Kiffin Gish

Current

• Team Leader Desktop and Services at TomTom International BV

Past

• Team Leader Development at Frog Navigations Systems BV
• (Freelance) Lead Software Architect at Pace Micro Technology PLC
• (Freelance) Team Manager Development at Blinck International BV

• Team Leader Development at Demon/Thus PLC
• Perl developer at Telfort
• (Freelance) Principal e-Business Consultant at Gishteq (Self-employed)
• Sr. e-Business Management Consultant at IQUIP (Sogeti)
• Project Manager Partner Program at CMG Wireless Data Solutions
• Management Project Office at CMG Wireless Data Solutions
• Team Manager at CMG Wireless Data Solutions
• Project Leader at CMG Wireless Data Solutions
• Project Manager at RAM Mobile Data
• Team Leader at Uniface BV (Compuware)
• Software Engineer at Uniface BV (Compuware)
• System Engineer at Philips Telecommunication and Information Systems

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12 more...

Education

• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Stanford University
• Salinas High

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Connections

155 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

• My Blog
• My Website
• My Company

Kiffin Gish’s Summary

Have worked for many years in a number of computer related and telecommunications branches, and built up a career based on a sound technical background. View myself as young at heart, willing and enthusiastic, with a drive to work with others in a close-knit, hard-working team environment. I enjoy complex challenges where proper balance between the technical and the commercial dimensions makes or breaks a successful product.

Kiffin Gish’s Specialties:

Project management, mobile telecom, (wireless) Internet technology, software design and development, web programming, people management.

Kiffin Gish’s Experience

• Team Leader Desktop and Services

  TomTom International BV

  (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; TOM2; Consumer Electronics industry)

  May 2007 — Present (1 year 5 months)

  Responsible for a team of software engineers developing desktop and services applications atop a robust location based services web-based platform for supporting the extensive TomTom product portfolio. All software development is based on Scrum and XP programming techniques, using Java, C/C++ and Javascript.

• Team Leader Development

  Frog Navigations Systems BV

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

  June 2006 — May 2007 (1 year)

  Management of the development team consisting of twenty software and test engineers whose task is designing, implementing and testing the Equipment Control System (ECS) for the Euromax project, a new and highly automated container terminal in the Rotterdam Maasvlakte. Based on zero-configuration Holonics architecture using CORBA, C/C++, Java, Python and Unix shell scripting in an object-oriented distributed environment, Linux/Unix on Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise.

• (Freelance) Lead Software Architect

  Pace Micro Technology PLC

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

  April 2006 — May 2006 (2 months)

  System architecture design for the mobile PVR2GO product line of TV-centric multimedia devices, specifically the portal interface based on web services.

• (Freelance) Team Manager Development

  Blinck International BV

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  February 2006 — March 2006 (2 months)

  Management of the development team designing, developing and extending the interactive mobile messaging platform based on premium short messages.

• Team Leader Development

  Demon/Thus PLC

  (Telecommunications industry)

  April 2004 — January 2006 (1 year 10 months)

  Managed and coached a medium-sized development team of 6-10 software engineers. Products included VPN Connect, 3rd party XML-interface, Telco-Telco migration, ticketing tool for support, and an improved Webmail and self-service page for customers. Gained new insights into the design of data-base driven sites (Perl-DBI), mainly for UNIX-like environments. Also had experience developing web applications based on Web Services (SOAP and RPC-XML) architecture, and acted as liaison project manager for organizing and tracking outsourced develop work via third parties. Acquired some experience with UML 2.0 using Enterprise Architect for requirements, use cases, data models, etc. Required knowledge included: (X)HTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl/CGI, Template Toolkit, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Bugzilla and other Open Source tools.

• Perl developer

  Telfort

  (Public Company; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2004 — April 2004 (3 months)

  Designed and implemented an SMS gateway written in Perl which acted as a large account via UCP connecting an CMG SMS Center to the Telfort Service computer network.

