back to Avelo in order to pick up on the project I was
working on when I went to South View Solutions.
- Prospector (VB6) bug fixing and feature development, releasing two other
developers to work on other projects.
- Migrated a Unix/Java mortgage application system to a new C# service. This was
a time critical project, delivered early.
- Joined the company Communications Workflow group to help influence
company communications policy.
- Worked on the Prospector (VB6) to Momentum (Asp.Net) mortgage sourcing bridge,
allowing the VB6 application to interface to the online systems for sourcing
buy-to-let mortgages. In the process, the online mortgage system was greatly
enhanced
- Created an exemplar Windows 8 Store App (C#) to interface with AveloTrigold web services.
Sep 2012 – Feb 2013 South View Solutions Senior Developer
South View Solutions have two development streams, dealing with mobile applications
for the housing associations and with integration products providing low cost
add-on tools for the back office systems (financial and job management) used
in those housing associations. At the time I joined there was no support for
the integration products and I was to pick up, support and enhance those products
leaving the rest of the team to concentrate on mobile.
- Resurrected the broken Maintenance Job Scheduling system (C#/WPF/WCF), fixed it
and released to three customers who had been seeking an alternative product.
- Produced a prototype Purchase Order system (C#/Winforms) in three weeks which
subsequently led to an order from the customer for the full product.
- Introduced Resharper which led to faster bug resolution and improved code quality.
- Provided guidance in the use of SubVersion, streamlining the release process.
- Designed and developed (C#) a file processing automation system allowing the user
to create C# based macros rather than keep deploying the application for every
new file type.
- Analysed and re-wrote the VB6 invoice matching system in C#/WPF.
- Produced training plans for the junior developers.
2011 – Sep 2012 Avelo (Trigold) Developer
Recruited to maintain the flagship Prospector product (mixed VB6/.Net), with a view
to converting it to a .Net platform during 2012/2013. Prospector had
around 14,000 users at the time.
- Prospector maintenance and bug resolution (VB6/C#), including client
contact where necessary.
- Redeveloped the C++ maintenance tool to VB.Net (there was no other C++ experience).
- Rebranded the product when TrigoldCrystal became AveloTrigold.
- Initiated a documentation project to document “local knowledge”.
- Influenced the introduction of PluralSight licences for developer training.
- Developed the mortgage catalogue maintenance systems (ASP.Net/C#)
2008 – 2011 Avelo (Formerly 1st Software) Senior Developer
Joined in order to expand the software development team for their financial
planning software; Adviser Office. Started as a ‘strong coder’ and quickly
progressed to deputising for the Team Leader, taking responsibility for
- VB6 design and coding.
- Mentoring other team members.
- Specification review, estimating and allocation in conjunction with the
Business Analysts.
- Architecture design and specification of new program offerings.
- Third line support.
- Code review and standards review leading to a reduction in the number
of post-release bug reports.
- Installer maintenance (Wise and InstallShield).
- The release of new versions of Adviser Office.
- Development of C# based extensions to Adviser Office.
- Performed two rebranding exercises on the Adviser Office application, making
the process more streamlined for the second rebrand.
Adviser Office is the primary software package used by around 15,000 users.
While working for 1st, I have also kept in contact with Lucidus and continued
to actively support and develop IPM.
1994-2008 Lucidus Ltd Technical Manager
- Design and develop a generic business planning tool - Integrated Performance
Measures (IPM) - that is focused on the translation and communication of
corporate strategy into highly focused and manageable improvement initiatives.
- Upgraded Lucidus products from VB3 to VB6/C++.
- Planned the upgrade from VB6 to C#.
- Pre/post sales support, including sales presentations.
- Produced user documentation (600+ manual).
- Managed team of one additional developer and one help desk operative.
- Created the Lucidus web site.
- Designed and implemented email marketing software.
- Produced the company standards for technical and non-technical
aspects of the company.
Clients included BP Chemicals, Pilkingtons, Yorkshire Water and the MoD.
In addition to working for Lucidus, I also developed software packages for
- 360 degree analysis of competence
- Tools for the practical delivery of competence frameworks
- Excel based management systems for managing budgets, tracking equipment
and monitoring health and safety issues.
1990 - 1994 IMI Computing Senior Technical Consultant
1989 - 1990 Lucidus Ltd Developer & Operating Systems Consultant
1988 - 1989 IMI Computing IBM VM/VSE/MVS/CICS/DL1 Technical Consultant
1984 - 1988 Hoskyns Group PLC IBM VM/VSE/MVS Consultant
1984 - 1984 Horizon Travel IBM VM/VSE Systems Programmer
1977 - 1984 Sun Alliance IBM VM/MVS Systems Programmer