DONOVAN HAMPTON
Falkirk,Scotland
Summary
Motivated IT professional with a proven track record in effectively prioritizing workloads and aligning business objectives with management goals. Demonstrates enthusiasm for new projects and embraces challenges, showcasing a hands-on approach in fieldwork. A practical learner who thrives in team environments while also excelling in independent initiatives. Committed to maintaining high work standards that consistently exceed client and peer expectations.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work history
IoT installation technician
iOpt
Glasgow
2024.10 - Current
- I was looking for a move back into the field and therefore decided to look into other industries to broaden my experience.
- As an IoT installation technician at iOpt I am mostly on the road going to client houses within social housing to install environmental sensors into their homes which monitor temperature, humidity and CO2.
- Install CT sensors into the consumer unit of the house to do energy usage monitoring. I have done a safe isolation course to ensure I am working safely when working on consumer units within houses I am working in.
- Deal directly with the tenants and explain what service iOpt's sensors provides and how it is beneficial. When I am not in the field I do scheduling of my work which includes mapping out travel routes, creating the schedule documents and making appointments with the tenants via a phone call or SMS.
- Also work directly with the housing offices of certain councils where we install our sensors into housing that is either empty or in the process of being repaired to arrange access and report back to the housing officers on any incidents as I am a lone worker in most instances.
- The sensors we install use LoRaWAN, which depends on local gateway devices, or NB-IoT, which uses cellular networks, to connect and send the data into iOpt's platform.
- As iOpt has a few LoRaWAN gateways installed around Scotland I have been out to do gateway surveys and troubleshoot issues for external gateways that are installed on masts attached to a building or on the roofs of high rise buildings. I was the lead field engineer for a project where we moved an existing external gateway to another location on the roof of a high rise building with a retrofitted solution for securing the mast to the ceiling covers I-beams so the gateways LoRaWAN antennae could be extended out of the corrugated roof covering that was over the top of the building's roof and into fresh air to improve coverage for the area.
- I also periodically perform gateway surveys and coverage checks to ensure our LoRaWAN coverage is optimal for the gateways that we manage.
- I assisted in testing and providing feedback on a new environmental sensor developed by iOpt.
Supported installation processes through use of iopt app, reporting bugs and suggesting improvements to development team.
Contributed to ongoing updates of sensor technology by identifying issues and recommending solutions. - I upload IoT sensors onto various LNS platforms and am involved in the stock management processes.
- I drive a company van and execute regular checks on company van and oversee inventory management to guarantee availability of necessary tools and supplies.
Security Engineer
NTT Ltd
Reading
2022.09 - 2024.03
- NTT is a global technology and business solutions provider and I initially started as an 24x7 Security Engineer within the NTT UK SOC in the device management team for the GMSSP service. As a 24x7 engineer my shifts were 12 hour shifts with a 4 day on and 4 day off rotation. The shifts would alternate between night and day shifts.
- At NTT we used ServiceNow to manage client tickets and as a 24x7 engineer it is our responsibility to manage the service desk and group email boxes when the SOC support personnel are off shift.
- Our team supported a variety of vendors within the client environments that I would have tickets for which includes Fortinet products, Palo Alto firewalls, Checkpoint firewalls, Forcepoint proxy, Zscaler, CarbonBlack, Splunk and McAfee. A specific client had a Radware DefensePro solution in which I would log tickets escalated with TAC to investigate incidents.
- General tickets tasks would include : firmware upgrades, configuring firewall policies and new customer onboarding/pre go live checks; preparing change designs for approval on change tickets; blocking MD5 hashes or creating watchlists on Carbon Black; adding URLS to whitelists on Zscaler Internet access; Using ScienceLogic for monitoring of devices and RetorePoint for configuration backups of devices.
- I have contributed to a few and created knowledge base articles that were used by my team.
- In October 2023 I was then moved into the day team position where I would be on shifts that alternated between early and late shifts. I would continue to work on more complex tickets but my focus was on Fortinet and Palo Alto tickets troubleshooting issues the customers have. This sometimes required going to TAC to gather information to provide RCAs. I was the lead engineer for a fairly large clients firewall estate whilst we closed out the service.
