Hi, I'm Matt - IN PROGRESS!

About

A full time Network Engineer and Network Systems Developer with experience of campus and data center networking currently working at the University of Bath.I enjoy homelabbing and run everything from matrix, mastodon and nextcloud to kamailio, dovecot and rspamd, utilizing mainly Docker and LXC for process isolation.I also maintain an involvement with rigging and crewing for live events and theatre shows.

personal info

Name: Matt RichardsEmail: me@that.hostPhone: +44 (0) 1225 666650Address:
Trowbridge, WiltshireWeb: matt.click

Experience

Network Team
The University of Bath

Feb 2024 - Current

Senior Network Engineer

Currently in the network team with the roles and responsibilities from the intelligent campus team being migrated due to restructure.Implementing modern technologies, such as VXLAN and eVPN, to enhance the functionality and stability of the core network and provide a more flexible infrastructure.Reviewing all of the existing scripts and systems that require updating and looking to migrate to utilize modern CI/CD methods, tools and development practices, such as, Gitlab, Docker and Kubernetes.Maintaining existing network infrastructure whilst upgrading and improving on areas that require improvement.

Intelligent Campus Team
The University of Bath

Mar 2020 - Feb 2024

Network Engineer | Software Development

The University has a requirement for the better utilization of physical space and in order to help with decision making I developed a system that would utilize information generated from the wireless networking systems to generate graphs and present an overview of how the spaces were being utilized.The system was developed utilizing a combination of programming languages and existing software packages including: Python, Perl, C, Kafka, Grafana, noderedLater in the project I added support for utilizing data from various building and environment sensors to enhance the data.

Network Engineer | Systems Development

Built docker clusters, and later a kubernetes cluster, to allow for the implementation of modern development techniques and to provide a platform to host services and bespoke code in an organized way.

Network Engineer | Operations

Responsibilities for this role included maintaining the systems for the edge network (switching and wireless), troubleshooting any bespoke issues, offering 3rd line support and working with other departments to allow for the implementation and smooth running of core university systems and services.Troubleshooted and resolved intermittent network network issues while prioritizing network functionality.

Network Team
The University of Bath

Apr 2013 - Mar 2020

Network Engineer | Business As Usual

Maintained, upgraded and implemented required changes to the core network for both physical hardware and firmware.Worked with customers to troubleshot and fix issues relating to bespoke requirements involving core network routing, core network services, firewalls, etc.Deployed bespoke solutions to requirements for permanent and temporary configurations, such as networking requirements for live events

Network Engineer | Development

Upgraded the internal and external DNS servers to utilize a hidden primary for both views and Anycast routeing for queries to secondaries which allowed for not only additional resiliency but also allow for easy server updates / maintenance without service interruption.Implemented a VPN solution, based on OpenVPN, and developed a web UI that allows users to generate private configurations with embedded certificates by just logging in.Investigated, setup and migrated to Palo Alto firewalls from Cisco based firewalls with BGP and OSPF peerings.Installed and setup ISC DHCPd Servers to replace the current Windows DHCP Servers which involved developing a REST API service to support push updates from the current, in house, IPAM solution.Deployed equipment at remote sites for disaster recovery purposes and setup servers, routers, services and VPN connections to support business requirements utilizing BGP to allow for addresses to be re routed whilst not being dependent on a primary site.

Wiltshire College

Oct 2012 - Apr 2013

Senior Systems Engineer

My role involved multiple activities including the design, installation and configuration of software and hardware network services across a multi site educational institution supporting the development of new and existing infrastructure which accommodates approx 3600 stations. I was responsible for general maintenance of all aspects of the network infrastructure including critical systems taking into consideration business continuity solutions.

Responsibilities Included:

  • Producing Documentation

  • Service Maintenance

  • Network Maintenance

  • Solution / System Development

  • Configuring and troubleshooting network and service protocols such as SIP, DNS, IPSec, RIP

Wiltshire College

Sep 2007 - Oct 2012

IT Systems Engineer

This role was very similar to the Senior Systems Engineer position and therefore consisted of the same roles and responsibilities.

Wiltshire College

Nov 2005 - Sep 2007

Casual IT Technician

My role was based in the computing lab and involved preparing hardware with faults to specification for lessons. Supporting lectures during lessons. Preparing lab machines with specific images. Preparing kits with required hardware to lessons plans.

Knowledge

The University of Bath

Networking

The knowledge I gained related to networking

  • Routing

  • Switching

  • RIP

  • WiFi

Programming

  • Gitlab

Since working at the university I have bettered my experience of Perl, gained an understanding of C and Python

Hosting

Hosting Knowledge:

  • Docker

  • ContainerD

  • Kubernetes

Wiltshire College

Networking

The knowledge I gained related to networking

  • Routing

  • Switching

  • RIP

  • WiFi

Programming

The knowledge I gained related to programming

  • Perl

  • Bash

  • PHP

Hosting

The knowledge I gained related to hosting

  • Hyper-V

  • SCCM

Skillset

Networking Hardware

  • Aruba Wireless / Switching / Routing

  • Cisco Wireless / Switching / Routing

  • Brocade Load Balancers

  • Kemp Load Balancers

  • Palo Alto Firewalls

  • Cisco PIX Firewalls

Network Services

  • DNS (Bind / PowerDNS)

  • DHCP (ISC DHCPd / Kea)

  • Syslog

  • SNMP

  • Radius (FreeRADIUS / Clearpass)

  • NTP (ntpd)

  • LLDP

  • CDP

Web Services

  • Web Servers (nginx / lighttpd / apache)

  • HTTP Proxies (squid / traefik)

Networking Protocols

  • IPv4

  • IPv6

  • BGP

  • OSPF

  • GRE

  • VXLAN

  • Multicast

  • Spanning Tree

  • 802.11X

Networking Technologies

  • Anycast Routing

  • NAT

  • Controller Based Wireless Networks

  • Switching Fabrics

  • VPN (IPSec / OpenVPN / Wireguard)

  • DNS (Hidden Primary / Replication)

Programming Languages

  • Perl

  • C

  • Python

  • PHP

Development Tools / Systems

  • Gitlab

  • Github

  • VS Code

  • Portainer

  • Kubernetes

Other

  • NFS

Education

University of Bath

2005 - 2007

Foundation Degree in Computing

Wiltshire College

2003 - 2005

BTEC National Diploma for IT Practitioners

Wiltshire College

2002 - 2003

PC Maintenance and Support

Application of Number

Working with Others

Improving Own Learning & Performance

Notable Achievements

Certificate of Special Recognition

Student Media, University of Bath

Certificate in ??

Somewhere

Certificate in ??

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Certificate in ??

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