Curriculum Vitae for Richard Ferris

Personal Statement


A self motivated and creative I.T professional looking to start work in development or systems administration having finished a long and successful role in telecoms, where I used my development skills to automate certain fault checking tasks. A hard worker and a strong team player.


Work Experience



ICT Teacher iGCSE and iAS Level (CAVC-CN Shanghai) :
Aug 2020 - Feb 2021

  • Taught ICT as a subject at iGCSE and iAS level at Cardiff and Vale College in Shanghai : http://sh.cavc-cn.com/ Content included spreadsheets, focusing on formulas and including pivot tables, relational databases using Microsoft Access, including creating complex queries and the manipulation of forms using VisualBasic event procedures, Microsoft Word including mail merge and sound and video editing. Added Shadowsocks to my VPN setup. Also taught the basics of Blender.


    English Foreign Language Teacher (TeachTEFLinChina) :
    Mar 2019 - July 2020

  • Taught English as a foreign language at two schools in China, firstly the Primary School Associated with Shimen Experimental Middle School http://smfx.org and again at Sanshui Foreign Languages School, part of BFSU : http://www.bwfxss.com/ Improved my interpersonal skills while teaching students English through a variety of media. Used Powerpoint, LibreOffice, GIMP, Microsoft Office. Deployed a VPN before I left for China as a backup to be used for when other VPNs are censored, with SSH to two specific Ips and Teamviewer to a laptop as a backup. This proved invaluable, allowing myself and other teachers to download teaching resources from outside Chinas network.



    Technician (Spirent Communications) :
    Mar 2016 - Nov 2018

  • Maintained networks of probes running Android testing wifi, LTE and Ethernet for O2, Boingo, Carrefour, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland, and Sprint. Provided worldwide tech support, assisting customers with custom SQL queries for retrieving test data from the database, deployed python scripts to run the SQL queries as a cron job. Gained detailed knowledge of Android while devising fixes for issues with the probes. Physically installed probes and shipped replacements for faulty probes to customers worldwide. Deployed instances using Amazon Web Services (each customer had a dedicated VM and SQL database). Upgraded instances to new versions of the software when needed. Deployed automated alerting using Datadog and python. Obtained exposure to Java, javascript, TSQL, C++, Arduino when producing a concept for a new product, python and tomcat7. Used Salesforce to manage tickets internally and from customers.


    Faults Management Centre (Fujitsu Services and later under Virginmedia) : Sep 2005 - Dec 2014

  • Managed and resolved faults for a variety of resellers (VirginMedia, Tiscali, AT&T, and BTN3 NHS contract etc), liasing with managers, technical agents and service managers to ensure speedy resolution of service impacting issues. Also managing networking devices remotely in order to diagnose and resolve failures on a large WAN (mixture of Cisco and WorldWide Packets devices). Also used HP Openview and LENS (LightningEdge Network Supervisor) to maintain and configure devices on the WAN. Employed scripts to discover devices on the WAN whose IP address differed from the documented one, also designed some scripts in TCL and expect to automate logging onto devices and some other functions.




    VISP Internet Technical Support (firstly with NTL then later under a TUPE agreement with Fujitsu) : Apr 2003 - Sep 2005

  • Advising customers on how to connect to the internet for a variety of resellers (Virgin.net, Tesco Internet Access, NTL Home and NTL Freedom), analyzing problems from the customer's end to ours and providing a quick, simple fix to the problem. Handling billing queries. Liaising with managers and colleagues to find the best course of action when faults occur. Dealing with problems quickly and effectively in a highly pressured environment.



    Access Database Work (Gasforce) : Jan - Mar 2003

  • Designing, maintaining and organizing a database of employees for GasForce, including writing a manual, and designing a user friendly front end with active components using SQL and some Visual Basic statements. Liaising with managers on useful facilities to add to the database and adding instructions on these facilities to the manual.



    Data Entry & Filing Clerk : Jul 2002 - Nov 2002

  • Entered rail safety records, maintained a property database using Access and did some filing work with GTRM (now Carillion)



    Education

    Imperial College, London, England :
    Electronic and Electrical Engineering 1997 - 1999

    University of Bath:
    Electronic and Electrical Engineering 1999 - 2001

    Bachelor of Engineering (BEng Ord) from University of Bath after starting study at Imperial College
    University of Wales College Newport (UWCN) : Module 8297n : Programming in Visual Basic (Pass) Feb 2002 - July 2002
    University of Wales College Newport (UWCN) : Module 8286n : Advanced Programming (using Java) (Distinction) Feb 2002 - July 2002

    1996 A Level results

  • Attained an A in Physics, B in Mathematics and C in Chemistry

    Rougemont School, Wales Sept 1990 - July 1995
  • Attained 10 high G.C.S.E grades with A grades in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry

    Key Skills

  • Well suited to operating within a team.
  • Technically strong with a foundation in a diverse range of technologies.
  • Excellent telephone manner.

    IT Skills

  • I can program to an effective degree using Visual Basic, C, C++, Basic, Assembly (Intel and MIPS), and Matlab, and I am quick to learn new languages and get used to new operating systems and development environments. I have been involved in a team based programming project while studying for my degree.
  • I have good management skills and can manage small teams effectively. I can also operate well in a team.
  • I have excellent communication skills and know what information is relevant to a particular issue.
  • I have worked with Win9x, NT, ME, XP, and Windows 7. I am also familiar with Sun OS, Linux Red Hat, Debian, and many other operating systems and database packages. I can write and deploy scripts to solve certain problems.
  • I have worked with the following networking operating systems in order to resolve faults : Cisco IOS, LightningEdge LEOS and Alcatel
  • Also experienced with internet protocols such as ftp, smtp, pop, snmp ssh etc.

    References are available upon request


  • CV and professional information