Today was my last working day at the University of Cambridge after 22.5 years. I have spent the last four years in the MRC Biostatistics Unit and have worked in IT in the Higher Education sector for 30+ years. This has caused me to reminisce a little.
Anglia Polytechnic - Anglia Polytechnic University - Anglia Ruskin University
In August 1991 I started my professional career providing IT support within the Anglia Business School at what was then named Anglia Polytechnic. My first project was to help replace the School’s old teaching network and I remember installing Novell NetWare 3.11 on one of two new servers, alongside a member of the central IT Services team, both of us learning as we worked. Little did I know then how big a part Novell would play in my career!
In July 1993 the first release of Slackware was released and I think this was my first exposure to Linux.
In January 1997 I moved to (what became) the University’s Communications & IT Services department to look after the University’s NetWare servers and Directory Services tree and to implement BorderManager, GroupWise, and ZENworks - I think the only Novell product we didn’t use was ManageWise!
I have happy memories of working at Anglia and it was whilst working there that I met my wife and we’ve now been married 24 years!
University of Cambridge
In April 2000 I left Anglia to join the University of Cambridge Computing Service as a server and services specialist, again working with Novell NetWare. When Novell (who by this time had acquired SUSE) developed Open Enterprise Server (based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9) I was able to use my Linux knowledge to be involved with beta testing. During this time I was invited to join what was then known as the Novell Knowledge Partner program.
In August 2010 I changed roles to look after the Linux systems used in providing network services to the University.
In March 2016 I moved to the High Performance Computing team as an HPC System Administrator.
In October 2018 I joined the MRC Biostatistics Unit (BSU) as their Linux System Administrator.
In March 2020, at the beginning of the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK, I built a dedicated Linux server for the storage and analysis of COVID-19 data sets. This was featured in a BSU blog article about the IT team’s work during the first nine months of the pandemic and the server is still being used today.
In September 2020 the BSU IT team was nominated under the University’s Professional Services Recognition Scheme.
During the pandemic, the Unit’s shared Linux server was found to be underpowered and so a replacement server was ordered and delivered to my house. Fortunately transporting and installing the server into the Unit’s machine room proved easier than getting the boxed server through my front door!