Me
Me
Personal
I am a network engineer working for an ISP in Derby, UK. I have worked in the IT industry for about 20 years now, ever since leaving school in fact. I have done a variety of jobs in this time, starting out as a programmer and am currently a network engineer.
Experience
I have gained a wide variety of experience with both hardware and software in this time. I have worked on most server operating systems and have in depth knowledge of Netware, Linux and Windows. On the hardware side, I have worked with Compaq, HP and Dell server hardware along with HP, Dell/Equalogic and NetApp SANS.
As a network engineer, I have had exposure to a wide selection of vendor harware including Netgear, Linksys, HP, 3Com, Juniper and Cisco. My main area of expertise is in Cisco hardware and I specialise in security.
New Skills
I have recently gained a CCDA certification along with the Security Solutions Design Specialist certification helping my employer to become one of only 56 Cisco partners in the UK to be specialised in Cisco advanced security solutions.
At the end of last year, I also attended the Platespin analyst course and subsequently passed the CPSA exam to become a Certified Platespin Analyst. Platespin is a Novell owned company and they specialise in Server/Datacentre DR solutions.
Hobbies
Until recently, most of my time was spent sat in front of a PC, be it either at work or at home. Last September, that all changed (much to the dissappointment of my employer). Through the evil that is facebook, I got in touch with someone I used to work with when I was at DSG and to cut a long story short, we now live together so I have better things to do in the evening than sit in front of a PC.
Kay (the afforementioned person’s name) also introduced me to field archery. To put it simply, field archery is wandering round woodland shooting at lifesize models and pictures of animals with a bow an arrow. I’ve only been shooting since October 2008, so I’m not all that good yet (it takes a lot of practice) but I do enjoy the company and getting out of the house on a weekend.
Anything else about me you want to know, drop me a line.
