LinkedIn Endorsements

• "Ken is a great strategical thinker. His understanding of his trade and analytical approach make him an asset to any organization. When Ken joined us at Webkinz, he raised the bar on architectural guidance and long term strategical thinking. It was a pleasure to work with Ken and I wouldn't hesitate to do so again." October 21, 2009

  Sean Wylie, IT Director, Development, Ganz - managed Ken at Ganz

• "Kenneth has been a big part of our systems Architecture group and as the Infrastructure lead I have worked closely with Kenneth over the past year or so. Kenneth has a very strong understanding of the Linux operating system ,and is a very strong bash and php programmer. Ken wrote scripts to help monitor our family of sites, as well as running many load tests, stress tests and sanity tests on various aspects of our sites that needed to be optimized, algamized or consolidated. His logic is sound and Ken has a very good work ethic. Best of luck in the future Ken." December 8, 2009

  Daniel Hancock, Infrastructure & Facilities Lead, Ganz Inc. - worked with Ken at Ganz

• "Ken possesses strong leadership and presentation skills, technical proficiency, and the ability to write technical design documents at an advanced level. All of these are rare and valuable skills, and my experience was that Ken was one of the strongest contributors to the team in many ways. Ken was promoted to Senior Application/Technical Architect after I had completed my time at Ganz, but I would have supported that promotion since I could clearly see that he was able to contribute a rich and varied experience in information technology, a strong work ethic, leadership and interpersonal skills that were more than equal to the promotion. Not only do I have a great deal of respect for Ken, but I would gladly work with him again, either on a project-by-project basis or as part of a larger team." October 21, 2009

  Case Jones, System Administrator, Ganz - worked with Ken at Ganz

• "Ken is a great Developer capable of understanding the architecture of a product/project at the different levels so he can come out with the best solution for a problem given to him. He's also an excellent leader capable of integrating the different teams to gather as much information and get to the better result possible. He's also a great System Administrator, he understand very well how a server and it's operating system works, making he's programming much better and optimized for performance." January 18, 2010

  Igor Guarisma, System Administrator, Ganz - worked with Ken at Ganz

• "Ken brings a strong attention to detail and classic systems approach to an organization. From researching solutions and new methodologies to hosting discussions on root cause analysis Ken provides a window into how to manage complex systems and the teams surrounding them." October 21, 2009

  Jeff Maas, Senior Developer, Ganz - worked with Ken at Ganz

• "I have had the pleasure of knowing Ken for a few years now. He has been a great candidate to work with. His knowledge of the IT idustry, and the technologies involved, is well above par. He is a true GURU.... he literally wrote the book on Unix Shell scripting!! I consider Ken a personal friend after the work we have done together over the years. I highly recommend him for any role and any company." November 16, 2009

  Jason Clancy, Recruiter, Gurulink

Ken with the Women of Webkinz, 2009

[Company Name Withheld for Privacy]
Software Engineer / Architect

April 2011 - Present
Toronto, Ontario

PHP development in a Red Hat Linux / MySQL / Svn / Apache environment using Scrum-Agile process. Linux / Git / Svn staff training. Linux configuration, Bamboo Continuous Integration setup and software installs. Architecture work included conducting code inspections, scalability planning and security reviews / recommendations.

Social Interactive Corporation
Groovy Consultant (Contract)

February 2011 - March 2011
Toronto, Ontario

Groovy programming in a Red Hat Linux / MySQL environment using Gossamer web framework. Set up Git repository and workflow.

Lyris Inc.
Computer Engineer - Level 3 (Senior)

July 2010 - January 2011
Barrie, Ontario

A leading US-based email marketing company. Groovy/Java programming on the Groovy on Rails web framework. Trained developers on Git source control, coordinated with Operations team for Linux server configuration and maintained architectural docs. Also worked with JavaScript, shell scripting, PHP, XML and Hudson for continuous integration. Member of Virtual Architecture Team.

Centah Inc.
Senior PHP Developer

October 2009 - November 2009
Toronto, Ontario

Small work tracking company. PHP 5 and XML development, performance profiling, PostgreSQL database, source control with Git, VirtualBox virtualization.

