Resume of Bill Nigh    (973 509 3133) Application Developer and Technical Writer Globally-oriented, well-rounded and personable IT professional with wide experience in application development on several platforms, and exceptional writing and user acceptance-related skills November 2007 - Present Bluenog Corp, Piscataway NJ Technical Writer Responsible for over 1400 pages of documentation for Bluenog Platform, powered by open source, including programmer reference, user guides, quick start guides for evaluation, API guide; due to sparse nature of open source documentation, and time-to-market considerations, this is critical to success of the employer Contributing to promotional literature and sample data and content types Doing informal QA Doing training of new employees Came up with notion of a corporate Glossary which I then maintained, to provide specific list of buzzwords that sales and non technical staff might need to know about Designing training curriculum and responsible for course development Working with Photoshop, Camtasia Studio, Google Docs, MediaWiki, Powerpoint, and Dreamweaver November 2006 - October 2007 Policesoftware.com, Manalapan NJ Consultant and Contract Programmer Provided strategic and product guidance to Director of company Did user acceptance testing and documentation of all software products in client's software suite Enhanced several applications, using Powerbuilder, PFC, custom class library and SQL Enhanced business rules enforcement in non-visual objects Enhanced flexibility of applications in areas of client-specific customization, and parameter-driven user 'preferences' Identified opportunity for, advocated for, and created new entry in client’s software suite Provided candid feedback to client regarding user interface, design philosophy, and customer service practices Architected new version of company website and provided content Worked with PowerBuilder 10 and 11, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft Word, and Dreamweaver Took part in product demonstrations, helping smooth out the process and make sales success more likely April 2004 - October 2006 PXRE Inc, Edison NJ Member of Development Team for new Powerbuilder application and Oracle database Along with 3 other developers and in-house project manager/product architect, I was hired on contract to support a faster turnaround for their business cycle; client sought competitive edge regarding pricing for new contracts for reinsurance, ability to view relationship between new business and their existing portfolio of risk The entire application was built from scratch, using initially fairly sketchy design specs; used my interviewing skills, understanding of how organizations work, and persistent, diplomatic follow-up to get the job done Architected and implemented approach for HTML-based help system, weaving it into custom PowerBuilder architecture; used named anchors tied to object ClassName to go to relevant parts of very large help pages Responsible for documenting relevant project communications in support of Sarbanes-Oxley reporting Created hundreds of pages of documentation in HTML and Word format, both technical and business-user related Derived FAQ section while doing QA and documenting other developers' functionality Designed authentication/authorization system, grafting custom requirements onto existing PFC security module Architected Job Scheduler module, a common service component which underlay many functional business modules, as sometimes huge data sets had to be imported, exported, and processed in Oracle DBMS Maintained a sizeable Oracle schema, synchronizing ER/Studio logical and physical models with database server instance; produced reports on changes from week to week in all database objects in schema Helped debug fellow developers’ code, e.g., a mutating tables problem in several triggers Produced detailed user-friendly documentation of my areas of responsibility, for smoother handoff to my successor Took part in peer reviews of code, architecture, database objects Worked with PowerBuilder 9, Embarcadero DBArtisan 8.0 and ER/Studio 6.6, SQL*Plus, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe Image Ready July 2003 – Feb 2004   Cendant Mortgage Services,  Moorestown NJ Contract Support Programmer Able to 'plug in' to an existing project, with aggressive timelines, to enhance mission critical applications  Worked with business analysts, DBAs and developers to ascertain requirements and enforce business rules Utilized mature OO skills to modify application built using PowerBuilder, PFC, Cornerstone and corporate class layers Created a centralized routine to enforce multiple nested business rules related to recission logic across multiple parts of the UI , thus addressing long-standing, hard-to-isolate problems Developed and implemented a method of loosely coupling datasources with software components Maintained functions in Oracle packages for mortgage status and business partner communications Worked with PowerBuilder 7, TOAD, SQL*Plus, ERWin, and WebLogic, Oracle 8 RDBMS Dec 2001 - Feb 2003 Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P),  Montvale NJ Applications Specialist Using PowerBuilder, Oracle and SQL Server, maintained and extended applications for corporate brands tracking, store maintenance operations, construction project budgeting equipment acquisition and store manager compensation using complex business rules realized in stored procedures and PowerBuilder DataWindows Able to solve several long-standing complex application problems written in PowerBuilder related to two levels of class libraries and business rules, winning back allegiance and confidence of long-suffering end-users in multiple locations; was often able to solve end users problems within a day Created new modules for feeding data from one application/database to another using a scheduled Microsoft DTS job which successfully merged data from a single source into disparate data sets, using an update based on a join Helped define queries which interrogated tables in two Oracle application schemas to help Internal Audit  staff identify changes to authorization profiles of hundreds of end-users Migrated PowerBuilder 5 application based on Cornerstone class libraries which had not been migrated for years due to fatal errors during earlier attempted migrations.  