• (Freelance) Principal e-Business Consultant

  Gishteq (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Internet industry)

  October 2002 — March 2004 (1 year 6 months)

  As owner and principal consultant of my own company called GishTeq, I provided independent consulting services to companies developing and deploying e-business solutions. Services included project management, web site analytics (Webtrends), business process improvement, as well as web design, implementation and deployment. All the services focused on leveraging the strengths of the best of all possible web products in order to maximize the effectiveness of the customer tailor-made solutions. Customers were middle to large organizations that sold and/or promoted services and products through e-business, e.g. Internet and/or Intranet. Required skills included: C/C++, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl and CGI, Apache Server, Visual Basic, Java and XML for the Windows as well as UNIX environments. At Telfort Mobile, designed and implemented an SMS-gateway written as an OOP Perl-daemon communicating via UCP (Universal Computer Protocol).

• Sr. e-Business Management Consultant

  IQUIP (Sogeti)

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  September 2001 — September 2002 (1 year 1 month)

  Responsible for general consultation at IT-companies in The Hague and Rotterdam areas, focusing mainly on E-business with expertise in wireless telecom, mobile applications and back office integration. Served as project manager for the tracking and oversight of various i-mode Services activities at a major Dutch mobile telecom operator. Reviewed and analyzed the eTOM (Telecom Operator Map) business process model to see if this standard framework could be used for customers in the business of service providers, eg. telecom, utilities & other communication and information companies. Restarted and gave new life to a telecom interest group in order to assess the current situation and prepare a roadmap for the future. Other activities included commercial assistance for presentations, definition of a eTOM service portfolio, support for a Visual Basic Training, creation of "blended" self-study modules for the learning institute, the design/maintenance Telecom Knowledge Group intranet site.

• Project Manager Partner Program

  CMG Wireless Data Solutions

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  November 2000 — August 2001 (10 months)

  Overall coordinator responsible for the definition, implementation & completion of the global (content) partner program, goal was to strengthen CMG's position in the business of wireless end-user services. Based on business development research, a number of companies were selected to participate, based on their core technical as well as business competence. Through a certification process, the objective was to assist customers like mobile operators, Internet and Application Service Providers as well as large enterprises with the creation of business solutions. Through the successful creation of a global partnering framework, the project was already expanding beyond the initial WAP Service Broker product to include the other telecom products like the Short Message Service Center, Cell Broadcast Center and Mobile Email.

• Management Project Office

  CMG Wireless Data Solutions

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  November 1999 — October 2000 (1 year)

  Responsible for the implementation of the Management Project Office (MPO) within the development department, covering all phases from Plan of Approach, to implementation and acceptance. International roll out to other companies in Ireland, USA and The Netherlands. The goal was to set up a uniform, self-contained project office infrastructure for tracking and oversight, management reporting structure and a historical database. Based on the advanced planning tool Project Scheduler 7 (PS7). I also designed and implemented a time-registration interface between an Oracle database and the planning tool based on Visual Basic 6.0 Used MS-Access extensively for the definition and support of a historical database, metrics and resource management. Our team was successful in creating a support structure for the training, coaching and general trouble-shooting of (junior) project leaders and their team members.

• Team Manager

  CMG Wireless Data Solutions

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  December 1998 — October 1999 (11 months)

  Managed the Value Added Services Platform (VASP) maintenance team of 23 internal consultants and subcontractors. Man management tasks included regular job controls and yearly reviews, coaching and training, as well as career planning issues. I was an active participant of the weekly management meetings, including personnel rankings and policy making. Also took part in recruitment activities. Staff training involved organizing technical workshops with external third parties, and running the CMG Telecom Academy together with our business partner Global Knowledge Networks, which was a specific 3-month training program for recent graduate students and joiners unfamiliar with telecom.

• Project Leader

  CMG Wireless Data Solutions

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  June 1997 — November 1998 (1 year 6 months)

  Was technical lead for a team of 5 developers designing, implementing and testing the components for the Value Added Services Platform (VASP) under Unix with an installed base worldwide for major telecom operators. Supported applications for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems using Amarex Voice-Mail service APIs. Brought to completion a one-year 'Unified Messaging' project with Ericsson for their Intelligent Network interface (NIP), culminating in a successful three-week acceptance program at their test facility in Karlskrona, Sweden. Expertise in Unix and C, MS Project, System Architect and INAP protocol API using Ericsson's Portable SS7 stack.

