Resume
Kiffin Rex Gish
Advanced Software Development and Scrum Specialist
kiffin [dot] gish [at] planet [dot] nl
Team Leader ICT
April 2009 - Present
Web-based computer mediated therapy via the Internet using the Catalyst Web Framework, DBIx::Class and Moose. Perl, JavaScript (jQuery and Ext JS). Extensive (load-)testing using the Perl Test framework. Lighttpd, fastcgi and MySQL. Trac, Smolder and BuildBot. Work closely with expert psychologists in designing and implementing the next generation flag ship therapy product. Introduced and fostered a professional development environment based on open source tools.
Team Lead Dynamic Content & Publishing
May 2007 - March 2009
Responsible for a team of top-notch software engineers designing, developing and rolling out a robust and highly scalable LBS (location based services) platform. In addition to providing geocoding, mapping, HD traffic, travel advisor and POI capabilities, we built a web-based route planner for showcasing the extensive TomTom product portfolio on the company web site, which received very positive reviews worldwide. All software development was based on agile software development (Scrum), using Java EE and Spring, JBoss, GridGain, C/C++, Perl, Apache, JavaScript, Ajax and JSON. Did man management, recruitment and bi-yearly reviews. Created from scratch and instructed inhouse Scrum trainings for developers and project leaders. 3 recommendations (see below).
Team Leader Development
June 2006 - May 2007
Management of the development team consisting of 10+ software and test engineers whose task was designing, implementing and testing the Equipment Control System (ECS) for the Euromax project, a new and highly automated container terminal in the Rotterdam Maasvlakte. Based on a zero-configuration Holonics architecture using CORBA, C/C++, Java, Python and Unix shell scripting in an object-oriented distributed environment, Linux/Unix on Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise. Development methodology was based on RUP.
Team Leader Development
April 2004 - January 2006
Managed and coached a medium-sized development team of 6-10 software engineers. Products included VPN Connect, 3rd party XML-interface, Telco-Telco migration, ticketing tool for support, and an improved Webmail and self-service page for customers. Gained new insights into the design of data-base driven sites (Perl-DBI), mainly for UNIX-like environments. Also had experience developing web applications based on Web Services (SOAP and RPC-XML) architecture, and acted as liaison project manager for organizing and tracking outsourced develop work via third parties. Acquired some experience with UML 2.0 using Enterprise Architect for requirements, use cases, data models, etc. Required knowledge included: (X)HTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl/CGI, Template Toolkit, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Bugzilla and other Open Source tools.
IT Consultant (freelance)
October 2002 - Present
As owner and principal consultant of my own company called GishTeq, my goal is to provide independent consulting services to companies developing and deploying e-business solutions. Project management, web site analytics, business process improvement, as well as web design, implementation and deployment. I was an official reseller of the Webtrends product. Required skills included: C/C++, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl and CGI, Apache Server, Visual Basic, Java and XML for the Windows/UNIX environments. Here is a list of the most important freelance projects that I did:
- Seeas BV in Haarlem
Perl developer
November 2009 - Present
General support and customer tailoring of OTRS, an advanced open source ticketing request system. Perl, JavaScript, jQuery, Ajax, MySQL under Ubuntu Server. - Pace Micro Technology PLC in Leeds UK
Lead Software Architect
April 2006 - May 2006
System architecture design for the mobile PVR2GO product line of TV-centric multimedia devices, IPTV, specifically the portal interface based on web services. - Blinck International BV in Amsterdam
Team Manager Development
February 2006 - March 2006
Management of the development team designing, developing and extending the interactive mobile messaging platform based on premium short messages. 1 recommendation (see below). - Telfort in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost
Senior Perl developer
February 2004 - April 2004
Designed and implemented an SMS gateway written as an OOP Perl daemon acting as a large account via Universal Computer Protocol (UCP), connecting an CMG SMS Center to the Telfort Service computer network.
Sr. e-Business Management Consultant
September 2001 - September 2002
Responsible for general consultation at IT-companies in The Hague and Rotterdam areas, focusing mainly on E-business with expertise in wireless telecom, mobile applications and back office integration. Served as project manager for the tracking and oversight of various i-mode Services activities at a major Dutch mobile telecom operator. Reviewed and analyzed the eTOM (Telecom Operator Map) business process model to see if this standard framework could be used for customers in the business of service providers, eg. telecom, utilities & other communication and information companies. Restarted and gave new life to a telecom interest group in order to assess the current situation and prepare a roadmap for the future. Other activities included commercial assistance for presentations, definition of a eTOM service portfolio, support for a Visual Basic Training, creation of "blended" self-study modules for the learning institute, the design/maintenance Telecom Knowledge Group intranet site.
