James Nowak

Roseville, CA 95661

(916)206-6587

nowakjim@gmail.com

 

OBJECTIVE

 

To further grow in knowledge and skill in the IT world. To take advantage of skills already acquired throughout my career and make the most of these skills by lending them to the company I work for, which in turn helps to make that company successful.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

·         Eight+ years’ experience in the IT world

·         Extensive study and hands-on experience with many computer programming systems and languages including:

o       Web type languages such as JavaScript, HTML, XML, XSLT ASP.Net

o       Server Side programming experience using ASP.Net, VB, SQL and MySQL, IIS

o       Java applications

o       VBA for Excel

o       Command line (Batch, DOS)

·         Experience with setting up and administering SharePoint servers

·         Significant accomplishments building powerful web applications

·         Experience with networking equipment

·         Excellent oral and communication skills

·         Excellent Customer Service skills

·         Especially adept in finding a solution where there appears to be none

·         Ability to find a pattern in a data set that can be programmed

·         Works very well independently prioritizing work as needed

·         Built project plans and followed through

·         Conducted “post mortem” meetings

·         Skilled at bringing teams together to accomplish a single goal

·         Able to think “outside the box” to find unique solutions

·         Skilled at GUI presentations

·         Skilled using the complete set of MS Office products

·         Able to create useful presentations

·         Support web admin for over three years

·         Able to quickly learn new skills and recognize when a new skill is necessary (not afraid to “crack open the books”)

·         Driven by the problem as a puzzle and the resolution

·         Able to view a problem from many aspects and present a solution

 

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Operating Systems:

·         Windows 2008 Professional/Server, Windows Operating Systems, DOS

·         I have touched UNIX based systems.

·         I keep up to date as needed through Internet research and hands-on experience

 

Programming and web:

·         .Net framework

·         Visual Basic

·         Java

·         OOP JavaScript

·         PHP

·         MySQL and SQL

o       Build DB from scratch

o       Write my Own Queries

·         Know how to write my own DB queries or use other’s.

·         XML, XSLT

·         Excel “programming”

·         Visual Basic for Applications

·         Desktop applications and web

 

EXPERIENCE

·         Built web based tools (PHP) to ease helpdesk administration and site operations.

·         Built web based applications that get extensive use

·         Built web based applications that access a DB like environment where there is no DB

o       Web tools and applications have had huge success and ROI in the millions

·         Have become known at HP as a guy that can find a solution and build a tool for it

·         Built web pages that work more like a desk top application than a web page

·         Currently working on a Mobile application for the DROID market

 

EDUCATION

 

Most of my real learning has been done “on the job” and through websites like Lynda.com. When I come up with an idea for a solution and find that I need to learn a new skill, Lynda.com has proven invaluable in helping me to advance my knowledge and career.

 

A+ Certified Computer Technician                                          Techskills

Network+                                                                                    Techskills

MCP(Windows 2000 Professional)                                          Techskills

 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

 

mōdis IT – under contract with HP              Web admin                                                        May 2007 to present

While working at HP I have developed a reputation as a man with the solution. People regularly come to me looking for an answer to a problem they have and know that I either already have that answer or can come up with one. These solutions have usually involved more than writing simple web pages. I have created solutions that were as simple as an Excel function or as complicated as using XML as a functional type database. These “solutions”, flexibility and broad knowledge of so much that is IT has helped me survive several lay-offs and the economic difficulties of the past several years. People from across departments at HP have requested advice as I’ve proven my usefulness. In some cases, my reputation seemed to have “proceed me”. I have worked very much on my own all this time, left to completely prioritize my work while nearly unsupervised, while at the same time remaining grounded in my responsibilities. If I have missed an action item and came in late with a deliverable, I do not remember the event. Instead, I have been given more and more responsibility and my time is coveted. If I am employed by another, I do believe I will be missed.

 

 

 

 

InsWeb Corporation                                          Site Operator                                                        Feb, 2005 to April, 2007

InsWeb is primarily an insurance clearing house/web presence company. My responsibilities, originally, were as a network junior admin where I, quite literally and just like my colleagues, was instructed to sit and wait until something breaks. Since I had come from a construction back ground, where if there is no work, you went home, I could see the “writing on the wall”. I knew I had better make myself valuable quick or I’d be out of a job. I studied web development while I “sat and waited” for something to break. Soon I was building web tools that my department was using: complicated tools that connected a DB to a monitoring program (SiteScope) and a web app that monitored that DB for activity. Soon we were logging all our activities on a DB rather than on paper. As far as I know, they could still be using this program for their system logging. And, as predicted, I survived 3 lay-offs by making myself valuable. My original department was gone and I was the sole survivor from that department. But, InsWeb was a “sinking ship” and it was a matter of time before even my position was eliminated. My experience and drive at InsWeb is how I ended up in my next position at HP through mōdis.

 

Journeyman electrician                                                                                                  1997 to 2002

I mention my history as a journeyman electrician for several main and important reasons. One: as an electrician I learned powerful trouble shooting skills where I can see a problem, analyze it from all sides, and come up with a solution/fix. This ability to identify the problem and find a solution has been invaluable in programming. Two: as a service electrician where I made house calls, I earned a reputation as a kind of “fix it” guy. On more than one occasion I was sent to smooth out relations with a disgruntled customer after another had offended them. My confidence in social skills has helped me to quickly earn the trust of clients and customers. Three: my work ethic in construction is one of, “if you don’t work, you don’t eat”. This ethic is what drives me to make myself valuable and to do what it takes to make the company I work with successful.