• Project Manager

  RAM Mobile Data

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  May 1994 — May 1997 (3 years 1 month)

  Provided technical support and consultancy of mobile telecommunications at various customer sites in the transport, public services and e-mail market segments. Gave advice and supervision during development of third-party applications, mainly for the expansion of existing networks and client/server systems to a (Mobitex) wireless environment. Acquired knowledge of communication software using C/C++ APIs for Unix, MS-DOS, Windows and Visual Basic. Expertise was in the analysis and optimization of network connections, e.g. packet-switching networks and modern telecommunication protocols. Did trouble-shooting of X.25, TCP/IP, AT, gateways and client/server architectures, especially under Unix and Windows. Supervised the testing and analysis of software with the objective of successful certification of communication products for Mobitex.

• Team Leader

  Uniface BV (Compuware)

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 1993 — April 1994 (1 year 4 months)

  Was responsible for the administration and supervision of progress within the Desktop Group development department. Scheduled and monitored all project activities using planning tool MS Project. Reviewed the quality control of deliverables according to internal requirements. Fostered the contacts between departments and external customers. Did management and supervision of software programmers across a number of GUI platforms. Lead and inspired the developers via weekly meetings and bi-yearly evaluation reports. Ordered and regulated the necessary hard- and software. Expertise was in (protected mode) MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 Presentation Manager, Motif, OpenLook, C and Assembler. Also provided technical support, bug fixing and Uniface enhancement work, and I was fellow-designer and developer of the OS/2 2.x GUI driver ported under the Workplace Shell.

• Software Engineer

  Uniface BV (Compuware)

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

  April 1992 — December 1992 (9 months)

  Did customer support and handled problem reports for a wide range of software problems, and if requested, implemented enhancements and customer wishes to the existing Uniface 3GL engine. Followed maintenance of current code-lines and the specified improvements via code walkthroughs. Specialized in MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 PM, C and Assembler. Ported various TCP/IP and database drivers for Windows and MS-DOS, including low-level debugging of Windows and (DOS extender) protected-mode driver DLLs. Gradually grew into a junior project leader and developer for porting the Windows GUI driver to OS/2 PM.

• System Engineer

  Philips Telecommunication and Information Systems

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

  March 1988 — May 1992 (4 years 3 months)

  Did application design, programming and testing, drafting, and analyzing system requirements. Designed information systems in cooperation with customers, acceptance tests and user system documentation. Was member of Electric Paper Facility team under the Megadoc Project, specializing in the analysis and development of image processing and text viewing applications and DLLs. Using the Unix utilities LEX and YACC, implemented an MS-DOS redirector via NETBIOS. Designed and developed a compiler for Remote Procedure Calling (RPC), a device driver SCSI controller for WORM disk drives, and an Optical Media Manager for administering and controlling Optical Disk Jukeboxes. Expertise was in UNIX, C and C++, and Fortran, VAX/VMS, Assembler, MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2 PM.

Kiffin Gish’s Education

• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  Drs., Physics, 1983 — 1988

  Specialized in the translation of theory into numerical analysis using self-developed simulation programs. Graduated with a Physics diploma, specializing in computer sciences in the Astrophysics department. My theme paper covered 'ray-tracing' techniques in order to simulate the light-scattering properties of atmospheric particles. Programmed on a VAX 11/750 under Unix, using Pascal, C and Fortran.

• Stanford University

  BS, Biology, 1976 — 1979

  Activities and Societies:

  Sigma Alpha Epsilon

• Salinas High

  1972 — 1976

Additional Information

Kiffin Gish’s Websites:

• My Blog
• My Website
• My Company

Kiffin Gish’s Interests:

Good fiction (as well as psychology, history, philosophy and computer books), playing golf, watching film classics, (modern) classical music, rock-and-roll, and country, programming for fun, jogging and inline skating, bicycling and camping, and sometimes getting carried away playing on my laptop into the wee hours of the morning. I have been captivated by the latest improvements of Internet and computer technology.

Kiffin Gish’s Groups:

Certified Scrum Master
Fellow for the Free Software Foundation Europe
Member of the British Computer Society
Supporter of FreeBSD and Gnome
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity
SportCity Fitness Centre, Gouda
US and Dutch citizenship
Member of Golfclub de Hooge Bergsche (Handicap 11)

•    Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Kiffin Gish’s Honors:

2nd place Monterey County Mathletics, 1974
Honors award High School

Kiffin Gish’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch