Toby Champion

Current

Software Developer at University of Sussex

Past

Software Developer at University of Sussex
Software Developer at Policy Studies Institute
Software Developer at IPRA

Software Developer at University of Sussex
Software Developer at University of Sussex

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2 more...

Education

University of Sussex

Connections

39 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Toby Champion’s Summary

Desktop and web application developer since 1991, with much experience working with academic research projects with tight budgets and unclear requirements.

I've spent most of my time recently developing software to support quantitative and qualitative research projects at SPRU at the University of Sussex.

To this end, agile development techniques, and much gluing of Microsoft Access on the desktop to Linux on the server using PHP and Python. Recently, building data analysis and visualization solutions using Python and MATLAB. Strong analytical skills, an embarrassingly keen eye for detail, and exceptional written English. Strong on patterns, refactoring, unit testing and constant integration.

I'm looking for short-term opportunities, and for something longer-term part-time; meanwhile I have a long-term relationship with the University of Sussex working on their Multicriteria Mapping tools, one of which is open source. As a result I'm mostly focusing on desktop applications, and want to get into writing Eclipse/RCP applications using Java and Jython. But never keen to walk away from building websites, and enjoying building pretty, usable and accessible things, I'm also keen to try my hand at implementing websites in a CMS, particularly Drupal, Joomla, CMS Made Simple or WordPress.

Toby Champion’s Specialties:

Python, Java, Hibernate, Ant, Jython, PHP, HTML, XML, Microsoft Access, MATLAB, unit testing, agile development, Eclipse, Subversion, NSIS, relational modeling, technical writing.

Toby Champion’s Experience

Software Developer

University of Sussex

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

January 2006 — Present (3 years 11 months)

Ongoing work with Professor Andy Stirling, developing the tools, documentation and website for his Multicriteria Mapping methodology. Java, Jython, Hibernate, Jetty, Ant, Subversion, Eclipse, NSIS, Microsoft Access, Excel, Swing, PHP, Open Office.
Software Developer

University of Sussex

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

January 2006 — March 2006 (3 months)

Implemented an integer portfolio optimization algorithm in MATLAB for the Multicriteria Mapping project.
Software Developer

Policy Studies Institute

(Think Tanks industry)

October 2005 — January 2006 (4 months)

Provided technical support and advice with respect to the Multicriteria Mapping (MCM) analysis of the UKSHEC hydrogen futures.
Software Developer

IPRA

(Research industry)

January 1998 — December 2000 (3 years )

With this research consultancy, developed the prototype for the CITB's Future Skills website. Custom CMS using Microsoft Access, PHP, Perl, MySQL. Requirements analysis, specification, project management, training content providers at IPRA and CITB.
Software Developer

University of Sussex

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

March 1999 — July 2000 (1 year 5 months)

Designed and implemented web-based data collection and analysis system, including custom CMS, for PERFORM, an experimental sustainability performance benchmarking project. PHP and MS Access on Windows; PHP and MySQL on Solaris. Unit testing and constant integration helped us cope with requirements changing as the project developed. Managed two subcontractors, and trained content providers.
Software Developer

University of Sussex

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

January 1993 — December 1997 (5 years )

Requirements analysis, systems design, programming, testing and documentation for a small team based in the Space Sciences Centre in the School of Engineering at the University of Sussex, supporting the development and operations phases of scientific instruments on four satellites launched by the European Space Agency in collaboration with NASA. Followed ESA's respected Software Engineering Standards for most of the project, especially for managing changes in the requirements. A particular challenge was eliciting the requirements from disparate partners and contractors, many of whom were not native English speakers. I spent several weeks at technical meetings in the Netherlands, Sweden and France. ANSI C on Solaris, with RCS for version control.