William Hervey Allen
Professional Overview

You can see my resume in several formats below:

Additional Information

Some information that may not be covered or captured in my resume.

Client and Large Project Experience and Consulting

I have this experience from several angles:

  1. While working for NetCorps I have been directly involved as the lead technician and project presenter for project specification and initial presentation for clients such as the Alaska Rainforest Campaign (http://www.akrain.org), the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Alliance (http://www.trca.org), and E-LAW (http://www.elaw.org). Please note that the E-LAW project is just now beginning (9/00). The specification sessions for E-LAW and TRCA were multiple days and involved multiple technical document revisions, a detailed database of functionality (including functional areas, fields, records, and issues), reports, and intensive client interaction. In each case our team (of 3 to 5 people) was responsible for "landing" the client and each case we were successful.
  2. I have presented/proposed many Web-based projects on smaller scales to clients such as Track & Field News (http://www.trackandfieldnews.com), Precision Transducers (http://www.pretran.com.au), Archive Designs (http://www.archivedesigns.com), Amber Science (http://www.amberscience.com), and many more smaller sites. In most cases I was largely, or almost entirely, responsible for customer contact, site creation and update, and coordination with a graphic designer for new or updated site look and feel.
  3. While working for NetCorps on the TRCA and AKRAIN sites I did everything from present hardware requirements, to coordinate customer requests for site updates, to program site changes in HTML and VBScript, to configure Windows NT Server correctly with new ASP components, IIS, SQL Server, and the appropriate user accounts and permissions. While working with E-LAW I configured, reinstalled, and removed Netscape Enterprise Server products. I installed third party solutions (all under Windows NT) from NetWin (http://www.netwinsite.com) to provide for e-mail to news to e-mail list cross program functionality. NetWin products included methods for accessing e-mail via POP and Web interfaces as well as News via standard News and Web "discussion group" interfaces. I installed and configured Netscape Directory Server (an LDAP server) to allow for user authentication and creation for each of these products rather than use separate user databases for each program.
  4. While working for Microcomputer Services at the University of Oregon (http://micro.uoregon.edu) I pushed for and created the original website for this group (Fall 1995). Since then I have overseen the redesign and update of the site several times. As of Fall 2000 the site had over 400 active pages and receives over 100,000 hits on a monthly basis. The site runs on Solaris and uses relatively simple include and htaccess (security) tricks, but is not highly dynamic so as to keep it accessible to the academic community. I did, however, use tools such as Mhonarc, wwwstat, WebTrends, and perl scripts to provide some site statistics and searchable archives of useful information.
  5. Finally, I have extensive consulting experience working with multiple groups under multiple conditions. At the University of Oregon I have acted as the final tier of support for UO students, faculty, and staff for all versions of Windows, Mac OS, DOS, some UNIX, and related network questions as well. At NetCorps I have consulted clients on their hardware and software problems, Website design and setup, and helped to create office network infrastructure. Working with the Network Startup Resource Center (http://www.nsrc.org) I have created extensive documentation on scaling and managing Help Desks in resource poor environments (see http://www.nsrc.org/helpdesk) including the use of installers, CD-ROM creation, phone centers, documentation, and practical hardware and software tips. I helped an ISP Luanda, Angola with planning the expansion of their Help Desk as part of this initiative (November 1998), as well teaching workshops to multiple second tier Help Desk and support technicians in both Cape Town, South Africa (May 2000) and the Dominican Republic (August 1999). These initiatives were done in English, Spanish, and some Portuguese. The workshops and work with the NSRC have included discussion of Squid caching technology (and client/Browser side issues), IIS Server components under Windows NT and Windows 2000, some SunOS system administration work, installation of FreeBSD and Linux, and some work with MySQL and the NSRC interactive Web database.

In short, I have directly applied my range of experience with networking, operating systems (both server and client side), hardware, Help Desks, Web design and implementation, and programming knowledge to multiple projects and with many, many clients. I enjoy interacting with people and explaining technical topics to users with varying levels of knowledge.

Hervey Allen
9/08/00