- Facilitated training sessions for colleagues on Fortinet firewalls to enhance team expertise.
- NTT is a global technology and business solutions provider.
Network Support Engineer
Gyrocom
Chertsey
2021.03 - 2022.09
- In the general duties I was assisting clients with the support queries and attending to incidents and network monitoring software alerts on the service desk for clients to maintain SLAs.
- The majority of the support I provided was on Velocloud and FortiGate devices. My role required a lot of coordination with client management in various divisions for site changes being done to their firewalls or SD-WAN appliances. We would also liaise with service providers when infrastructure maintenance is being done or when outages occur on site as we provided a managed service for the clients internet links.
- I would periodically assist the project team with project pieces of work like new configurations on the firewalls, staging of new client devices or completing wireless surveys with Ekahau equipment at client office and warehouse sites.
- Our support team managed certain client project pieces of work like client device firmware upgrades that were assigned to us.
- The support team was responsible for a service that provided SD-WAN edge devices that used multiple 5G providers for connectivity for two large UK retail chains. I was personally involved in on site installations and setups of the solution. I was also lead for a few mini projects that used this service.
- Gyrocom which is now known as Kerv Connect was an MSP based in Chertsey that supported an array of clients with SD-WAN and network security services.
Field Engineer
Three6five
Johannesburg
2018.04 - 2020.11
- I worked within the IPE (IP engineering) team of Three6five and initially I was in the field doing CPE installations on behalf of various ISPs/Fibre providers in South Africa at their respective clients' premises. I would assist with Three6five client audits and changes needed on their network. Senior engineers within the team quickly started asking me to assist with client projects, documentation of solutions, racking and stacking in data centres and resolving 1st line and 2nd line tickets that came in on the helpdesk. Helpdesk tickets consisted of switching, wifi and FortiGate firewall tickets.
- The following are the client projects I was involved in:
- 1) I was an assistant lead engineer for a remote deployment of Citrix SD-WAN in seven countries in upper Africa for a client in the insurance industry.
- 2) Conduct an audit and implement remediation steps on a government entity client's network which was Juniper switches, Aruba wireless controller, Clearpass and APs. This included upgrading the Juniper SRX firewall to a higher end model.
- 3) Initial POC for a client within a newly added managed service. A managed virtual FortiAnalyzer offering. This POC was for a client in the Telecommunications industry where I had to define the standards for reporting which resulted in the client obtaining the service. I resolved initial issues of data not showing on the reporting correctly due to configurations on the FortiGate firewalls.
- 4) Assisted with a retail client's network redesign and implementing redundancy on their Cisco switches and FortiGate firewalls.
- As of December 2018, Three6five posted me on site at a client that is one of the leading cloud providers in South Africa.
- I was posted at the client as a network engineer as Three6five engineers maintain the clients Dell (enterprise switching) and FortiGate network. The cloud provider also had FortiGate firewalls that I would maintain for clients that had their equipment hosted in the Cloud providers DC racks. I reported to and worked in conjunction with the CIO and upper management. I provision the networking required for client Virtual Data centres on VMware vCloud Director and have been involved with the “labbing” of VMware NSX-T as this is a service offering the cloud provider would like to provide. I help design solutions that clients require to connect into the multitude of services that are available on their platform. I liaised with the upstream providers and ISPs for customer's specific routing requirements, public IP allocation, adding of DNS records and for troubleshooting purposes. I have also set up, configured and maintained WAF devices, physical and virtual to cater to the client's requirements.
- I was involved in the day-to-day tasks and design considerations at the data centre locations. This includes the below points:
- Patching cross connects (fibre and copper) from service providers and configuring port channels for redundant links.
- I coordinated scheduled maintenance for firmware upgrades on FortiGate firewalls and installed FortiGates (In an HA cluster if required) on site if required.
