Resume - William Dicks
Located in Pretoria
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Background |
Birthday – 11 January 1963 (in Springs) Schools - Primary –
Laerskool Morewag - High – Hoerskool
Stoffberg (Matric 1980) Military Service – July 1981-June
1983 |
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Family |
Married, and have two teenage children. |
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Objective |
Providing expert
assistance in developing systems, with proven experience. I would like
to move into the Project Management arena and my 20+ years of
experience in software development will add greatly to this. Further, I
have completed a Project Management course in Aug 2013. With my
extensive experience of over 20 years on different projects, I believe
I have the experience to provide you with strong project management
knowledge from an insider’s point of view. |
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Work experience |
Sep 2010 -> Telemetry software - Boksburg, South Africa Senior Software Developer §
My responsibilities
are as follows: Design/maintenance
of system/modules. §
Developed a web
application that receives and displays information on the well-being of
power generators. Windows services collect the info, sort and inserts
it into a MS SQL database, while the web application displays the info
after extracting it from the database. §
Currently
redeveloping old legacy system in C#.NET for the business to keep track
of rental equipment with regards to GPS position, company rented to,
equipment condition via telemetry, mapping, etc. §
Development and
maintenance of software done in Visual Studio .NET 2010 /2012 using C#. §
Done a lot of MS SQL
work from database design to stored procedures and the like.
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Dec 2007 -> Sep 2010 eCommerce - Pretoria, South Africa Senior Software Developer §
My responsibilities
are as follows: Design/maintenance
of system/modules. §
All projects are
Webservice related, or making use of webservices. §
Development and
maintenance of software done in Visual Studio .NET 2003/2005/2008 and
2010(for new projects) using C++. §
Our development is
in the Digital Rights Management arena in securing software in
preventing unauthorized use.
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Jun 2004 -> Nov 2007 SIM Card on cell phone - Woodmead, South Africa Senior Software Developer §
My responsibilities
were as follows: Design of
system/modules (mostly with the use of UML). Documentation of the
designed system using a modified form of the MIL-STD-498 standards
(brought into the company at my suggestion), including the following
documents: Operational Concept
Description, Interface Design Description,
Interface Requirements Specification, Software
Design Description, Software Requirements
Specification, System/Subsystem Design
Description. Development of
respective modules. Research on relevant
project issues. §
All projects were
SIM card related. Accessing SIM cards to either retrieve data or write
data, including repairing of the SIM card OS by loading OS patches onto
the card. §
As clients demanded
to have certain SIM card applications (cell phone banking, information
retrieval, etc) added to their SIM cards, it was my responsibility to design, develop and add
these STK (SIM ToolKit)
applications to their SIM cards. §
All access to SIM
cards in projects were done via the PCSC standard. §
Development and
maintenance of software done in Visual Studio .NET 2003 using C++. New
projects will be and are currently developed using C#. §
Interface
with clients (across Africa and Madagascar) on technical issues related
to communication between cell phone network and SIM card either by way
of email, telephone calls or actual visits to their premises. §
Troubleshooting
to find problems with interface between cards and network. |
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Feb 2001 -> Jun 2004 Military/government secure software - Pretoria, South Africa Senior Software Developer §
My responsibilities
were as follows: Design of
system/modules. Documentation of the
designed system according to the MIL-STD-498 standards, including the
following documents: Operational Concept
Description, Interface Design Description,
Interface Requirements Specification, Software
Design Description, Software Requirements
Specification, System/Subsystem Design
Description. Development of
respective modules. Research on relevant
project issues. §
Heading up a small team
within a larger project. This project facilitated the encryption of
files on local or network drives. Authentication for
reading/writing/encryption/decryption was done via PKI certificates and
PINs. §
Worked on a system
that upgrades any tcp/ftp connections to a secure level of 128-bit
encryption. Uses PKI to verify certificates. Based on SSL. Running on
Win95/98, WinNT, Win2K. Developed using MS VC++ 6. §
Worked on a
government system that will give government ministers the ability to
work on machines that are secured by smart cards/thumb readers. Via
