Senior Software Engineer, Project Lead
Oracle Corporation (Dublin, Ireland)
June 1994-January 2000
Oracle products are written for UNIX platforms on Sun Solaris. My team and I ported these products to other UNIX platforms. This involved iterations of compiling, testing and fixing bugs. Aside from my routine product development duties, I was tasked with improving processes and with transferring knowledge. To this end, I developed a number of web applications for developers and other members of Oracle staff to use to gather and disseminate information. These were been developed using a UNIX workstation — Sun SunOS or SGI IRIX — an Apache (or, before Apache, NCSA) web server, CGI programming, implemented in UNIX shell scripting. It was usually necessary for me to install and configure the server software myself.
Key Responsibilities:
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Lead team of developers developing the Oracle Developer suite of application development tools.
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Provide input into project management and assign development tasks.
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Contribute to the improvement of the development environment.
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Administer the development systems.
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Provided training to new and junior members of staff.
Key Achievements
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Was consultant developer on the project that released Oracle8i 8.1.5 to the SGI IRIX 32-bit and 64-bit UNIX market.
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Led the development and release to market of releases 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1 and 2.0 of the Oracle Developer 2000 suite of application development tools on ICL/Fujitsu NX SPARC and/or SGI IRIX (both UNIX).
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Contributed to the development and release to market of releases 1.0 and 6.0 of the Oracle Developer 2000 suite of application development tools on ICL/Fujitsu NX SPARC and SGI IRIX (both UNIX) respectively.
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Was sole developer and releaser of Oracle Office 1.8 on ICL/Fujitsu NX SPARC UNIX.
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Contributed to the development and release to market of Oracle CDE Release 1 Production 3 suite of application development tools.
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Contributed to the development and release of versions 7.1.4 and 7.1.6 of the Oracle7 database server bundle on the ICL/Fujitsu NX SPARC UNIX platform.
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Developed a number of in-house web-based applications to assist in developing the Developer 2000 suite of development application tools.
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Provided porting course to new members of staff on average twice a year.
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Was promoted to senior software engineer after only three and a half years.
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Was appointed to the web review team which oversaw development of the company web based applications.
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Was appointed chairperson of the Tools Forum which was a special interest group for those interested in using or developing the Oracle Developer 2000 suite of application development tools.
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Attended the Oracle OpenWorld Conference in 1996 representing the Tools Forum.
Skills:
Operating systems
- SGI IRIX 6.x; MIPS ABI platforms; Sun Solaris 2.6; SunOS 4.1; Fujitsu ICL/NX SPARC; Apple Mac OS X (all UNIX); Apple Mac OS 8.x
Oracle products
- Oracle CDE 1 Production 3; Oracle Developer 2000 Releases 1.x, 2.1, 6.0; Oracle Server 6.0.3x, 7.1.x, 7.3.x, 8.0, 8.1; Oracle WebDB 2.0; Oracle (Web) Application Server 3.0, 4.0
Development languages
- SQL; PL/SQL; scripting (sh, ksh, bash); C; Java; HTML
Other technologies
- Rational ClearCase (source control); GNU emacs; CGI; Apache Web Server
Projects:
Oracle8i Release 8.1.5: This was the first of Oracle’s highly successful Oracle8i releases. I was brought onto this team due to my experience with installing Oracle products to work on the new installation tool, the Oracle Universal Installer. Although written in java, it was necessary to port the installer to the SGI IRIX 64-bit platform in order to ensure that operating system specific standards were recognised — package management, file system directory structure, etc. I was also responsible for properly packaging the Oracle8i bundle and fully testing its installation. Consequently, I have experience in installing Oracle8i onto UNIX platforms under every conceivable configuration. I performed the following for this project:
- I ported the Oracle Universal Installer for SGI IRIX 64-bit UNIX, which included fixing bugs which arose.
- I developed the standard means of packaging the Oracle8i bundle for SGI IRIX 64-bit UNIX.
- I fully tested the installation of the Oracle8i bundle for SGI IRIX 64-bit UNIX.
- I trained others in the use of the Oracle Universal Installer and its Oracle packager component.
Oracle WebDB Release 2.0: WebDB was a tool to allow system designers to built interfaces to Oracle databases solely using internet technologies. I ported the product onto the SGI IRIX 64-bit UNIX platform.
All Oracle Developer 2000 Releases from release 1.0 to release 6.0: The Oracle Developer 2000 set of products included Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, Oracle Graphics, Oracle Query Builder, Oracle Procedure Builder and Oracle Project Builder. These projects were developed iteratively. As lead developer, I would first assign and configure the development system and accounts. I would ensure that the correct development tools and versions were installed on the system (e.g. compilers, linkers, etc.). I would then liaise with the development manager to determine project schedules. I would configure the source control environment and acquire all the necessary source code and dependency libraries from various locations. I would create and configure the database against which we would conduct our development. I would assign development tasks to the other engineers of the team. These task assignments would typically be of the order of which developer would work on which project. I was usually responsible for Oracle Forms and a number of the underlying Developer 2000 common layers. We would go through the process of compiling and building the products, running tests, fixing bugs in the C code that would be highlighted, and iterating these steps until a certain quality level was attained. For some of these projects, I was also responsible for testing the installation of the bundle, which required extensive testing due to the number of supported installation configurations. We released Developer 2000 Release 1.3.2 onto Fujitsu/ICL NX SPARC UNIX and all other releases onto SGI IRIX 32-bit UNIX and MIPS ABI platforms. I performed the following on these projects:
- I configured the development environment (Releases 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1 and 2.0).
- I acquired the source code (Releases 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1 and 2.0).
- I worked on project schedules (Releases 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 2.0, and 6.0).
- I assigned development tasks (Releases 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1 and 2.0).
- I ported the Oracle Forms and GUI toolkit products to the development platform (Releases 1.0, 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 2.0, 6.0).
- I managed the installation testing (Releases 1.3.2, 1.4w, 1.6.0, 1.6.1 and 2.0).
Oracle Backup Utility release 2.0.12: Oracle Backup Utility was a tool to configure and manage backups of an Oracle database. For the Fujitsu/ICL NX SPARC UNIX version, it was to be used in conjunction with Legato NetWorker. Now part of the Oracle9i bundle, it was a standalone utility at this time. It was designed to allow both �cold� and �hot� backups, where either the database was shutdown or still in use during the backup respectively. Also, one could configure the tool to perform complete backups or partial backups. As part of the system, there was a fully developed data restoration module. I performed the following during this project:
- I took up development responsibility early on in the project.
- I ported the product to Fujitsu/ICL NX SPARC UNIX.
- I liaised with development teams in the US to iron out bugs and issues.
- I fixed many bugs in the C code.
- I released the product to market.
Oracle Office release 1.8: Oracle Office was Oracle’s e-mail, scheduling and enterprise resourcing utility. It was the first multi-platform collaboration tool that stored e-mail in a database. Similarly, one could manage appointments and meetings as well as resources like rooms and projectors using this fully integrated product. I was the sole developer on this project. I was responsible for all aspects of the project and the various products that were included. I was developing on the Fujitsu/ICL NX SPARC UNIX platform. I performed the following on this project:
- I liaised with the development manager to determine schedules.
- I configured the development and testing environments.
- I acquired the source code and dependency libraries.
- I ported the product and various layers of the Oracle Office suite.
- I released the product to market.
Oracle7 7.1.6: This was the terminal Oracle7 7.1 release. I worked on this project as an engineer with responsibility for porting the Version 6 tools: SQL*Forms 3.x, SQL*ReportWriter 1.x, SQL*Menu 5.x and performing manual tests for a number of other products.
Oracle CDE 1 Production 3: Oracle CDE 1 Production 3 became Oracle Developer 2000 for subsequent releases. As well as the standard application development tools, like Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports, Oracle CDE also included Oracle’s CASE tool, called Oracle CASE. With its demise, Oracle CDE was divided into three which became Oracle Developer 2000, Oracle Designer 2000, and Oracle Discoverer. I was an engineer on this release building, testing and fixing the Oracle CASE set of tools and Oracle Reports (then version 2.0). I performed the following in this project:
- I built, tested and fixed bugs in Oracle Reports 2.0.
- I built, tested and fixed bugs in Oracle CASE 3.x.
Oracle7 7.1.4: I worked as an engineer on this project, responsible for the Version 6 tools. For this release (on Fujitsu/ICL NX SPARC), I built, tested and fixed bugs for SQL*Forms 3.0, SQL*Menu, SQL*Report and SQL*ReportWriter. I also performed manual testing for other products like sqldba and SQL*Plus.
BugDB Analysis: I developed a small program for the QA department which performed an analysis on Oracle’s corporate bug database. This was written in PL/SQL on an Oracle7 7.0.16 database.
Deployment of EPC’s quality documentation on line: As a certified ISO 9002 company, Oracle found it necessary to ensure that all the staff had access to the documented procedures and guidelines. Initially, these were printed on paper using Interleaf as the desk-top publishing tool. I joined Oracle to translate these Interleaf documents to Oracle Book format (an SGML presentation tool) which staff could then access on line.
Courses:
- I attended the following technical courses:
- Oracle DBA in January 1999
- Java Course in June 1998
- ClearCase Fundamentals in February 1996
- Forms 4.5/Dev 2000 core in November 1995
- QA Partner Introduction in May 1995
- Advanced C in March 1995
- I attended the following non-technical courses:
- Project Management in July 1999
- Targeted Selection (i.e. interviewing candidates) in January 1999
- Time Management in December 1997
- Presentation Skills in November 1997
- Supervisor Training in July 1996
- TQM in June 1995
- I gave the following courses: Porting Course in June 1995, July 1997, July 1998 and December 1998