CURRICULUM VITAE
Personal Details:
Mr. Zaramuk “Zar” Shardan
June 19, 1976
Flat 3.01 29 Shelley St.
Sydney NSW 2000
Permanent Resident of Australia
(+61)415104935
contact@zaramuk.com
http://www.zaramuk.com
Profile:
An experienced software developer with excellent analytical and problem solving skills,
augmented with a substantial exposure to the systems administration. While being a true team
player, require no micromanagement and constantly get the job done right.
Technical Skills:
Skill or technology
Years of
experience
Programming languages
C++ (~5 years commercial, 12 total)
12
Java
1
SQL
8
CORBA IDL
2
XML
2
XSLT
1
HTML
2
PHP
1
Basic and Basic based languages
8
UML
1
Oracle PL/SQL
1
80x86 Assembler
2
Middleware technologies & web server software
CORBA
2
COM/DCOM
1
Apache web server
1
Microsoft IIS
1
Development environments and tools
Borland C++ Builder (1-6)
7
Seagate Crystal Reports v7-9
3
MS Visual C++ 6.0 EE, MS Visual Studio .NET 2003, 2005
4
Together v.1 for Borland C++, v5 for C++ and Java
1
VisiBroker for C++
2
Rational Rose 2002,2003
1
Borland JBuilder 3-7
1
Numega Softice
2
Lotus Notes 4.6 (Lotus Script)
1
Borland Delphi 6
<1
Skill level
1-5*
4.8
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3
3
3
2
2
2
3.5
2.5
4
4
4.5
4
3.5
3.5
3
3
3
3
3
3
Version control software
Subversion
Borland Team Source
1
1
3
4
2
3
2
3
4
3
8
4
4
3
3
4
7
7
4
4
12
4.5
Database servers
Oracle V 7.3.4 - 8i
MS SQL Server 2000
MySQL
Operating systems
Windows 9x,NT4,2000,XP,2003 Server, Vista
Linux (as a server, mainly Red Hat, Mandrake)
Other
VmWare Workstation 5
Networking
Ethernet - copper, fibre, WiFi, cabling, switches up to L2
TCP/IP - Addressing, DHCP, NAT, Routers etc.
Hardware
IBM PC compatible
* 1 = basic understanding - a bird's eye view (no such skills listed here due to practical irrelevance)
2 = minimal functionality - can use the tool/technology, but with heavy documentation/Google usage
3 = limited functionality - quite familiar with general use cases, yet still rely on the documentation substantially
4 = working knowledge – confident user, documentation is needed occasionally
5 = extensive knowledge - throughout expertise in this technology, documentation is rarely used
Working Experience
2004 - 2008
System administrator, Chief of IT department (3 people) since 2005
Mercury-2 Ltd. Cherkessk, KChR, Russia
www.mercury-alco.ru
Mercury-2 Ltd. is one of the leading producers of alcohol in Southern Russia. It is also a part
of the Mercury holding – a well-known trademark in Russia.
Duties at Mercury-2 included:
1) Efficiently communicate with superiors to ensure all the necessary measures and purchases
in order to keep the IT infrastructure operational and improve it further.
2) Install and administer operating systems, databases, firewalls other servers and
workstations.
3) Troubleshoot various software and hardware related problems.
4) Automate routine activities such as backups and unattended installations.
5) Minor programming – write new programs and reports or modify existing ones.
6) Hardware and software upgrades, evaluate, plan, purchase.
7) Assign tasks and responsibilities to the subordinates.
8) Provide user support and training.
During the employment at Mercury-2, I introduced or achieved the following:
 Daily backup of all important corporate data.
The company had serious issues with reliability and performance of its computing
infrastructure and data security. This was causing relatively frequent server or network
outages and eventually resulted in a major data corruption. Previous systems
administrator lost the job because of this incident. Logically, first steps were to
implement reliable automatic backup measures and to fix the network and the server of
the accounting department. All these measures resulted in tremendous decrease in
server’s downtime and increase in working efficiency of users.
 Active Directory, DNS, DHCP
Next step was to introduce DNS and Active Directory to enable the required level of
control over the network resources and user rights assignment. DHCP server was added
to automate the management of IP addresses.
 Enhanced control over the user access to shared resources.
Previous enhancements allowed a more fine-grained control over the shared resources.
NTFS permissions, user groups, and specially developed C++ application and batch files
helped to automate this task.
 Internet gateway upgrade.
Internet access for the company was provided through a Linux router with a billing script
developed by one of the previous employees. When we upgraded the router machine, I
decided to keep it Linux, but used a more modern distribution that could work with the
new hardware. I also used an open source billing system to remove unnecessary
dependence on (now) external personnel. Internet traffic is quite expensive in the
southern part of Russia. A transparent proxy based on Squid was added to save traffic.
This measure reduced Internet expenses by approx. 20%, and allowed to track Internet
usage.
 Air-conditioned dedicated server room, modern rack mount servers with
redundant PSUs and UPSes.
I convinced the management that for a company of that size a dedicated server room with
all associated facilities is necessary.
 Introduced WSUS server.
Further improvement of the computing infrastructure of the company included a WSUS
server addition to the network to automate OS updates. Client PCs receive the address of
sever via group policy.
 Introduced RIS server.
Recent growth of the company resulted in frequent addition of the new workstations to
the network. A RIS server was added to the network to automate the tedious and timeconsuming process of workstation OS and software installation. The Windows XP
installation image on the RIS server was modified using DriverPacks to add support for
the new hardware and eliminate the need to manually install drivers
 Wide adoption of the Gigabit Ethernet, including fibre optic segments.
Due to the growth of the network of the company, a need in long and fast links was
identified. My knowledge in this field was largely theoretical. After some research, I
selected and purchased all the necessary equipment and tools at the best prices in Russia
without sacrificing quality. I successfully installed few links myself - FC epoxy
connectors, SFP modules, 3COM switches.
 Careful selection of hardware components with the best price/value ratio,
Recognising the crucial importance of the hardware to the performance and the
reliability of the computing infrastructure of the company, I always aim to purchase most
reliable components. Sometimes I had to purchase servers and rare hardware or tools
from suppliers located as far as 1500km from the office (Moscow, Russia) to ensure the
best prices and good choice of equipment.
My personality and technical skills gained me a lot of respect from both users and superiors.
As a result, I was promoted to the head of IT team of the company in 2005.
Jan-Mar
2005
Development contract: Consumer Profile Database
JV Marvel Juice Co. Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
I completed this project in my free time while still working at the Mercury 2 Ltd.
Description: Marvel Juice Co. is one of the major juice producers in Uzbekistan. In the end of
2004, they decided to develop new questionnaire survey software to handle this task. It was a
good opportunity to refresh my programming skills and earn some extra money. This was a oneman project – from requirements analysis to application packaging
Duties included:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Analyse the task and create requirements specification.
Design the software: Decide on user interface details, database layout etc.
Implement the application.
Test and fix bugs.
Create HTML help manual.
Create installation package.
Provide some user support.
The application allows it’s user to:
 Define variable number of categories, questions, and answer choices
 Enter individual questionnaires into the database
 Export reports to the MS Excel.
The size of the application is approximately 7000 lines of code.
Environment and tools:



