Russell Ballard , Welling, United Kingdom

I have always been driven to understand the how and the why of the world and so my interests include theoretical physics, general engineering, astronomy, psychology, philosophy, economics, history and geopolitics. A degree in Physics & Computer Science and a career in IT was a natural choice for me. I stared out as an embedded programmer, working on such projects as automated PCB drilling machines. With early embedded work, you had to be good at counting clock cycles and I carried this thinking with me when market demand lead me to DP. This cast the die. It has always fallen to me to get round bottlenecks and with my science background, other unusual tasks. I have done quite a bit of proof of concept work so I am used to starting out with a blank sheet of paper. I have always enjoyed rising to the challenge these tasks present, but am aware of the opportunity cost. Although I have had some decent embedded assignments over the years I would have preferred more and on the DP side, I could have done with a bit more 'mainstream' in the mix. Since the early 2000s, I have worked mainly on Internet applications, mostly of a specialist nature. In teams I look to build consensus and like to treat everyone as equal. I can lead but have never done so from 'cold'. I have sufficient management skills to hold the fort in the manager's absence but it has always been clear tome Iama developer rather than a manager. And in this capacity my approach has always been to break things down to the fundamentals. I find it is easier that way. Rote learners remember in order to understand but I am the other way round and understand in order to remember! I am a fluent C/C++ programmer and have been for a very long time. But until I learned assembler in my final year project to automate a liquid helium cryostat, I was in the dark. In any new job, I like the manual but the sooner I am looking at code the better. Please do throw me in at the deep end. Positions Sought Although I have always worked as a developer and would always consider further development roles, this time I am more open. I see a lot of pointers in my Internet work to data and cyber security roles. I am familiar with GDPR legislation and having run servers for nearly 20 years, security is already part of my job. Current Status: July 2014 onwards: Software Librarian, The HadronZoo Project. The HadronZoo project is an open source, public domain download comprising a web engine, a mail server and a coding standards enforcer, together with a C++ class library. The library provides a general framework for Linux C++ server programs and incorporates a non-SQL database. The primary objective of the web engine project being a web development tool that provides all functionality in C++ rather than disparate scripts and acts and reports like a compiler. In computing it is often relatively simple to create a working prototype, but a formal product is a very different matter. I had a working web engine in 3 months. More than 5 years later I still don't have anything comparable to Wordpress and nor did I expect to have.. The project is for coders and is all about code. I wasn't aiming to produce a tool everyone could use but I was aiming for something C++ coders could use and build upon. This requires less polishing but it was still a very ambitious undertaking. However I did have the right experience. Years of low level work eliminating bottlenecks, complex systems written end to end in C++, several 'control panel' web front ends and a few actual websites. I also wanted a web development tool that retained the performance and degree of control of C++, for my own use. As an older candidate, employment prospects can only narrow and I saw developing websites as the way to keep my hand in. So when I was made redundant from Talking Newspapers (see below), it seemed like the right time. Because this was a project that would span several years, the plan was to intersperse it with contract work. I have done a number of short term contracts to re-factor code and conduct thread reviews. By far the most interesting assignment was with Harman Connected Services in Lodz, Poland. The environment was Linux, multi threaded, C++14, STL and Boost, the role was software engineer on their 'Connected car' project. The task was over the air software updates in a multi board embedded environment. This was a must-do opportunity because of the business area and the location. It was a big departure from my usual fare. Instead of prototype development in a small team building performance systems with minimal use of packages, this was mostly bug fixing in a highly packaged environment as one of some 500 developers. The most difficult aspect were packages which forced too much functionality into class constructors and limited the developer's view of the code. This contributed significantly to a 'revolving door'. Most newcomers dropped out after 3 months. I persevered and managed 6. The ones that cracked it had mostly come from a similar environment. Other than the packages there was a lot that impressed me. Before I was very wary of big projects but this experience has changed my mind. After Poland, two collaborators joined the HadronZoo project. This sped things but I had to improve my teaching skills. I have informally taught newcomers before but not over the Internet. The project is now it is entering the final stage - in which my input will be zero. I am handing over. Hard to do but very necessary to prove the download. Only simple tasks remain outstanding but it stands to reason if the collaborators struggle with these tasks there will be worse issues for novices.