this logon process they will then be allowed to work on their own PCs
and also on a secure network. My involvement is to create secure
passwords using the SHA1 hash algorithm and also to write the private
keys, public certificate and CA certificate to a smart card. §
Headed up a small
team to rewrite the GUI of our own in-house developed firewall. I was
responsible for meeting target dates and ensuring that the members of
the team had everything they needed in assisting them with meeting
their targets. §
Developed a new
smartcard DLL in VC++ (v6.0) for the government system. The system, at
that time, was using a DLL provided by a §
Using UML in all
cases to design systems. I was also responsible for writing System
Requirements Specification (SRS) and System Subsystem Design Documents
(SSDD). §
All development of
software done using Visual C++ 6.0. |
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1999 - 2000 Insurance - Columbus, Ohio, USA Staff Consultant §
Worked
at Nationwide Financial Systems (http://www.nationwide.com/) in
Columbus, Ohio in the USA. §
Converted
a 16-bit Windows 3.1 Structured Settlement system developed in Visual
C++ 1.5 to a 32-bit Win95/NT system in Visual C++ 6. §
A lot
of controls had to be taken out of the 16-bit system due to
incompatibilities with 32-bit architecture, and then replaced with new
code. §
The
system had to interface with the software of several other Life
Insurance companies. §
I was
responsible for liaising with their development people to ensure a
smooth interface with their software. §
I also
had to development COM interfaces with one of these companies’ DLL
software. §
I also had to design additional work on this
system when new needs arose. Therefore, I had to analyze the needs and
then finally develop the extras associated with these needs. Accomplishments I was “Consultant of
the Quarter” for the 3rd quarter of 2000. Due to hard work
and the complete redesign and re-implementation of the old software
system, I was able to deliver the package to the user on time to enable
its use with new quotation structures. |
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1998
Postal services - Pretoria, South Africa Consultant §
July
1998-January 1999 §
Developed
a financial reporting program for the South African Post Office after
all the claims of corruption. The information would be collated from
files that were deposited on a network server by mainframe programs. §
We made
use of Borland C++ Builder. |
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1996 – 1998
Military Software - Pretoria, South Africa Systems Analyst §
February
1996-February 1997 §
Helped
with some of the design and development on NT using Visual C++ 4.1 on
an Air force Intelligence system that gathered and communicated
information across SA. §
The
system consisted of a front end (developed in Visual Basic), middleware
(Visual C++), and backend (ORACLE database). §
For the
complete period I helped develop the middleware, and for 4 months at
the end I helped speed up the development and analyzing of new needs on
the front end using Visual Basic. Accomplishments I was incorporated
into the VB team to provide leadership in order for them to meet their
target dates. The team that worked on the VB front end was running
behind schedule. As a result I was brought in to provide leadership and
technical assistance to bring the project up to speed. At this time I
had to learn VB first. As a result the project was delivered on time
within specifications. §
March
1997-June 1998 §
After
above project I joined another project that in the end interfaced with
the above project. §
This
project was wholly developed in Visual C++ on NT for the SA Air force. §
It was
a RADAR system display getting information from physical RADAR systems
and displaying and tracking movement of any flying objects, whether
friendly or enemy. §
It will
also display information gathered by the system above. |
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1995 - 1996
Banking - Sandton, South Africa Analyst Programmer §
April
1995-January 1996 §
Maintained
existing system on OS/2 in Borland C++. §
System
was a relay and converter in an International Forex system. Using
TCP/IP the OS/2 machine had to communicate with UNIX, MVS and CICS. §
I did
some minor work on UNIX too in C++ and also some SQL work. §
I headed up the PC
development of the International Treasury Department and liaised with
the developers and team leaders of the mainframe and UNIX teams. Accomplishments When I was brought
onto the team, the project was going slow and the OS/2 side of the
project was in disarray. Due to great effort and proper design I was
able to ensure that the project was delivered on time for live
employment. |
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1990 - 1995
Antivirus - Pretoria, South Africa Senior Programmer §
January 1990-July
1991 - Started as security guard at this company. §
July 1991-March 1995 - Was trained by the company in C. We
developed anti-virus and PC security software primarily for the Defence
Force. By the time I left, I was a Senior Programmer, and also the head