I migrated the entire app painstakingly over several months, and made it work where others had not.  Only had to 'stub out' two inconsequential methods in the entire codebase Developed a number of reports for Eight O' Clock Coffee division using complex queries  custom views, scheduled server-level processes and Oracle Reports package to track  and report on performance of several product lines; reports were deployed to application  server and available over thin client interface; Java-based app server was invoked to support functionality; had to read and change HTML code to help implement Worked on development of JSP and servlets for reporting on corporate intranet, using Visual Age for Java, later  Websphere Studio; also used Struts (I was not involved in design of custom tags--just used them) Developed and led in-house classes on Java and PL/SQL; saved organization significant cost; designed training to be relevant to fellow developers, many of whom were making transition from mainframe 'legacy' mindset Using PL/SQL, Oracle UTL_FILE package, created a process which interrogated several tables on a production system then generated HTML output to report on exceptions in important database of store transactions Designed database, including triggers and stored procedures, for a generic survey application, which  permitted free-form sets of questions and default responses to each question; this was then turned into HTML forms  by a Java app; each respondent was given a unique ID and responses to the surveys stored for later querying Researched, for a staff of 20, XML, Web Services, J2EE;  published/summarized findings on Sharepoint server Worked with: PowerBuilder versions 5.0 and 6.5 Cornerstone, A&P corporate, and PFC class libraries Oracle SQL*Plus, TOAD, Query Builder, Schema Builder, Oracle Reports, Discoverer SQL Server Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, bcp, Data Transformation Services, ASP AIX vi, awk, chmod, basic commands Java/XML javac, javadoc, Magic Draw, XML Spy Suite, Cooktop, Textpad, Visual Age for Java, some Websphere Embarcadero Rapid SQL 5.7 Cornerstone Class Library PowerTOOL Class Library Sept 1997 - Dec 2001 Independent IT/Web Contractor, Course Developer and Trainer President and Founder CDEIS, Inc. (incorporated 1999)  (2001) Taught a semester at vocational-technical junior college (Gibbs College); taught database for their programmer's curriculum; customized the instructional sequence in conformance with students' interest and ability; mentored several of the students informally, even after they had graduated (2000) Lead programmer in PowerBuilder 7/ Sybase 11.5 / Jaguar n-tier  CORBA-compliant application development team for Telecomm infrastructure firm,  using DataWindow synchronization, Powersoft Foundation Classes framework (PFC); also did end-user tutorials,  windows-based help system with RoboHelp and helped present / sell new features  to end users in meetings (2000) In conjunction with local training company, offered several months of training on Oracle, PL/SQL, AIX, Oracle Forms and Reports to management and employees of A&P, who were undergoing mission-critical transition from mainframe environment to several Oracle-based applications such as Retek; very well received; was called a 'hero' for my efforts; many employees were long-time mainframers who had not thought in client/server mindset before (1999-2000) Designed several Web sites for small businesses, using NetObjects Fusion, Javascript, HTML, Net Studio, other tools ; created content  (verbiage, custom banners) as well as navigation and pages (1998) Lead programmer in migrating AREV-based HR system for Chase Mellon Shareholder Services to ADP HRizon application, on SQL Server database back-end; created a number of custom AREV scripts to automate, ease and document the migration (1997-1999) Designed and authored, using PowerBuilder 6.0 and Microsoft SQL  Server 6.5, a multi-lingual, object-oriented, modularized, and rules-based  prototype for facilities management Documented design with ERwin entity-relationship diagrams, UML sequence and interaction diagrams Architected application to enforce user-defined business rules for validation of input Created my own non-visual objects for services architecture, and complete class libraries for multi-lingual, rules-based, customer-responsive architecture Rich right-click functionality allowed administrator users to add to support tables while within the context of the application subject area, rather than having to constantly go to a separate 'maintenance' area of the app Solved how to provide multiple languages in all text objects, command buttons, DataWindow columns/labels (1997-1998) Authored and taught very successful Transact-SQL course, offered three times over two years, on Sybase  Adaptive Server 11.5 to analysts working for leading Financial house in Manhattan; users were acquainted with introductory and intermediate queries, as well as isql batches using queries and host variables (1997-2001)Working as contractor for Chubb Institute, Chubb CTD/PSD and Chubb's "Top Gun" taught Oracle, SQL, Sybase, Javascript, Dynamic HTML, HTML,  PowerBuilder, RDBMS, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, Distributed Application