Alex McAllister
Academic and Professional Qualifications
BSc in Computer Applications
Modules included (Summary)
- Software Patterns and Metrics
- Concurent Programming
- Networks
- Technical Communication Skills
- Object Oriented Design and Implementation
- Assembly Language Programming
- Databases
Leaving Certificate
400 Points (All Honours Level)
Industry and Professional Experience
| Date | Company | Position Held | Duties |
| 7th July 2007 - 25th March 2008 | Department of Foreign Affairs, 76-78 Harcourt St., Dublin 2 | IT Helpdesk Engineer | Providing 2nd level support to Department staff both in Dublin and in our embassies and consulates abroad: approximately 4,000 users. Support includes Exchange 2003, Office 2003, remote desktop support and deskside support, backups and file restores, printers, PC hardware issues, network troubleshooting/fault escalation |
| 11th Sept 2006 - 5th July 2007 | Dept. of Agriculture and Food, Kildare St., Dublin 2 | Support Desk Agent | Providing contracted (BT Ireland) IT support to 4,500 Department staff. Support includes Active Directory, unlocking accounts and passwords, printer support, Server 2000/2003 support, hardware issues, Office 2000 support (Outlook configuration, etc) and support for various Department applications. |
| 17th Nov 2005 - 8th Sept 2006 | BT Ireland, 27 Willsborough Estate, Clonshaugh, Dublin 17 | NCTE Schools Broadband Support Desk Agent | Providing telephone based customer service as part of a nationwide government initiative to provide Broadband for Ireland's 4000 odd schools. Also facilitate the Broadband installation process, certifying installations by engineers from various service providers, performing troubleshooting with schools and installation engineers and liaising between schools and service providers where faults arise and see them through to conclusion. Support includes troubleshooting networking problems, PC configuration issues (Email and LAN setup). |
| 27th Jun 2005 - 12th Aug 2005 | Sage Ireland, 3096 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Park, Dublin 24 | Database Administrator | Dialling existing customers in Sage’s database, confirming contact information and company details and entering the new information into the database using the SalesLogix software. |
| 26th Oct 2004 - 25th Mar 2005 | Conduit Ireland, Conduit House, East Point Business Park, Dublin 3 | Customer Service Representative (CSR) | Providing a telephone based service to both UK and Ireland markets, dealing with customers in a professional manner befitting a CSR, worked as part of a team, meeting a strict timetable. |
| 4th June - 11th June 2004 | Townley Hall Golf Club | Web Designer | Designing and coding a template for a golf course website including a homepage and templates for future pages. |
| 1st Oct 2001 - 15th May 2002 | Dublin City University | Computer Programming Lab Tutor | Mentoring first year programming students, providing assistance in problem solving and coding issues, keeping a record of performance, attendance, progress and grading overall performance |
Academic Information
( Information on modules taken during BSc in Computer Applications )
For Software Patterns and Metrics, I chose to implement the Proxy Pattern, also called the Lazy Loader pattern. It was written in C++ and included inheritance and association.
For Concurrent Programming, the assignment was to implement the Elevator Problem. It was written with Java threads and included a Graphical User Interface.
For Computer Networks, the assignment was to implement Dijkstra’s Algorithm. It was written in C++ and used linked lists.
For Databases, the assignment was to design and implement a system for managing a book shop and included using the Java Swing package to create a Graphical User Interface, and using the JDBC package to connect with an Oracle database.
Personal Interests
I enjoy reading, especially crime fiction novels as well as science - fiction. I enjoy going to the cinema and watching films in general. My main interest is in music: mostly contemporary but I also enjoy listening to classical music. I received training in the piano when I was younger and am currently trying to improve my level of playing. I thoroughly enjoy playing the guitar, both learning pieces and composing my own acoustic and rock music. I also enjoy golf, but prefer visiting the driving range as often as I can.
Other Information
Myself along with two others entered a project into the Esat Young Scientist’s Competition in 2000 entitled "Artificial Intelligence: Future or Fable?" The project was a computer program written in C++ and presented on an Amiga emulator for easy graphics. We were awarded with the Nortel Networks Prize for Best Use of Information Technology in a Project, and were invited on a tour of the Nortel plant in Galway and gave a small presentation to staff on our project.
I have completed all 7 modules of the European Computer Driving Licence.
I remain an associate member of the DCU Networking Society, also known as Redbrick, where I gained some experience in such operating systems as FreeBSD, Solaris and Debian Linux. The society hosted talks by cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick and Lance Spitzner, security consultant at Sun Microsystems.
Since graduating college I have maintained an interest in programming and endeavoured to gain some new skills. I have started to teach myself PHP and designing websites with CSS.