Bruce Badger

London, EC1A, UK
e-mail: bbadger@openskills.com

[OpenSkills SkillsBase resume (most up to date)]

[PDF Version of my complete resume]

Summary

Really, this resume text is quite out of date now. It's accurate as far as it goes, but please see the SkillsBase link above for current information.

An enthusiastic technologist with over 25 years experience and strong technical leadership ability who has guided many projects to a successful conclusion. Proven results applying object oriented techniques, technologies and tools in a wide variety of industries and problem spaces. An active contributor to the Open Source community.

Technical Skills

Operating Systems: Windows (3.1 onward), Solaris, Linux (RedHat & Debian), Mainframe OSs plus the VMWare platform emulation tool

Languages: Smalltalk (VisualWorks, VisualAge, Squeak,Digitalk plus ENVY and StORE), Java (JDK&vi, VisualAge, Parts for Java, Cafe), C, C++, Prolog, COBOL, ApplicationMaster (a 4GL), HTML, XML

Databases: OODBMS (GemStone, Objectivity & others), RDBMS (Oracle, Sybase, Informix, INGRES, PostgreSQL & others), CODASYL (IDMS, IDMSX, DMSII)

Communications: Protocols (TCP/IP, HTTP, CORBA), Services (DHCP, DNS, SAMBA), TP Monitors (Tuxedo, TPMS ...)

Methodologies: UML, Booch, Rumbaugh (OMT), Chen, Yourdon, OOA, SSADM (plus case tools, such as Rose)

Professional Experience

OpenSkills, Sydney, Australia 2001-date

Founder, President and Consultant

• Reviewed and reported upon the status of a suite of forestry applications implemented using GemStone as the primary repository. I also helped with some immediate troubleshooting. This assignment contributed to the medium term strategic systems planning for the client.

• Gave a week-long introductory course to VisualWorks Smalltalk, plus supporting consultancy, to a software house upgrading a Smalltalk SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system which monitors the status of power stations.

• Developed a Smalltalk library to communicate with a hardware cryptographic device for use in a web banking application.

• Enhanced the open source Smalltalk PDF library that I wrote to help an insurance company produce on-the-fly documents for delivery to web browsers.

• Gave a training courses for an investment bank upgrading to the latest version of VisualWorks Smalltalk. The focus of the training was the migration from ENVY to StORE.

• Development of internal OpenSkills systems using VisualWorks and GemStone. The web based applications are wholly deployed in GemStone and use the Swazoo open source HTTP server.

Visual Networks Inc., New York, NY 2000-2001

Lead Developer

• Headed the team responsible for all engineering aspects of the server portion of an existing product: The Trinity network management tool. Assigned tasks, tracked progress, mentored team members and monitored code quality. Defined the target architecture and development techniques to be used in porting Trinity to the GemStone OODBMS. The GemStone-enabled Trinity model had significantly improved stability, capacity and work distribution characteristics, and was much better placed to support very large network repositories, enabling sales into more lucrative customer accounts.

• Formulated and demonstrated the feasibility of several initiatives aimed at improving the marketability of Trinity, including: External network schema management tools; a formal CORBA IDL interface version control policy; 3D rendering and visualization; thin client based human interfaces.

• Worked beyond the scope of the Trinity project to introduce process improvements to Visual Networks. These included tools and techniques to improve the quality, and cost effectiveness, of engineering and testing efforts.

SPL WorldGroup Consulting, San Francisco, CA 1995-2000

A wide range of roles. Typically either technical lead or trouble-shooter.

• Led the design and construction of a thin-client portal for the State Compensation and Insurance Fund of California (SCIF). Before portals became mainstream, this Java system integrated text and image information from a number of legacy systems into a single coherent view. Established CORBA as the inter-system communication medium.

• Led (as "Chief Architect") the analysis, design and implementation of a world-wide, real-time equities portfolio management and trading system for the Singapore GIC (Goventment Investment Corp.), in Singapore. This VASmalltalk/GemStone system unified ordering and trading operations in London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore, and significantly increased the visibility and efficiency of trading actions for GIC.

• Worked with Sun Microsystems on a high-profile sales oportunity demonstrating the power of a new, as yet unreleased, hardware architecture by implementing and tuning a large and process intensive GemStone repository.

• Designed and built a class library which enables PDF files to be written directly from within a program. The library was built to generate insurance documents on-the-fly from data in legacy repositories, and make these documents available via a web browser. The library is now maintained in both Smalltalk and Java, and is freely available under an open source license. Development work on the library continues to this day.

• Energized a variety of company-wide initiatives, including code reuse programmes, technology partnerships and development project process improvements.

Macquarie Bank, Sydney, Australia 1994-1995

System Architect

• Took a lead technical role in the development of a base metals trading system. Worked on the trading floor with traders and settlements staff to first build, then constantly evolve the system as the metals trading business itself evolved.

• Introduced the Envy/Developer version control system and associated processes to the bank. Trained bank staff on the effective use of ENVY.

Nomura Research Institute (Europe), London, UK 1993-1994

System designer and implementor

• Defined the architecture of, and implemented significant parts of a FX and money markets front office dealing system. This Smalltalk + GemStone system provided support for a number of products (FRAs, Futures, Loans/Depos + FX) with real time position keeping. The system also provided sophisticated analysis tools including mark-to-market "what-if" using direct manipulation of yield curve graphs.

• Trained project staff on the theory and application of object technology. Gave high level technology presentations to non-technical bank staff.

ICL Telecomms, Bracknell, UK 1992-1993

Database Administrator & Design Consultant

• Unified the database schemas of two major mediation systems into a single integrated model, thereby reducing current development costs, and easing future system extention. Mediation systems require frequent extension to accommodate new and enhanced switch systems.

• Provided training and consultancy services to the project on matters such as a future database strategy, application architechture and the use of Object Orientation.

UK Inland Revenue - INCOM Programme, Thames Valley, UK 1989-1992

Design Authority

• Headed a team designing and constructing a network configuration management system with a general purpose Smalltalk based Object Oriented infrastructure to support it. Evaluated various language and database options, before selecting VisualWorks Smalltalk with an INGRES back end.

• Co-ordinated collaborative work with Manchester University on an Object Oriented database and programming language based on Smalltalk.

Various locations, Europe & New Zealand 1978-1989

Trainee Programmer through to Data Analyst

• Implemented many hundreds of COBOL programs. Became expert in using (and subsequently designing, implementing and tuning) Codasyl databases, such as IDMS. Extensive use of methodologies, case tools and data dictionaries. Devised and implemented numerous productivity tool sets for use within projects by other developers, end users and customers. Involvement in product support, on-site customer support, presentations training. Experience in 4GLs and TP monitor products.

EDUCATION