June 1997 - August 2001
Project Manager Partner Program
November 2000 - August 2001
Overall coordinator responsible for the definition, implementation & completion of the global (content) partner program, goal was to strengthen CMG's position in the business of wireless end-user services. Based on business development research, a number of companies were selected to participate, based on their core technical as well as business competence. Through a certification process, the objective was to assist customers like mobile operators, Internet and Application Service Providers as well as large enterprises with the creation of business solutions. Through the successful creation of a global partnering framework, the project was already expanding beyond the initial WAP Service Broker product to include the other telecom products like the Short Message Service Center, Cell Broadcast Center and Mobile Email.
Management Project Office
November 1999 - October 2000
Responsible for the implementation of the Management Project Office (MPO) within the development department, covering all phases from Plan of Approach, to implementation and acceptance. International roll out to other companies in Ireland, USA and The Netherlands. The goal was to set up a uniform, self-contained project office infrastructure for tracking and oversight, management reporting structure and a historical database. Based on the advanced planning tool Project Scheduler 7 (PS7). I also designed and implemented a time-registration interface between an Oracle database and the planning tool based on Visual Basic 6.0 Used MS-Access extensively for the definition and support of a historical database, metrics and resource management. Our team was successful in creating a support structure for the training, coaching and general trouble-shooting of (junior) project leaders and their team members.
Team Manager
December 1998 - October 1999
Managed the Value Added Services Platform (VASP) maintenance team of 23 internal consultants and subcontractors. Man management tasks included regular job controls and yearly reviews, coaching and training, as well as career planning issues. I was an active participant of the weekly management meetings, including personnel rankings and policy making. Also took part in recruitment activities. Staff training involved organizing technical workshops with external third parties, and running the CMG Telecom Academy together with our business partner Global Knowledge Networks, which was a specific 3-month training program for recent graduate students and joiners unfamiliar with telecom.
Project Leader
June 1997 - November 1998
Was technical lead for a team of 5 developers designing, implementing and testing the components for the Value Added Services Platform (VASP) under Unix with an installed base worldwide for major telecom operators. Supported applications for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems using Amarex Voice-Mail service APIs. Brought to completion a one-year 'Unified Messaging' project with Ericsson for their Intelligent Network interface (NIP), culminating in a successful three-week acceptance program at their test facility in Karlskrona, Sweden. Expertise in Unix and C, MS Project, System Architect and INAP protocol API using Ericsson's Portable SS7 stack.
Project Manager
May 1994 - May 1997
Provided technical support and consultancy of mobile telecommunications at various customer sites in the transport, public services and e-mail market segments. Gave advice and supervision during development of third-party applications, mainly for the expansion of existing networks and client/server systems to a (Mobitex) wireless environment. Acquired knowledge of communication software using C/C++ APIs for Unix, MS-DOS, Windows and Visual Basic. Expertise was in the analysis and optimization of network connections, e.g. packet-switching networks and modern telecommunication protocols. Did trouble-shooting of X.25, TCP/IP, AT, gateways and client/server architectures, especially under Unix and Windows. Supervised the testing and analysis of software with the objective of successful certification of communication products for Mobitex. 1 recommendation (see below).
April 1992 - April 1994
Team Leader
January 1993 - April 1994
Was responsible for the administration and supervision of progress within the Desktop Group development department. Scheduled and monitored all project activities using planning tool MS Project. Reviewed the quality control of deliverables according to internal requirements. Fostered the contacts between departments and external customers. Did management and supervision of software programmers across a number of GUI platforms. Lead and inspired the developers via weekly meetings and bi-yearly evaluation reports. Ordered and regulated the necessary hard- and software. Expertise was in (protected mode) MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 Presentation Manager, Motif, OpenLook, C and Assembler. Also provided technical support, bug fixing and Uniface enhancement work, and I was fellow-designer and developer of the OS/2 2.x GUI driver ported under the Workplace Shell.
Software Engineer
April 1992 - December 1992
Did customer support and handled problem reports for a wide range of software problems, and if requested, implemented enhancements and customer wishes to the existing Uniface 3GL engine. Followed maintenance of current code-lines and the specified improvements via code walkthroughs. Specialized in MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 PM, C and Assembler. Ported various TCP/IP and database drivers for Windows and MS-DOS, including low-level debugging of Windows and (DOS extender) protected-mode driver DLLs. Gradually grew into a junior project leader and developer for porting the Windows GUI driver to OS/2 PM.
