Walter Higgins

Current

Contract Programmer at EMC
Owner & Founder at Sxoop Technologies

Past

Owner & Founder at Sxoop Technologies
Solutions Architect at EMC
Technical Project Manager at Vistech Software Ltd

Senior Software Engineer at Euristix
Software Engineer at Smartforce
Software Engineer at CBT Systems
Software Quality / Automation Engineer at Apple Computer
QA / Automation Engineer at Apple
Programmer/Analyst at Musgrave
Software Test Engineer at Microsoft
Programmer/Analyst at Ibermatica s.a.

see less...

8 more...

Education

Institute of Technology, Sligo

Recommended

5 people have recommended Walter

Connections

207 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Walter Higgins’s Summary

I've been working professionally in Software since 1992 but began developing software as a hobby in my teens.

My first job was in Ibermatica s.a. in Spain, writing a network management application in Ingres/Windows4GL. I worked with a team of great people and fell in love with San Sebastian.

In late 1993 I moved back to Ireland and worked at Microsoft testing, before returning to programming. I moved to Cork where I met my wife Ursula. I spent 18 months working on Musgrave's central billing system and learnt about pricing, finance and the checks and balances that must apply to any code that manages prices.

I then moved to Apple Computer, where I learned a lot about software quality and test automation.
I returned to programming in CBT Systems where I cut my teeth on web programming (C++, Javascript, HTML).

I moved back to Cork, and became employee number 9 at a startup called Vistech Software. Vistech was where I learnt most about the full life-cycle of software and about listening to and responding to customers. I also began programming in Java and learned about J2EE. Vistech had great founders & programmers but after almost 3 years at Vistech I felt it was time for a change.

In June 2001 I joined EMC as a software engineer working on their EMC Control Center product. At EMC I got deep into Java and Swing UI programming.
In 2005 I moved from EMC's product group to their Services group where I could work more closely with customers developing and deploying web-based workflow solutions.

In December 2006 I left EMC to work full-time at Sxoop Technologies - where we are developing advanced image editing software for the web. I've been involved in setting up BarCampIreland and I've spoken at IT@Cork's Web2.0 conference in Cork.

Sxoop Technologies is located in the Rubicon Center, CIT Campus, Bishopstown, Cork.

Walter Higgins’s Specialties:

Application Design. Requirements gathering. Documentation. Full software lifecycle and Project Management.
WebServices and APIs - XML & JSON. SOAP & REST.
Image Processing using ImageMagick and Scheme.
Online social network integration.
Web programming (Javascript, CSS, HTML).
Enterprise Java programming (J2EE and Swing).

Walter Higgins’s Experience

Contract Programmer

EMC

(Public Company; EMC; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 2009 — Present (7 months)

I am part of a team developing desktop-based software solutions for EMC's customers. Technologies used include Java (Maven, Hibernate, Spring), Subversion (Version control) and JIRA (bug tracking). I also developed and maintain a nightly build system used by many projects. Current contract runs out in October 2009.
Owner & Founder

Sxoop Technologies

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

January 2007 — Present (2 years 11 months)
Owner & Founder

Sxoop Technologies

(Privately Held; Myself Only; Internet industry)

January 2006 — May 2009 (3 years 5 months)

I am the founder of Sxoop Technologies: A software company that specializes in developing Imaging software for the web (because that's what I know and love).
Sxoop's first product is Pixenate - an online photo editor that is versatile and can be customized to suit your own website.
Pixenate is a Rich Internet Application targeting Online social Networking, Classifieds, Photo-sharing & Printing and other Photo-centric webservices. Pixenate is also in use in a number of Universities throughout the USA and UK.
Solutions Architect

EMC

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; EMC; Computer Hardware industry)

June 2001 — December 2006 (5 years 7 months)

Responsible for gathering requirements, designing and programming custom storage management and workflow solutions for EMC's customers. I worked closely with customers to ensure timely and successful deliveries.
Technical Project Manager

Vistech Software Ltd

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

September 1998 — June 2001 (2 years 10 months)

I was responsible for managing the development and delivery of a web-based procurement system for a client in the Utilities industry. This role involved managing a team of 8 developers & testers, and working closely with the client to ensure a successful & timely delivery of the project.
Senior Software Engineer

Euristix

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Telecommunications industry)

September 1998 — March 1999 (7 months)

I worked as a key team member on the development of a Network Element Management system for provisioning and managing Wireless Base Stations.
I was subcontracted by Vistech Software and assigned to work in Euristix - a telecommunications software company based in Dublin which was later acquired by Marconi.
Software Engineer

Smartforce

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

August 1998 — September 1998 (2 months)

I worked at CBT Systems which later became known as smartforce.
(please see CBT Systems for more detail)
Software Engineer

CBT Systems

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

October 1997 — September 1998 (1 year )

From October 1997 to September 1998 I worked as a software engineer at CBT Systems (which later changed it's name to Smartforce). While at CBT Systems I was a key member of their Advanced Technologies Division where I developed a web templating system for browsing and deploying E-Learning content. The web templating system was developed in C++ on Windows NT.
Software Quality / Automation Engineer

Apple Computer

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; AAPL; Computer Software industry)

January 1996 — October 1997 (1 year 10 months)

At Apple I worked in Quality Assurance where I specialized in developing automated testing tools.
I developed a system for running a suite of tests on many machines simultaneously (for performing regression testing on many models of Apple Macintosh hardware).
QA / Automation Engineer

Apple

(Computer Software industry)

1996 — 1997 (1 year )
Programmer/Analyst

Musgrave

(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Supermarkets industry)

July 1994 — December 1995 (1 year 6 months)

I worked as a contract Programmer/Analyst at Musgrave's IT headquarters in Cork.
Experience covered included Unix, Ingres4GL, SQL.
Software Test Engineer

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

January 1994 — July 1994 (7 months)

I tested localized versions of Microsoft Word and Excel.
Programmer/Analyst

Ibermatica s.a.

(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 1992 — May 1993 (1 year 1 month)

Working with an experienced team of developers I developed a Network Management System for use in Large Organizations. Technologies used to develop the solution were Ingres4GL, Ingres/Windows4GL and Object-Oriented Programming. This was a 1 year contract position.

Walter Higgins’s Education

Institute of Technology, Sligo

Computing , Computer Programming, Systems Analysis & Design, Telecomunications , 1989 — 1992

On completing studies in 1992 I began working at Ibermatica s.a. in Donostia, Spain as part of the European wide COMET programme.

Activities and Societies:

From 1989 to 1991 I undertook 3rd level studies in Computing and was awarded a NCEA National Certificate in Computing.
From 1991 to 1992 I undertook further study and was awarded a NCEA National Diploma in Computing.