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Curriculum Vitae

Ben Helps

[email protected] ○ 0410 583 653 ○ Charlestown NSW 2290

Systems Administrator and Developer

Dedicated Sysadmin/Developer who keeps systems running, proactively suggests improvements and delivers new tech and platforms. Possesses strong practical knowledge in Linux and Windows administration, VMWare, Hyper-V and AWS systems, and various web development technologies.

Core competencies include:

Linux and Windows servers * Web technologies * Administering and developing databases * Managing and integrating cloud services

Professional Experience

4TEL PTY LTD ○ Warabrook NSW ○ 2018 – Present

4Tel are a world leader in tracking, scheduling and safety software, particularly in the transport industry (locomotives, light rail, buses, ferries).

Control Systems Officer/Support Technician

  • Provide L2/L3 and on-call support for 4Tel systems in remote client environments.
  • Perform upgrades, integrations, greenfield installs of 4Tel systems in remote client environments.
  • Provide general staff IT support.

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY (contractor) ○ Maitland NSW ○ 2015 – 2016

The Department of Industry is a branch of the NSW Government. Among other things it is responsible for mining rights and titles.

Contract Developer

  • Enabled client payments to the Department of Industry (Titles section) by planning and developing integrations with a payment gateway.
  • Facilitated infrastructure changes required by identifying system bottlenecks and liaising with relevant departments.

Reason for leaving: Contract completed, though have consulted for them ad-hoc since.

AOK HEALTH PTY LTD ○ Wickham NSW ○ 2009 – 2018

AOK Health are a world recognised leader in balance based health and fitness equipment. They manufacture and supply equipment to retail customers up to international distributors, and have wholesale, dropship and affiliate sales systems in place.

Information Technology Officer

  • Coded functionalities to inhouse e-commerce platform (e.g. bill-of-materials inventory control, freight calculations/charging, eWay and PayPal, order tracking, wholesale, dropship, and affiliate systems, etc).
  • Migrated company from office server hardware to hosted servers (Vocus), and later to better hosted server provider (AWS).
  • Migrated all databases from office to cloud hosted database platform (AWS RDS).
  • Designed and implemented load balancing system for applications.
  • Evolved in-house client management system (better inventory control, better freight calculations).
  • Plan and develop web solutions utilising WordPress, Magento, Drupal and custom ASP/PHP
  • Setup and manage web marketing initiatives.
  • Manage office network and computer systems (desktops, servers, UPS, switch, router, WiFi, NAS devices, etc)
  • Manage company cloud services (AWS servers and services, CloudFlare, Google Apps for Work, etc)

Reason for leaving: It was time for a change (with the kids getting older I could recommit to longer hours), though have consulted for them ad-hoc since.

BEN HELPS . ME ○ Charlestown NSW ○ 2007 – Present

This is my umbrella business for my (predominantly IT consulting) claimable work.

Business owner

  • Developed or aided on various websites (Scholars in Collars, BLN Business Services, Ben Helps . me, Cuebiyar, AussiesDownunder, ASANSW, etc)
  • Plan and develop web solutions (Custom, WP, Magento, Drupal, etc).
  • Manage “office” network and computer systems.
  • Manage productivity tools, book keeping, business development, etc.
  • Ran a side business ( Wigglebum ) – mobile show dog supplies. Managed all aspects – marketing, bookings, reordering, customers, accounting, etc.

HRWORKBENCH ○ Newcastle NSW ○ 2001 – 2007

HRworkbench provided premium psychometric tools and surveys to companies for change management, exit interviews, succession planning and employee satisfaction.

Systems administrator/DBA/Developer

Plan/develop software and platforms:

  • ASP
  • J2SE
  • C#
  • XSLT
  • Windows Server 2003
  • MS SQL Server 2005

Responsibilities:

  • Plan and develop software solutions (Custom ASP, C# and Java).
  • Administer and improve MS SQL Server and databases.

Reason for leaving: Company was winding down (mismanagement), and I was beginning my own venture.

CONVATECH ○ Warabrook NSW ○ 1999 – 2000

ConvaTech provide maintenance, repair and construction services to the mining and electricity production industries. They are primarily focused on contracted maintenance of conveyor systems these industries use to ensure fast and reliable coal production.

Contract Programmer

  • Migrated company from shared MS Access database to client/server MS Access/MS SQL Server architecture for better concurrency.
  • Selected barcode reader hardware and developed software to enable staff to download barcoded site inspections, scan and annotate on-site, and upload inspections to server once back in office.

Reason for leaving: Contracted work finished, and I was finished my Uni degree

Education

Bachelor of Information Science, University of Newcastle 1999