Development, others; provided approximately 3000 person-days of instruction in at least 10 locations Mar 1996 - Sept 1997 Modis / Actium (formerly ITI, headquartered in Conshohocken PA),  Liberty Corner, NJ Senior Staff Consultant Worked on forecasting, sales and cost accounting apps for 3 large consumer products/pharmaceuticals companies Also did user and technical documentation, training material and technology transfer to client staff Designed and delivered internal classes on PowerBuilder, Object Orientation Worked with PowerBuilder 4.0 and 5.0, Microsoft SQL Server 4.2 and 6.0, and Oracle 7.3 Sept 1987 - Mar 1996 Cogent Information Systems (later IDEAS International),  Livingston, NJ Programmer / Course Developer / Trainer Developed over 20 technical courses, of average 3 day duration (SQL, Revelation and AREV) Worked with users and programmers within an international client base representing almost all of the big Oil and Gas companies in the world, using an accounting package originally written by Price Waterhouse Created and customized flat file applications, typically at departmental  level, often HRIS apps Created and delivered several presentations at international conferences (AREV and IDEAS) Authored several articles for technical journals in AREV and PowerBuilder communities Education BA, History, Rutgers University MA, International Relations, University of Southern California (cum laude) Certificate, Systems Management, University of Maryland ( 9 credits ) Training Full range of PowerBuilder Versions 3.0a through 7, including Powersoft Foundation Classes (PFC), PowerTool, custom libraries 1993-1994, 2000 Microsoft SQL Server 4.x and 7.x 1996-1998 Sybase Adaptive Server / SQL Server versions 4.x through 11.x 1999-2001 (Sybase Training Passport) NJIT Web Master Certificate Program for Java in 2001 Learning Tree courses on Servlets and Enterprise Java Beans in 2002 Two-day course on Oracle Discoverer in 2002 Major Skills PowerBuilder High level of competence, confidence in object orientation, GUI and n-tier Created own class library to build multilingual commercial application prototype for commercial plants Worked with this IDE and language almost continuously from 1996-2007 Taught several PowerBuilder classes for several clients, mainly Chubb's Top Gun Java / Servlet / EJB Understand JDBC, Servlet API and EJB containers/servers Have developed JSP, servlets for reporting from Oracle and SQL Server databases Object Orientation Created my own class libraries, illustrating inheritance, overloading, polymorphism, encapsulation Have migrated applications which had obsolete class libraries, making adjustments as needed Have created service classes for configuration/session management, data access, business rule enforcement Some experience with Rational Rose, the Rational Unified Method and UML using MagicDraw 4.51 Web Development and Design Created several web sites for clients, with consistent navigational style Used Javascript, simple animation, CSS (<DIV> for layout) Used JSP to support on-line ordering, with email notification Unix / AIX permissions / chmod file and directory maintenance shell scripting environment cron jobs awk sed vi various utilities taught introductory courses to large organization's employees, as they moved from mainframe mindset to client/server and application server environment Oracle Oracle user-defined functions to encapsulate business calculations Oracle packages to illustrate encapsulation, shareable constants, variables, cursors Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, Oracle Schema Builder, Oracle Query Builder, Oracle Procedure Builder SQL*Plus for interactive queries, and in conjunction with batch and cron jobs and spool PL/SQL Database and Instead-Of  triggers Sybase / Microsoft SQL Server, Adaptive Server, Adaptive Server Anywhere Stored procedures T-SQL for triggers, stored procedures, batches Enterprise Manager Triggers bcp in conjunction with format files DTS Indexes Sybase SQL Anywhere Communication Columnist in several magazines (1987-1997) Speaker at 7 vendor and user group conferences Personable, a quick study,  sensitive to vagaries of corporate culture Able to adjust discourse to the audience--have taught technical staff, clerical staff, sewage treatment workers, senior executives, small business people, junior college students, even a Prince! Very empathetic to clients and students whose first language is not English Making technical subjects understandable to interested novices, especially non-technical audiences, is a point of pride and source of great satisfaction Fluent in German (member, Kapitel Kappa, Delta Phi Alpha) Conversant in Spanish Minor proficiency in Dutch, French and Italian (comprehension) Products/Utilities/OS: Oracle RDBMS Sybase RDBMS MSSQL Server ERwin Photoshop TOAD XML Spy PowerBuilder versions 3 through 11 Rational Rose Macromedia Dreamweaver MX NetObjects Fusion Websphere Application Studio (WSAD) Advanced Revelation RoboHelp InstallShield SQL*Plus Enterprise Application Server / Studio PGP Embarcadero Rapid SQL 5.7 Cornerstone Class Library PowerTOOL Class Library Languages Powerscript Javascript Java (basic) HTML XML CSS Transact-SQL PL/SQL R/Basic Team Building Years of exposure to varying work situations (factories, non-profits, New York City and Federal government, small business, international enterprise, commercial) in various roles, provide understanding of how and why things are done in organizations, the constraints that one must understand to get the job done, and the crucial need for honest, efficient communication Empathy for people from different backgrounds, international exposure, and good verbal skills promote easy-going, albeit professional, excellent communication with all relevant parties and stakeholders in a project