Ganz (Webkinz.com)
IT Senior Specialist (System Administrator, Architecture Team)

September 2008 - September 2009
Toronto, Ontario

Promotion to Senior Application/Technical Architect in a leading entertainment / social networking company with explosive growth and over 600 Linux/Solaris servers. Staff mentoring, chairing meetings, standards setting, post-mortem investigations and approving new projects on behalf of systems team. Linux installation, kernel configuration. Web server (Apache and PHP). Software integration and PHP production rollouts (SVN/subversion). Load-balanced server synchronization (squid, rsync and NFS). Email (Postfix). Database (MySQL with replication). System monitoring, performance analysis, software deployment (shell scripting and Perl). Server hardening. Load testing (Neoload). Cygwin and coLinux configuration. Level 3 on-call support for various Ganz sites (Webkinz, Webkinz E-Store, Webkinz Newz).

Selected accomplishments:

• Systems lead for development of WebkinzNewz.com site, overseeing a dozen people

• Lead Architect in Webkinz.com amalgamation project. Optimized 40 servers to 13.

• Chaired twice-weekly Ganz architecture meetings

Ganz (Webkinz.com)
IT Advisory Specialist (PHP Developer)

September 2007 - September 2008
Toronto, Ontario

Intermediate server-side developer. Member of the Architectural Collaboration Board. PHP/SOAP/XML/MySQL/PostgreSQL development in a Linux/Solaris environment, server monitoring and night run scripts, game design and development, documentation. Presentations and tutorials to the development team.

• Design and documentation for an authentication system for over 16 million users

• Server-side PHP lead for Magical Forest project

• Redesign of web site night run to handle international customers in three time zones

ProNight Sports
Web Programmer / Administrator

May 2006 - January 2007
Niagara Falls, Ontario

Design and development of a PHP/Javascript web site for NHL fans. Designed the MySQL database, configured servers, created daily backup scripts, and built NHL score web scraping software in C.

Alliance Interactive
Web Developer / Administrator

Sept 2005 - Dec 2005
Tillsonburg, Ontario

 
Designed and developed PHP/Perl/JavaScript/CSS/Linux web applications for Google Maps using MySQL/ Postgres databases with Zend Studio. Set up computer security, firewall, daily backups, web server and internal documentation. Tutored developers in SSH, CVS and Linux.

DMS Technologies Inc.
Senior Web Developer

Summer 2003 - Spring 2005
St. Catharines, Ontario

 
Designed and developed web-based facility management software using PHP/Perl/JavaScript/Linux and Postgres database. Responsible for Dell Linux (Red Hat) PowerEdge Server configuration and installation, ClarkConnect Linux firewall and security, Samba SMB file server, overseeing contractors, SCSI tape backup scripts, on-call duty.

• Created a web ticketing system prototype in under 2 months, saving the client's major contract

• Design and development of a web-based work order system able to process 100,000 yearly requests from over 100 Ontario schools.

Self-Employed
Web and Software Developer

Fall 2001 - Summer 2003
St. Catharines, Ontario

 
Contract work and web design during IT industry slump. Designed and developed open source Business Shell high-reliability web template software.

Mackenzie Financial Corporation
Programmer/Analyst

Winter 1999-Fall 2001
Toronto, Ontario

 
Mackenzie is one of the top 35 companies in Canada. Supporting the mutual fund managers, responsibilities focused on web and UNIX development: HP-UX/C/C++/Motif and Java programming, Informix/Oracle database administration, web design with XML/XHTML/CGI, on-call duties. Organized IMS team training and mentored web developers on other teams.

• Developed a 1000 user web-based document management system that reduced access time by 83%

Self-Employed
Web and Software Developer

Summer 1998-Winter 1999
St. Catharines, Ontario

 
Developed web sites using Java/CGI/Perl for Brock University and several smaller clients. Developed Linux software using C/Ada/Linux.

• System Manager in a Box diagnostic tool received 5 star rating from tucows.com

• Participated in Comdex/Canada '98 and '99, Canada's largest computer show

John Coutts Library Services
Programmer/Analyst

Summery 1995 - Summer 1998
Niagara Falls, Ontario

 
Maintenance of Internet site, internal network and software developer using C/BASIC/Progress/SCO-UNIX. Managed EDI services for customers from all continents. Tech support and on-call duty.