- Commissioning data centre racks, installing Dell switches with stacking/VLT implemented.
- Managing tickets on helpdesk.
- Some projects I have completed for the cloud provider are as follows:
- Conduct internal POCs and implement the best WAF solution. The cloud provider also then sold this WAF solution on as a service to prospective clients. Which I would liaise with clients on what their needs would be from the WAF.
- Getting all internal public facing services behind a virtual WAF appliance.
- Brought up a new network rack with the banks DC environment for banking clients in 2019.
- Networking lead for networking that was required to support a new cluster of servers, storage arrays and object storage solution within their Cape Town data centre in 2020.
- Networking lead for the Cloud providers launch into the USA. I was the networking lead charged to bring up the new environment within a data center in Dallas USA in 2020 which was up and running at the same standards within a week of equipment being installed by remote hands.
- I would sit in on client meetings to understand their needs and to answer any questions they had. I would then assist with scoping what the client would need.
- Three6five is a specialist systems integrator and network-as-a-service cloud provider.
Junior Network Engineer
Netconnect (Pty) Ltd
Johannesburg
2016.05 - 2018.03
- At Netconnect we would provide support to an array of businesses. I was based at the Johannesburg branch where we would maintain our client's core network and provide support as well. Initially 90% of my work was fieldwork at the client's sites. We would also get projects for various clients.
- Netconnect had a retail client where we maintained their workstations, printers and POS systems. Our team completed a server room overhaul and consolidation for a logistics company in the east of Johannesburg where we provided switching and network support. Mimosa microwave links were installed and configured by our team from their warehouse branches which were in close proximity to the head office for inter branch wireless links.
- As of January 2017, I was assigned to an on-site SLA with Netconnects client that is in the student accommodation industry. I was involved in the project to relocate their head office to new premises where we commissioned their server cabinet. I was involved in migrating their six existing student residences from MPLS connectivity to broadband internet (fibre). We standardized their network design which includes a Cisco core, HP, Aruba, Netgear edge switches, FortiGate firewalls and Aruba wireless equipment. This included segregating the network. I was involved with a security remediation in light of a network security audit.
- From January 2017 to March 2018 the client had opened up three new residences which range from 300 beds to 2000 beds in which I was charged with liaising with the contractors to ensure that all networking, UPS, CCTV and access control is completed to standard. I also had to consider the network design and security. I support all 10 sites which are located in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Midrand and Bloemfontein.
- My daily duties included but are not limited to maintaining their: AD Domain, DNS & DHCP Windows servers 2008 to 2016, Windows and mobile clients, Nagios core and Pulseway monitoring tools, and student PC labs. I worked with OpenVPN Linux (Ubuntu and CentOS) server and assisted in creating or revoking certs for personnel. I deployed an AD server in Microsoft Azure for labbing purposes.
- I maintained Eset remote administrator (Endpoint antivirus & File security); configuring of switches (HP, Cisco, Netgear) when needed; managing the client's VMware environment including their backups which are done through Veeam backup and replication 7.0; maintaining the FortiGate firewalls and FortiCloud for all sites; Office 365 E3 administration; liaising with their ISP for all sites fibre and MW links upgrades and configurations; maintaining/troubleshooting edge data cabinets and fibre links;I liaised directly with company management and reported directly to the IT ops manager and CFO.
Education
Matric -
Edenvale High school
South AfricaSkills
- RF systems understanding
- Client relationship building
- Communication proficiency
- Service desk and Customer Support
- Problem solving
- Fortinet - FortiGate configurations
- Teamwork
- Training and knowledge sharing
- Collaboration
Affiliations
- Hiking
- Gardening
- Gaming
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
IoT installation technician
iOpt
2024.10 - Current
Security Engineer
NTT Ltd
2022.09 - 2024.03
Network Support Engineer
Gyrocom
2021.03 - 2022.09
Field Engineer
Three6five
2018.04 - 2020.11
Junior Network Engineer
Netconnect (Pty) Ltd
2016.05 - 2018.03
Matric -
Edenvale High school