Photo of Ben Helps

Ben Helps is an ex Novocastrian, part time IT consulting, coffee swilling, agnostic, tinkering, blogging, dog breeding, funny, home business driven, wannabe handyman and devoted husband.

My Portfolio

Ben Helps >> 2 January 2006, 09:20 >> Personal >>

This area is a focus for my career related resources. It includes (or will include) my Resume, examples of my work (in terms of code, documentation and specs) and other employment related material.

As development items in my Shed mature they invariably make their way here.

 

Resume

Ben Helps >> 1 January 2006, 07:40 >> Personal >>

Personal Details

Name: Benjamin Edward Helps
Address: 129 High Street Greta NSW 2334 Australia
Phone: +61 410 583 653
Email: my email address
my photo

Education/Qualifications

University of Newcastle
City/Country: Newcastle/Australia
Qualification: Bachelor of Information Science
Completed: 1999
Belmont High School
City/Country: Newcastle/Australia
Qualification: Higher School Certificate
(3U Math, English, Economics, Physics, Computer Studies)
Completed: 1991

Recent Employment History

Wigglebum
Start Date: Aug 2007
Position/Title: Sole Trader (Retail Trade)
Responsibilities/Achievements: Taking over management of the Pet Shop Boyz show van, my wife and I now run all aspects of the business, as well as an online outlet for the products. I also still perform contract IT analyst/consultant work.
HRworkbench Pty Ltd
Start Date: July 2001
End Date: Sept 2007
Position/Title: Applications Programmer/Systems Administrator
Responsibilities/Achievements: At HRworkbench I started as an Applications Developer and as a team grew around me my role grew to include general systems administration duties.
  • Development and administration of SQL Server (2000) databases
  • Development of websites using ASP, D/HTML, Javascript, CSS, XSLT, Java and ASP.NET(C#;ASPX,ASMX,libraries)
  • Development of inhouse automation utilities using Visual Basic, Java and C#
  • Administration of Windows Server (2000, 2003, SBS 2003) machines and Desktop PC's including DNS, IIS, SQL Server, DHCP, ISA, DC, patches, upgrades and third party applications (ActivePDF, MDaemon, McAfee, inhouse apps)
  • Provide input into technical strategic direction for future developments
Connect Personnel
Start Date: Jan 2001
End Date: Jun 2001
Position/Title: Database Programmer
Responsibilities/Achievements: While on the books at Connect Personnel I was contracted to various companies for applications development work including:
  • Upgrading/developing and maintaining an integrated home-grown inventory, purchase order, invoice, job card and inspection reporting system for a company in the conveyor servicing industry (VBA, MS Access, SQL Server 7, ASP)
  • Recommending and implementing a large database upgade from a client/server environment of Access/Access to Access/SQL Server
  • Recommending and developing software for a handheld barcode reader (Psion Walkabout; OVAL) to allow previously paper based inspection reports of large utility companies to be partially automated.

Skillset

Skill/ToolSkill LevelExposure
Operating Systems & Server Tools
Microsoft Windows (98, 2000 and XP workstations; 2000, 2003 and SBS 2003 server)IntermediateDaily
Linux (mainly debian & slackware based)IntermediateWeekly
DHCP, Active Directory, DNSIntermediateMonthly
IISAdvancedWeekly
Terminal ServicesAdvancedDaily
Applications
Microsoft SQL Server (Query Analyser, Enterprise Manager, Profiler)ExpertDaily
Microsoft cmd line tools (eg ipconfig, net, netstat, nslookup, tracert, qgrep, etc)AdvancedDaily
Linux cmd line tools (eg grep, sed, tail, cat, ifconfig, etc)AdvancedWeekly
PuTTY/SSHAdvancedWeekly
wgetAdvancedWeekly
Adobe Photoshop/GIMPAdvancedWeekly
Visual Studio (6.0, 2003, 2005)IntermediateDaily
MDaemon mail serverIntermediateWeekly
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook)IntermediateWeekly
Outlook/Thunderbird mail clientsIntermediateMonthly
Flash MX 2004IntermediateMonthly
ActivePDFIntermediateYearly
Languages
T/SQLExpertDaily
C# (ASPX/MX/CX, libraries, services)AdvancedWeekly
D/X/HTML, CSS, XSLT, ASP, JavascriptAdvancedDaily
Visual BasicIntermediateMonthly
DHCPIntermediateYearly
Java (J2ME, J2SE)IntermediateYearly
PerlIntermediateMonthly

References

Jagdip Trivedi
Phone: +61 2 4926 5855
Organisation/Position: HRworkbench Pty Ltd/IT Manager
Jim Delaney
Phone: +61 2 4960 0708
Organisation/Position: Pet Shop Boyz/General Manager
James Tocci
Phone: +61 2 4927 2256
Organisation/Position: Hudson IT&T/IT&T Consultant
 

Designs

Ben Helps >> 31 December 2005, 14:24 >> Personal >>

Seat of the Pants Design.
Fittingly, designed in five minutes.
Seat of the Pants Design