programmer of the anti-virus software, and was also involved in helping
with the PC security software. We developed primarily for DOS, and then
some for Windows 3.1. Developed primarily in C, but also did work in
Pascal and PC assembler. Started developing in Borland C++ by the end. §
I took leadership of
the technical design and development of the anti-virus software to
ensure proper standards and functionality. Accomplishments I was the first to
isolate the EXEBUG_A virus after travelling to the Louis Trichardt air
force base to investigate a possible virus complaint. I investigated
the behaviour of several PCs, and after several hours of contemplation
was able to isolate this virus. Upon my return to the office I was able
to analyse the virus and provide a solution for its removal and the
repairs of a computer’s Master Boot Record and the boot sector of a
floppy. This solution was provided within 24 hours of isolating the
virus. As a result of this we were able to send a copy of the virus and
the removal code to Scotland Yard in the UK and to the developers of
the F-Prot Antivirus system in Finland. While still working
at this comany, I totally revamped the code base of our antivirus
product to be more modular in its approach which helped for a much
speedier addition of code for the removal of viruses and the repairs of
files or hard disk sectors. I also headed up the
coding standards committee for Pascal and PC Assembler at the company
during the time they sought to become ISO9001 compliant. |
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Programming Languages |
Language |
Time used |
Last used |
Objective-C/C++ |
2009 |
2010 |
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C# |
Since 2005 |
current |
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C++ |
Since 1994 |
2010 |
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C |
Since 1991 |
2010 |
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VC++ |
Since 1996 |
2010 |
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Java |
Training
only (May
2002) |
2002 |
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Java on SIM |
Since 2007 |
2007 |
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MS SQL |
2010 |
current |
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Education |
1985 - 1989 Hatfield School of Theology Pretoria BA degree in
Bible/Theology §
Hatfield
School of Theology (now Hatfield Training Center) is a Bible school
that is affiliated with Global University in Irving, Texas. §
I did
two years of practical pastoring as student pastor/intern. Accomplishments I was student leader
in my final year of study. |
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1994 - 1996 UNISA Pretoria §
Diploma
in Datametrics (Computer Science major) |
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§
Completed a Project
Management course in August 2013 through MySkills Online at http://www.myskills.co.za
in conjunction with Mind Leaders. Subjects covered are: -
Project
Management Overview -
Understanding
the Project Manager's Role -
Defining
the Problem -
Determining
the Strategy -
Developing
the Work Breakdown Structure -
Estimating
and Scheduling Resources -
Understanding
Scheduling Computations -
Tracking
Project Activities -
Closing
Out the Project -
Formalizing
Project Management Standards -
Developing
Project Teams -
Ensuring
Your Own Effectiveness §
I have also done
several courses to enhance my abilities in C, C++, UML and Java. Microsoft
Courses §
Feb 2012 - 6232B:
Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Database §
Nov 2012 - 10267A:
Introduction to Web Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 §
Apr 2013 - 10265A:
Developing Data Access Solutions with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 §
May 2013 - 10266A:
Programming in C# with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 §
Jun 2013 - 10264A:
Developing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 |
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Extracurricular Interests and activities |
Church §
Actively involved in
church. §
Led a Bible study
group from 1986-1998. §
While in the USA
from Jan 1999 – Dec 2000 I was a Sunday School teacher together with my
wife at our local church there. §
Headed up a
theological study group from 2001-2004. Issues §
I am
still involved in writing theological articles for the WEB. §
The
writing of theological articles helps me to think in a coherent manner
to ensure professional documents. §
I maintain two BLOGs
(Web Log) in which I tackle issues on theology and write cultural and
political commentary. |
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Community Interests |
§
Elected to serve on
the Ward Committee of Ward 47 of the Tshwane City Council. Finished 5
years of service here in March 2011. |
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Languages |
§
English §
Afrikaans |
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Security clearance |
§
“Secret” during time
at Infoplan (SITA) and Isis. |
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Hobbies |
§
Reading §
Music §
Movies |