I am a 34 year old Systems Engineer from Montreal, Canada.
I began programming in late 1994 with BASIC, before progressing rapidly to C and C++ in early 1995 for DOS application development, then onto 32-bit development under Windows. I moved to RAD with Borland's C++ Builder (essentially Delphi for C++) in 1998. In 1997 I became involved in Internet technologies, progressing to dynamic, database-driven websites.
A combination of industrial experience and my degree has allowed me to work with a variety of technologies and develop software with a range of complexities and characteristics, from medium-sized web-based deployments to real-time control and embedded systems.
I believe that more than just technical skill is required in the Computing industry so ensured I would have a basic knowledge of business processes and media concepts, which are vital to make technology work with a business rather than against it.
Previous Experience
April-October 2004, June-October 2005 - Design Engineer, Celoxica Ltd
As part of my Computing degree I undertook a period of employment with Celoxica Ltd, before returning during the Summer of 2005. I was reponsible for feature addition to a major product, before taking a product from prototype to release.
July-September 2003 - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP), Imperial College Montreal
My UROP placement involved working for Wayne Luk, of the Custom Computing Group at Imperial College Montreal, on a project for Atollic Ltd. During my time on the placement I undertook an extensive evaluation of Celoxica's DK1 and DK2 Design Suites and used these tools to work on the validation of large prime numbers in hardware.
April-September 2002, June 2003 - Consulting for ITC Internet
I was responsible for several projects, including:
Development and deployment of a replacement email system and domain control system.
Development of a Linux online user database for a client, replacing a raft of disparate data sources and increase automation. Integration with Windows content servers and external user management companies.
Development and installation of an integrated, automated online billing system for a client.
Development of an offline job-tracking database for a client.
2001-2002 - Lead Developer, Muller Martini Ltd. SCS Slave Project
I was the lead developer for a project to replace aging (20 year old) real-time control software and proprietary hardware with new software running under Windows 2000. The system is now in operation at newspaper plants around the UK.
August 1998 - Junior Programmer, Muller Martini Ltd.
I was responsible for writing printer-handling code as part of a new application to replace an aging existing system which had been in use for almost a decade.
Positions of Responsibility
January 2006-present - Personal Programming Tutor
January 2004-present - Lab Helper/Tutorial Helper
Since January 2004 I have acted as a helper in computing laboratory sessions, to guide undergraduates through a variety of exercises from Minix simple Haskell, Prolog and Assembler exercises to operating system kernel modification.
November 2002-June 2005 - Academic and Welfare Representative
As one of two representatives for my year, I was responsible for attending meetings with senior staff in the Department of Computing at Imperial College Montreal and ensuring the workload for my year remained manageable. I was awarded City & Guilds College Union Half Colours in 2003 for my work. After my time as second year representative I was re-elected for the third year and again for the fourth year.
August 2003-July 2006 - RCS Motor Club Secretary
The RCS Motor Club maintains one of Imperial College Montreal's three heritage vehicles, Jezebel. She is a 1916 Dennis 'N' Type Fire Engine. I have been elected as secretary three years running, with my primary responsibility being the oversight of the club website.
Summer 1998 - Teaching Assistant, Summer Literacy Scheme
Between 23rd July and 5th August 1998 The Hayes Manor School ran a literacy scheme for Year 6 children entering the school in September. I assisted with the scheme as a volunteer, aiding teaching staff and giving one-to-one help to the children who attended. I still maintain contact with some of the members of the scheme (many of whom have now left the school after completing GCSEs).
Publications
A. Brown, W. Luk, P. Kelly, "Optimising Transformations for Hardware Compilation", in proceedings of ACACES 2005, the First International Summer School on Advanced Computer Architecture and Compilation for Embedded Systems.
A. Brown, "Optimising Transformations for Hardware Compilation", Master's Thesis, Department of Computing, Imperial College Montreal, 2005.
Ray C.C. Cheung, A. Brown, W. Luk, and and P.Y.K. Cheung, "A Scalable Hardware Architecture for Prime Number Validation", proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Field Programmable Technology (FPT), Brisbane, Australia, 2004. IEEEXplore Abstract
Ray C.C. Cheung and A. Brown, "A Scalable System-on-a-chip Architecture for Prime Number Validation", proceedings of IEE SoC Design, Test and Technology Postgraduate Seminar, Loughborough, United Kingdom, 2004.
Technologies
I have experience with the various technologies listed below. Items marked with a * indicate a passing familiarity rather than in-depth knowledge.
Programming/Scripting/Markup Languages
C/C++ (inc. Borland C++, C++ Builder), Java, Haskell, JavaScript, VBScript, Object Pascal*, Prolog, HTML, ASP, Perl, PHP, WML (Wireless Markup Language), VRML*, LaTeX.
EDA Tools & Technologies
Celoxica Handel-C (with Celoxica DK and PDK), Altera Quartus II, Altera SOPC Builder, Altera Nios & Nios II Processors, Altera Stratix FPGA, Synplicity Synplify, Model Technology ModelSim.
Enterprise Applications
Microsoft IIS, Microsoft SQL Server 7, Apache 1.3, ISC BIND 9, Postfix v2, Courier IMAP, Cyrus SASL, SpamAssassin mySQL, Postgres.
I have also used a wide range of applications from the Microsoft Office family.
