- 1987:High school final year, taught myself 8086(Intel) assembler, and ‘C’. I then helped write parts of a data-capture application.
- 1988-1989: Studied Light Current at the Cape Town Technicon, where I steered toward the digital subjects and computer programming in Pascal.
- 1989-1990: Military service did basic radio maintenance working in the signal corps. During this time I decided that programming was my forte after using a base-computer nights to write a ration-order prediction program in Pascal.
- 1991: I trained in formal software development, with a full-time COBOL and Data-Processing concepts course at van Zyl and Pritchard, Johannesburg. The course ended in an external examination by the CUC (Computer User Council of South Africa).
- 1991-1992: My first full-time work involved installing LAN and WAN for a contractor. I ran a 2 or 3-man team, eventually specialized in troubleshooting networks and tackling difficult installations. I used the time to build up a solid understanding of hardware, communication and embedded systems; all of these forming my primary interests to this day.
- March 1992-April 2006: I moved into real software development when I started with Adroit Technologies to develop external hardware drivers for them in the Industrial SCADA/HMI market as a ‘C’ programmer.
Detail follows.
Work done at Adroit 1992-2006
- I’ve interfaced to more than 40 totally different devices (Siemens, Omron, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Modicon, Allen-Bradley, ABB, Yokogawa etc.)
- Used various data communication mediums and techniques namely:
- 3-rd party SDKs, dual-port RAM, COM, OLE, OLEDB, Serial, TCP/IP, UDP, flat-files and GPRS
- Have a solid understanding of computer protocols from the above exposure.
- Continually update an architecture to keep backward compatibility in a modular software environment
- Migrated modules from a C basis, rewriting hierarchical algorithms to use OO and C++, retaining compatibility once again
- Created frameworks and code-libraries that reduce our programming surface
- Used IPC to create a effective debugging/troubleshooting environment which even a customer can drive
- Use the web to find answers and SDKs or components
- Windows platform using Microsoft Tools
- Considered a C++ expert amongst my peers
An example of my work can be found in a spare-time pursuit of my own, by doing a google search for:
“Conrad Braam” +modbus
During my time at Adroit my tasks also included:
- • End-user documentation
- Web server back-end ASP
- Using Visual Basic
- Exposure to C# on the .NET platform
- Troubleshooting: wireless and LAN/WAN networks
- Providing client support (telephonic, email and on-site) involving problems not just with our software or the communications, but also of customer-assets that affect our product’s performance.
- Communicating with suppliers and customers world-wide
- Exposure to the Mining, chemical, steel, electrical and various manufacturing industries. Also injection molding, drying, asset tracking, water and traffic applications.
- Working with PLCs (Logic Controllers)
- Working with electronics from my light-current background allowing me to confidently assemble, connect and inspect machines of any type.
- Technology presentations for customer functions, shows and private demos.
- Developing a module test-jig (white-box testing)
The Mission-critical nature of an industrial control environment means that people rely on your code to run 24/7/365, this has taught me how a solid design, simplicity, coding style and discipline directly affect defect-rate. I readily understand platforms and programming languages, and read and understand Flemish and German technical documentation. I work well on my own and consider myself self-motivated!