Borland C++ Builder 6
MS Access database
Wise Installation Studio 7.0
2000 - 2003
Programmer
ASBT Ltd. Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
www.asbt.uz
ASBT Ltd. is one of the leaders in the field of software development in Uzbekistan.
Duties at ASBT included:
1) Design and code: software modules, subsystems, GUI and command line utilities. Create
installation packages. Document created software.
2) Some administration and software deployment/installation/configuration of our products
and other products (such as DB servers/instances) they depended on.
3) Manage PC hardware upgrades and Ethernet network deployment.
4) Evaluate new technologies and products to assess their fitness for the daily usage in the
production environment.
Projects completed:
2003 - ERP system for Semurg holding
Description:
In 2002, Semurg holding acquired ASBT Ltd. Management of Semurg later decided
that there is a need for a custom ERP system for the holding.
Duties in this project:
 Design and implement an FTP client-dialler dll for the project
 Design and implement a software adapter for a serial barcode scanner
 Evaluate CORBA as a solution for the project
The dll is a mere wrapper around the MFC wininet API plus some FTP uploading
and downloading logic.
The barcode scanner adapter is a COM server application that translates bytes
received from a barcode scanner via serial port into keystrokes. It can be accessed and
configured using its tray icon.
Although promising, a pure object-oriented CORBA based solution turned out to be
overkill for this particular project. As the evaluation progressed, it become obvious,
that the work can not be carried out in a reasonable time, given the number of
developers familiar with the technology (in fact, one). In the situation when CORBA
solution yields no spectacular benefits for this project, compared to the standard
ASBT’s combo – Power Builder application and Oracle database, the project manager
decided to drop the CORBA solution.
Environment and tools:




