Ed Hirst

I have worked in IT Support for the past seven years. My experience with the companies I’ve worked for has given me a good overview of business in general, from the small to the multinational. Most of my time in the last four years has been spent on Government / MOD customer sites, and I have been vetted to the appropriate levels.

My experience is detailed below, but ranges from basic installation of physical clients, through to support, design and deployment of wide-scale enterprise products, operating systems and infrastructural elements.

I enjoy computing and always try to further my knowledge and experience by experimenting with technology out of work hours; for example I have recently set up a VMWare ESX server in order to facilitate additional learning.

‘Getting things done’ is my preferred way of working, with a clearly defined set of requirements and solid project plan. Politics and ‘treacle’ are a pet hate. I am ultimately looking to work in a forward-thinking, fast moving organisation; one that doesn’t shy away from the latest innovations and technologies, which embraces progress and invests in its staff and its facilities.

Mixed Roles

Logica | November 2011 – Present

• Secure laptop build / image management and deployment for Government agency
• Floor-walking and first-line user support on Outlook 2010 rollout to Gatwick Airport

Technical Specialist III

HP-CDS | June 2010 – November 2011

• Management and maintenance of Altiris Deployment solution and, latterly, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007
• Co-ordination of technical investigation into long-standing network performance and usability issues, utilising Microsoft Premier Engineers.
• Testing and development of Microsoft Windows 7 build with Microsoft Office 2010 for deployment across three secure corporate environments
• Investigation and proposal for implementation for virtualisation technology (VMWare ESX, vSphere and vCentre Management Server)
• Technical Lead on Phase 2 HP Managed Print Service; CESG-approved secure ‘Follow-Me-Printing’. Gained SafeCom Certified Technician status as part of the project
• Support Lead for Documentum following implementation by EMC

Systems Administrator

2e2 & Raytheon Systems Ltd | January 2010 – June 2010

• Administration of PICASSO system (five environments – three physical two virtual)
• Administration of approx. 400 client machines
• Management of IBM BladeCenter Server infrastructure (HS20, HS21 blades)
• VMWare ESX used for training and testing environment administration
• Planning and upgrade of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator from 3.6.0 to 4.5 on all environments
• Investigation and implementation of Microsoft System Center Essentials for testing purposes
• Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange 2003 used for management of user accounts

Technical Specialist II

HP-CDS | May 2008 – December 2009

• Customer facing role – remote, phone and on-site, covering all layers of management
• Providing support for first, second and third-tier software products
• Senior engineering role supporting site-wide rollout of new machines and aftercare.
• Creation, Installation, configuration and troubleshooting of customised Windows XP build
• Citrix ICA Client for Active Directory and Altiris “Carbon Copy” Remote Desktop software
• Veritas NetBackup software
• Initiating and overseeing creation of procedures and best practices; later taken up by management as the de-facto knowledge-base for the entire support team on site
• Troubleshooting hardware (HP DC7700/7800/7900 machines and HP printers with HP JetAdmin), infrastructure issues (Policy configuration, NTFS permissions, etc)
• Overseeing and scheduling of software deployments for projects
• Supporting the withdrawal of legacy NT4/Windows 2000 infrastructure

Floor-Walker & Implementation Engineer

Siemens (National Welsh Assembly) | March 2008 – April 2008

• Customer-facing role – floor-walking and installation of machines
• Installation and support of Citrix-based Thin Clients and Citrix/Local-based Thick Clients and Laptops (HP Hardware)

Training

JBC Computers | February 2008 – March 2008

Desktop Engineer & Technical Specialist I

HP-CDS | July 2007 – January 2008

• As per May 2008 onwards at the same establishment

Floor-Walker & Implementation Engineer

Fujitsu-Siemens (National Welsh Assembly) | March 2007 – April 2007

• VPN Client Rollout; purge of old VPN solutions and potential software conflicts followed by installation and configuration of new client
• Using Barron McCann ‘X-Kryptor’ VPN software, developed with CESG
• Client rolled out to Welsh Development Agency laptops (Windows XP, non-common builds) on remote sites in South, North, West and Central Wales

Training & Freelance

JBC Computers Ltd & Freelance | February 2007 – July 2007

• Desktop and Network Support
• Internal Hardware and Peripheral Installation, Repair and Fault Finding
• System Auditing
• Active Directory and administration of domain objects
• Networking Infrastructure (Account and Local/Group Policy configuration, folder security)
• Usage of Remote Administrative Tools
• Installation of Intelligent Hardware
• Site consultation and configuration for DATE Electronic Supplies

IT Support

Pavecost Manufacturing Ltd & DATE Electronic Supplies | February 2005 – February 2007

• Administration, maintenance and troubleshooting of all hardware and software
• Administration of network infrastructure
• Operating Systems installed and used: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP
• Installation and configuration of Microsoft Office 97 and 2003 – email (Outlook Express and Outlook 2003), Word processing, Spreadsheets
• Maintaining the SQL server (including manual adjustments) using Enterprise Manager
• Configuration and installation of multiple clients for DATE Electronic Supplies (inc. drive imaging and testing)
• Content creator and design consultant for DATE Electronic Supplies online ordering system
• Documentation of purchasing side of MRP system with ancillaries, all IT systems and SQL

[2010] SafeCom Certified Technician

[2009] DV Level Security Clearance

[2007] SC Level Security Clearance

[2001 - 2003] St Joseph’s RC High School, Newport [Sixth Form]

A Levels: Computing, Economics, Physics

[1999 - 2001] St Joseph’s RC High School, Newport

GCSEs: Information Technology, English, English Literature, Business Studies, Religious Studies, Drama & Theatre Arts, Double Award Science, Mathematics