CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: Nigel Robert Brian Furness

Date of Birth: 2.11.55

Address:

Please email me at:

Nigel.furness@cityofbristolcollege.ac.uk

Qualifications:

9 'O' Levels

ONC Engineering

HNC Electrical and Electronic Engineering

BSc. (Hons. First Class) Degree in Computing and Real-Time Systems

TDLB D32/D33

Current Employment

Curriculum Manager for Computing & Digital Communications, Soundwell Centre, City of Bristol College.

Main duty is the management of a team of both full-time teaching staff and part-time staff. I am responsible for the design, delivery and quality of the Curriculum and I teach Software Engineering, Computer Architecture, Web Design, Databases and Programming to Degree (Foundation Year) and Foundation Degree undergraduates.

I am responsible for core curriculum development in the Faculty and have recently designed and introduced a Foundation Degree in Internet Technologies. I am also responsible for timetabling and curriculum quality within the Faculty.

Previous Employment

1995-1997 University of Bath

Software Engineer. Main duties: designing and implementing Web-based systems on a Unix platform in 'C'; Systems administrator for 5 Sun Sparc/Ultra Enterprise Servers and their associated network. My duties also included producing design and user support documentation to house standards. By arrangement with the University of Bath I taught at Weston College during1997. This involved designing and implementing an NVQ in IT(Software Creation) course.

1982 – 1995 Brunel College of Arts and Technology

Lecturer (main grade) in Microelectronics, Computer systems, and

Software Engineering, teaching to HNC level.

Other major duties include course team leadership and supervising

the organisation, operation, and maintenance of computer systems

and networks.

1979 - 1982 ICL

Field Systems Engineer with ICL, commissioning, maintaining and

repairing ICL mainframe computers.

1977 - 1979 South Bristol College

1974 - 1977 Scientific Systems Ltd.

Other Roles

2002-2005 External Examiner, Foundation Degree in E-Commerce, North East Surry College (NESCOT)

2002 - date Edexcel Moderator for ICT

Consultancy Work/Projects

1982 - 1985

Training consultant for South Western Regional Health

Authority, specialising in network communications.

1985 -1987

Developed relational database system for Price Brothers Auto

Engineers, Portview Road, Avonmouth.

1987 - 1988

Provided technical assistance to Rolls Royce PLC patents executive during development of on-line patents records system.

1989 - 1992

Adventec UK Ltd. Heating control system for factories and large buildings using distributed computing. Included recruiting a team to develop and implement the system in collaboration with Aston University.

1995

Developed Primary Schools Library database system

1995

Point-of-Sale document production system for Price Brothers Auto

Engineers, Portview Road, Avonmouth.

1998-2006

Intranet-based client-server Motor Components Database System for Price Brothers Auto Engineers, Portview Road, Avonmouth.

Programming Languages

To commercial standard:

C, Perl, Javascript, Modula-2, Pascal, Apogee, Z80 and Intel Assembler, Ada, COBOL, BASIC

Other languages I am familiar with or have experience of using:

C++, POP-11, Fortran, Algol-68

Software Packages

MS-Office, Paintshop-Pro, Apache Webserver, Netscape Composer and many others. Within the constraints required by knowledge of a particular discipline I feel I am able learn to use any piece of application software.

Hobbies and Interests

Playing and recording music, writing, study of modern history, study of the history of computing, classic vehicles, model engineering.

Membership of Clubs and Societies

LEO Computer Society, Omnibus Society, Roads and Road Traffic Historical Conference (associate member), Provincial and Historical Research Group, Bristol Commercial Vehicle Register, Jensen Club, Club Lotus, Gauge 1 Model Railway Association.

Personal Statement

I started my career in Education in September 1982 at Brunel Technical College (as it then was). I have taught a wide range of computer and electronics related subjects though in recent years I have specialised in Software Engineering. My teaching has encompassed all levels from GCSE to HND and foundation year Degree. I have experience of designing and implementing courses, most recently HNC and HND in Software Engineering.

I left teaching in 1995 to work as a software engineer at BIDS, the commercial arm of the University of Bath. I worked on the joint HEFCE/BIDS JournalsOnLine project, designing and developing software in C and Perl on a Unix platform to support an international web-based database service. During this period I was required to work to a high standard, using formal software development methods and design tools. I was also responsible setting up and configuring Unix servers and web servers and performing day-to-day Unix system administration.

I consider I have a deep and broad understanding of computer systems, well founded by my early training as a hardware engineer on LEO and later generations of ICL hardware. My knowledge encompasses the theory and practice of computer telecommunications, operating systems, processor and memory design, systems analysis, system design, formal methods and programming. I am a skilled programmer, and have a wide experience of using a variety of Software such as MS-DOS, Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Linux, and Solaris (Unix). I am commited to continuing professional development in the field of computing and when time allows, continue to undertake commercial work using the latest technology. I am a strong advocate for quality in computing and prefer to use Unix and Sun Microsystems hardware for developing applications. I have lots of interests, write books and articles for magazines on subjects that interest me and own a number of classic vehicles.