Bio
Brief Background
I suppose as a bit of background on my history before jumping straight in to my career is that I’ve always had an interest in IT whilst growing up and took this interest with me to University where I studied Computer Systems and graduated with a 2:1 BSc Hons (Bachelor of Science) (Honours)
It’s due to “IT” coming naturally to me it was no real surprise that I ended up working within this sector.
Present Day
I’m currently working as a Senior Infrastructure Engineer for TFL (Transport for London), with my specialty area being Wintel.
My present position is within the IS Assurance team, this means my role is to develop the immediate roadmaps of TfL’s selected technology, provide standard build patterns, review designs for new or changed services, and provide consultancy services to guide new projects of the appropriate technology to deploy.
Being the SME for Wintel also means I’m relied upon to provide 3rd and 4th line support to other members of the Wintel team (from analysts to other senior engineers).
Aside from the above, being the SME it is also down to myself to provide the training roadmaps, as well as providing training sessions for engineers from other teams (Operations/Maintenance/Service Improvement), on emerging and newly implemented technologies.
I’ve held a number of these sessions already for the various teams mainly on the projects I’ve been involved in delivering which include UAG, DHCP migration, Cisco GSS training and a new PKI environment.
Due to my involvement shortly after I joined TfL I was also nominated and received TfL’s own recognition program which is for when you go above and beyond your usual line of duty in helping others.
For further information regarding recent projects, work and my current CV please see my CV page for contact details relating to any work enquires.
Early Days
Aside from my present role, previous to this I always worked for MSP’s (Managed service providers), and for the majority of IT engineers is their first steps in to the world of IT (aside from apprentice schemes for larger enterprises).
Although for me I didn’t step straight into IT support, my first steps was actually into data cabling, where I started to learn the basics of networking and the physical side to networking, as well as out of hours study (A+) to try and help me get a job working in IT.
After about 6 months, I soon landed my first IT job starting off doing the very basic, learning the ropes of 1st line support on both the helpdesk and out in the field with clients. Soon I was up to second line support by the end of the first year I would be involved in some of the more 2nd/3rd line issues.
Due to the size of the company and after 2 1/2 years I had reached as far as I could go, and was approached by a much larger MSP.
This role starting off as an engineer on the service desk soon lead me in to a field engineer, and again after about a year I had progressed in to the role of a senior engineer. In terms of career development it was this job which really helped propel not only my technical knowledge and hand’s on experience but they also looked after their engineers providing them with the very latest and best training. This is something I’ve always been keen on but whilst companies often promote it, there’s very few who stick to it.
Personally I think the experience you gain working for MSP’s is second to none, you get exposure to so many different environments and technology each and every day, couple that with training and you will soon see you progress through the IT ranks.
This brings me to present day and as mentioned above my current role as Senior Wintel Engineer at TfL, who knows what the future will bring…
