George Ashley

Background

About George Ashley

A Senior Software Developer with a long and varied career in both the telecommunications and information technology fields. Initially trained in telecommunications, I was an integral part of the maintenance, planning and installation of large telecommunications networks for almost 20 years and, since 1995, after having been seduced by the increasingly intrusive world of information technology, moved on to designing, developing and maintaining a large variety of software solutions for a number of diverse industries. I have extensive experience in a wide range of development languages, environments and techniques, and my work has included developing and maintaining enterprise business systems and desktop applications for the telecommunications, forest products and insurance industries, amongst others. In the last few years, my focus has been developing and maintaining websites and web applications for several industries, developing web services for various implementations, integrating legacy point-of-sale systems with e-commerce frameworks, integrating web back-ends with 3rd-party shipping and payment system APIs, and modernizing legacy desktop applications. In addition, I have had the tremendous privilege over two recent summers of having been involved as a technical adviser in The Microsoft Garage’s internship program, working with highly talented groups of Program Manager and Software Engineer interns. I particularly pride myself on my abilities to “fix” things in already developed systems and solutions, quickly figure out “new” environments, create solid database design, work with data for analyses, reports, etc, perform accurate data migration and build robust solutions. With my in-depth knowledge and expertise in web infrastructure, web architecture and design, e-commerce, database management systems and development methodologies, I am able to confidently provide customers with invaluable consultation and advice. In addition, my substantial work with distributed teams and 3rd-party vendors allows me to provide that all-important link between the customer and these various, often disparate, entities. One of the most rewarding aspects of my work is mentoring young developers, helping and watching them grow, and seeing their contributions strengthen both the projects they touch and the teams they are part of.