David Gerrard MSc BA MBCS

Tel: 0116 239 0617. Mob: 07789 308 163. Email: dave@dgcv.co.uk. Based in: Leicester UK.

Summary

I am a qualified analyst-developer with fifteen years experience of analysis, planning, design, development, implementation and testing using Microsoft, Google and other technologies.

I am pro-active and enthusiastic, and I enjoy working with and improving development teams. I feel that I have a rare combination of technical know-how and a creative mind, which allows me to appreciate and define the needs of customers accurately.

Career History

Lead Developer - Dollar Financial Group UK Ltd

October 2009 – Present

Dollar Financial are a pawnbroker and payday lender with a global high-street and internet presence.

I recruited, supervised, appraised and improved the working practices of a team of between six to twelve developers. I helped introduce Test Driven Development and Agile practices, and upgraded the toolset to Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio 2010.

I also helped develop and maintain industrial-scale payment card charging systems that regularly take millions of pounds worth of loan repayments.

Technical Director – Trovo Ltd

November 2008 – Present

Trovo creates systems that help businesses market their complex products and services, manage their projects, develop and test their products, and create and organise their technical documentation. We also design, develop and help maintain company intranets, extranets and search solutions.

Digital Services Developer – CDS Global UK Ltd

7th January 2008 – 21st November 2008

I helped the company pass a Payment Card Industry (PCI) audit; creating a system to encrypt credit card information and restrict access to it. I also planned, developed and tested the business logic and data tiers for a customer services system and an online store.

Research Analyst - Data Perspective Ltd

July 2006 – December 2007

I researched, analysed, planned and designed search applications for a De Montfort University spin-out company, which aimed to apply Fuzzy Logic technology to Internet search. We delivered search engines for Leicester City Council and a publishing company based in Washington D.C., using ASP.Net, SQL Server and Google Enterprise Search technology. We used an Agile project management technology and Test Driven Development.

Web Designer / Developer – De Montfort University (PT)

September 2002 – December 2006

I worked on projects in the heritage and research sectors, including websites related to transport history (http://www.transportarchive.org.uk), photographic history (http://peib.dmu.ac.uk) and postgraduate research in the Arts and Humanities.

Freelance Web Designer / Developer (PT)

September 2002 – December 2006

I have also undertaken several freelance contracts in the heritage sector for clients including the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council East Midlands and Nottingham University.

Webmaster – Konami Amusement of Europe Ltd

March 2000 – April 2002

I maintained the public and client facing websites for the European Arcade (Coin-Op) Division of this major Japanese electronic entertainment provider. I was also involved in the production of early online gaming applications and scoreboards.

Senior Web Page Developer – Scoot UK Ltd

July 1998 – March 2000

I wrote sales copy, created page layouts and coded HTML for the classified sales department of a busy online business directory, which involved a lot of interaction with many different customers.

Multimedia Designer – University of Central Lancashire

May 1997 – July 1998

I produced CD ROM graphics and HTML pages for the UCLan Centre for Learning Technologies.

Skills and experience

  • Leadership experience: I first took a lead role in development in 2007. Since 2009, I have recruited, supervised, mentored and appraised a team of between six and 12 developers.
  • .Net , MS SQL Server, XML and Web Services: full-time professional experience since the start of 2006 (and several years Classic ASP experience before that). I am equally comfortable with VB and C#, and try to keep my code clean and easy to follow.
  • Software design and development methodologies: thorough academic grounding and over four years’ professional experience of UML and OO design patterns. Six years experience of Agile development using XP, Scrum and Scrum-ban boards.
  • Software testing, TDD and Continuous Integration: latterly using VS2010, MSTest, Data-Driven Unit Tests, Web Tests, Coded UI and TFS Build, but also using tools like NUnit / JUnit, NUnitAsp, Ant / Nant, MS Build, CruiseControl, NCover and Red Gate Ants Profiler.
  • HTML, XHTML, JavaScript, Accessibility and Web Standards: fifteen years of experience, including a major national accessibility award in 2004 for the Transport Archive.
  • Image manipulation and design for the web: I have over fifteen years experience with Photoshop and Illustrator, and have collaborated extensively with graphic designers.
  • Search engine development, use of metadata and the Semantic Web: several years of professional experience (including training as a Google Enterprise Search Professional), and a year’s research at postgraduate level.
  • Usability testing: hands-on experience of designing and running interface usability tests using lo-fi paper prototypes and analysing the resulting information.
  • Client-facing and analysis experience: several years’ experience of requirements analysis, interviewing customers, demonstrating products and delivering presentations and training.
  • Copywriting and technical authoring: writing promotional copy and press releases, management reports, technical specifications, project documentation and manuals.
  • Java, JSP, JSTL, PHP, MySQL: several years of professional and academic experience.
  • Managing budgets, cash-flow and bookkeeping: gained while freelancing.

Education and Qualifications

From / To Institution Qualification Grade
09/03 – 01/07 De Montfort University MSc Computing (PT) Distinction
09/91 – 06/95 University of Central Lancashire BA English with Visual Studies 2:1
09/88 – 06/91 The Henley College 3 A Levels, 2 A/S Levels A to D
09/83 – 06/88 Chiltern Edge School 8 GCSEs and 1 O Level C or above

Training

Year Course Provider Duration
2010 Enterprise Systems Architecture QA Training 1 week
2009 Intro to Microsoft BPOS Microsoft 1 day
2007 Google Enterprise Professional Google Inc. 1 week
2005 Rational Media User Training Torchbox Ltd 1 day
2005 Rhythmyx 5.5. Developer Percussion Software 1 week
2001 Introduction to XML Tech Connect 3 days

Interests

A lot of my free time seems to be devoted to decorating, gardening and so on. The remainder is taken up with cooking, reading novels, walking in the countryside and the removal of cats from in front of my monitor. I also enjoy watching live sport; in particular cricket and football, and I play golf occasionally.