Borland C++ Builder 6
Microsoft Visual C++
VisiBroker for C++
Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 server
2002 - Archive tracking system for Ministry of Finance, Uzbekistan
Description:
The purpose of this system is to serve as some kind of index to the vast archive of
documents of Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan. Generally, it is a moderately
complex client-server application. My efforts in this project were mostly directed at
the user management subsystem and multilingual support implementation. More
detailed description of this project can be found on my webpage at
www.zaramuk.com.
Duties in this project:
 Design, code, prepare for the deployment
Environment and tools:




Borland Delphi 6
Interbase 6.0
Borland Team Source
Windows NT 4.0 workstation, Windows 2000
2001 - Marketing Information System (MISys) for UzBAT
Description:
“Marketing Information System” (MISys) for British American Tobacco
Uzbekistan (UzBAT) is used by trade-marketing, sales and planning departments of
the company. The system also exchanges data with the legacy CS/3 database used by
the production department. A detailed description of this project is available on my
web page at www.zaramuk.com.
Duties in this project:
 Porting and support of the replication subsystem from MMS (see below) to MISys
 Design and implementation of the data exchange layer between the new MISys and
legacy CS/3 database
 Design and implement a CGI application that returns a chart in form of a picture.
 Design and implementation of some utility Java classes for the applet-RMI server
part of the project
Environment and tools:





Borland C++ Builder 5
Borland JBuilder4
Oracle 9i
Lotus Notes (indirect, through OLE objects)
Windows 9x, Windows NT (4.0), Windows 2000 advanced server
2000 - Media Merchandising System (MMS) for UzBAT
Description:
MMS is a project for the brand-marketing department. Its goal is to organize and
keep track of various marketing activities such as product promotion actions and
linked events. This system allows its users to plan and allocate funds for the marketing
activities. Initially MMS supposed to be a distributed system, since UzBAT had a
division in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. However, later that office was closed and this
functionality became redundant.
Duties in this project:
 Design, programming, implementation and support of the replication subsystem of
the MMS
 Design, implementation and support of active Lotus Notes document forms
 Other misc. duties
Environment and tools:





Borland C++ Builder 5
Lotus Notes 4.62 (Lotus Script, OLE objects)
Sybase PowerBuilder 6
MS Access
Windows 9x, Windows NT (4.0)
2000 – Automated Trading System for the Currency Exchange of Uzbekistan
Description:
This system automates currency-trading operations. Users can monitor the situation
on the Currency Exchange in the real time. This was one of my first projects at ASBT
that involved some substantial programming activities.
Duties in this project:
 Implementation and maintenance of the oracle stored procedures
 Maintenance of the deployment SQL scripts
 Other misc. duties
Environment and tools:



PL/SQL with TOAD 5
Oracle 8.0.5
Windows 9x, Windows 2000 Server
1998 - 2000:
Self employed as general hardware/software specialist
PC assembly for the private customers and development of small programs. Self-education.
The main reason for this was that I did not have a residence permit in Uzbekistan at that time
and as a result could not find an official job.
Education:
1993 - 1998
Tashkent Electro-technical Institute of Communications, Tashkent,
Uzbekistan
Department of the Computers & Digital Communications
Master of digital communications
Bachelor of digital communications
Referees:
Apchar Patova
Chief Financial Officer
Mercury 2 Ltd.
+ 7 87822 10645 (Russian only)
Diana Tlisova
Interpreter
Mercury 2 Ltd.
+7 87822 61886 (English speaker, can translate for Apchar Patova)
Semen Godes
Director General
ASBT Co. Ltd.
+998 71 135-4564
+998 71 135-4634
Generally Russian speakers, but might call someone who speaks English.
A scanned image of the Letter of Reference by Semen Godes is available on my web site in the
Downloads section.