The Professional Me
I am a Software Engineer. No, wait. It's not that bad :)Interests
My professional interests are based around embedded systems. In industry the first expereince of such systems was in Digital Television reception (the Set Top Box). Since then I've been interested in application of software to embedded systems for media and vehicle control.I am also very interested in the use of computing power in web systems (ie software/hardware systems that either drive Internet use or make use of the WWW). Sub categories include properly coded websites (Standards!) and data processing.
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Educashun
I graduated from Bradford University (Department of Electrical Engineering) with a honours degree in Electronic, Telecommunication and Computer Engineering. The degree covered electronic engineering (analogue, digital), communications systems (from transmission line through to mobile telephony and satellite communications), real-time systems, DSP design and lots and lots (and lots) of mathematics. There was more of course, but I won't bore you here. I got to wear a silly hat and grin stoopidly with a load of other grinning people on the Ampitheatre at Bradford. Here is a 160kB scan of the graduation photo. I am in there. Somewhere. You can have a virtual fun-size chocolate bar if you find me.
GPT sponsored me through the 4 years. I went to work for them in my third year, joining the team dealing with digital telephony. I spent half the time testing software for release and half the time in the system design department.
A few years ago I decided to enrol on an HE course with the Open University. I became... disenchanted with them, and stopped paying them obscene amounts of money.
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Work
In order, there have been the following jobs:Software for Telecoms
Software & sys admin for digital TV
Miletts (outdoor clothing shops)
A telecoms software house in London
A (very very) small software/technology startup with a very big outlook!
My main skills lay in Linux programming (C, GNU tools etc), Web programming (LAMP), Database design, Linux & Windows administration.
(And let's face it - any programming these days ends up with _someone_ administering the system and - apart from my first job when I knew next to nothing about anything much - I've always been the one tinkering. It's scary how much you learn over time, isn't it?
I suppose a CV is in order? Yes, probably. I will get around to that. Promise. Have a gander at this in the mean time.
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Professional Bodies
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.I am a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and have been since, oooh, 1995 (until 2006 they were the Institution of Electrical Engineers or the IEE). Yes, I'm that old. I am a member of the IET Cambridge branch - and am on the Main Committee. I am also on the Committee of the IET Cambridge Younger Members (currently the Hon. Secretary, but names don't really mean much; what's important is that we spread the word and provide a jolly spiffing programme of events.)
I am also a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and am a member of the IEEE Computer Society.
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CPD
Continuing Professional Development.CPD is important in many industries. I am registered with the IET on their CPD programme. I am also registered with the Engineering Council (level 1) to eventually get my C.Eng (Chartered Engineer) qualificaion.
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