System Engineer
March 1988 - May 1992
Did application design, programming and testing, drafting, and analyzing system requirements. Designed information systems in cooperation with customers, acceptance tests and user system documentation. Was member of Electric Paper Facility team under the Megadoc Project, specializing in the analysis and development of image processing and text viewing applications and DLLs. Using the Unix utilities LEX and YACC, implemented an MS-DOS redirector via NETBIOS. Designed and developed a compiler for Remote Procedure Calling (RPC), a device driver SCSI controller for WORM disk drives, and an Optical Media Manager for administering and controlling Optical Disk Jukeboxes. Expertise was in UNIX, C and C++, and Fortran, VAX/VMS, Assembler, MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 PM.
Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam
Drs., Physics and Computer Science, 1983 - 1988
Doktoraal Astronomy
Stanford University in Palo Alto, California USA
BS, Biology, 1975 - 1979
Activities and Societies: Active member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, took part in a number of intramural sports like golf.
Salinas High in Salinas, California USA
1972 - 1975
Honors and Awards
2nd place Monterey County Mathletics, 1974
Honors award High School
Good fiction (as well as psychology, history, philosophy and computer books), playing golf, watching film classics, (modern) classical music, rock-and-roll, and country, programming for fun, jogging and inline skating, bicycling and camping, and sometimes getting carried away playing on my laptop into the wee hours of the morning. I have been captivated by the latest improvements of Internet and computer technology. I remain fascinated with Perl and the new developments regarding Perl 6 and Parrot.
"Kiffin did a superb job balancing management of a diverse and talented team, and top-tier technical expertise in developing a robust, high performance, critical-path component in the routes.tomtom.com architecture. His development piece, a bespoke Apache plugin for serving map tiles, is the busiest piece in the architecture, already serving over 20M requests per day with 1ms response times from two servers. It had to be very fast, and very stable, and Kiffin's technical experience came in to play nicely here. He used a thorough and meticulous approach, backed by years of experience, to develop almost single handedly a simple, maintainable, efficient, and reliable piece of server software. I strongly recommend Kiffin as someone who can provide both management wisdom, leadership, and mentorship to a talented team; and the technical authority and expertise in C and Perl to deliver quality software efficiently. Throw in a great personality and mature diplomatic streak, and you have a guy who can keep a team cohesive, effective, happy, communicating well, and successful."
— Eric Bowman, Technical Lead, TomTom, reported to Kiffin at TomTom International BV
"Kiffin is a well educated scrum master. He has a thorough command of the scrum techniques and processes. He is very experienced in adapting scrum to the requirements of the company and the team. Kiffin has very good knowledge of Apache. As a team lead Kiffin is doing great. He is the 'grand-dad' of a team; he is caring well after the wellness and happiness of the team; more in general he solves the impediments so that the team can do its work smoothly. Kiffin knows how to setup, organize and maintain a WIKI for complex products."
— Ben Rutten, Solution Manager, TomTom, managed Kiffin indirectly at TomTom International BV
"I have known Kiffin for many years and have always seen him show a high level of engagement in whatever activity he undertakes. He is conscientious, a hard worker, results-oriented and, above all, a straight-shooter. He certainly has a gift for understanding complex technical subjects and transferring that knowledge into practical applications."
— Kevin Kearney, Student, Stanford University, worked with Kiffin at TomTom International BV
"In the complex role as Project Manager (pre- and post-sales), Kiffin managed to complete the projects assigned to him to the satisfaction of the client and in harmony with the business partner. His contribution to RAM can be characterised as: goal-oriented technical consultant but never forgetting the important details; communicative; linking pin; innovative; always looking for the optimal solution; and always correct."
— Sjef Bosman, Project Manager, Product Manager, RAM Mobile Data, worked directly with Kiffin at RAM Mobile Data
"Kiffin managed to create order in times of chaos, creating an environment where I could put my Perl skills to optimal use. Kiffin's patient personality and friendly character make him very good at creating structure for development teams. It is enlightening to work with a team leader who is also available as a sparring partner when it comes to complex Perl problems."
— Pieter Jansen, Perl Programming, Blinck (Project based), was with another company when working with Kiffin at Blinck International BV
