Ethel Delali Cofie

Today going through my old documents , I found my draft Graduate School Essay and i realised the content of the Essay still hold true today : enjoy

ETHEL DELALI COFIE
SUPPORTING STATEMENT

The computer is dumb;
I am smart and the computer is only as smart as the one who writes its logic.
These were the thoughts that crossed my mind as I sat in my first programming class along with another thought “am I sure I understand correctly what this lecturer is saying”.
I had signed up for this computer training class after my secondary school education to learn for the first time in my life about computers and how they worked and my first class had succeeded in revolutionizing the way I thought of computers.
I begun think to myself, well this computer stuff isn’t that bad after all and then mentally put it on the list of my career options I was considering at the time. After 6 months of the computer training course, I decided that a career in computing was what I wanted; I therefore applied to Valley View University to pursue a BSc course in Computer science.

I was the unofficial Class President during my years in the university given that I was always the one who would organize and rally the class to complete tasks.
To further illustrate; The course work for the Expert system course included developing six expert system modules individually using the Knowledge Wright development platform from about a hundred pages of system requirement documents. I rallied the class and we decided that different groups of students would analyze and develop one system each, and make a presentation to the class for approval and onward dissemination, cutting down the effort and time needed to develop the system individually and enabling all of us to get much needed sleep.

In the University I took a semester’s course in distributed systems but I really developed interest in the subject area after taking an internet based applications course. Learning about object oriented client based systems,J2EE,Corba,Ole/ActiveX ,the concept of autonomous computers working together but seeming as one coherent system and the connectivity offered by the internet I realized there was limitless possibilities in this subject area.
I became fascinated for instance by the idea of developing a system connecting a company’s geographically dispersed sites as well as thousands of sales representatives which would effectively manage sales ,billing ,stock control ,delivery and order tracking all in real time .
This fascination led me to develop for my final year project a java based Client Server system for electoral data collation and statistic generation. This software is part of the few projects selected to be showcased in Valley View University’s annual press exhibition to be held in March 2006.

During my years in the university I endeavoured to acquire knowledge not only in the classroom but also in industry:
My first year summer break was spent as an intern in Softtribe one of West Africa foremost software houses. There I worked developing modules in C++ and Java for their major systems being developed at the time.

The second year summer break saw me studying French because I believe that to be successful you need to be internationally competitive.
During my third year summer break I became an intern at INIIT a computing research and development firm. After that summer I stayed on and worked part-time through to my final year and then after Graduation went on to work with them fulltime.
At INIIT, I initially worked on web applications using PHP and JavaScript, and then moved to system analysis and design.

I am presently the project leader involved in developing a Client Server System which will be accesses via the intranet using Visual basic and SqlServer and I also represented my organisation in an ICT, telecommunication and media convergence conference in Cotonou –Benin (West-Africa) in February 2006. This conference was organized by the Panos Institute West Africa ( CIPACO project), in collaboration with the Haute Autorité de l'Audiovisuel et de la Communication (HAAC) of Benin, the African Communication Regulation Authorities Network (ACRAN) and the West African Telecommunications Regulators Association (WATRA).
I was also part of the writing of the Cotonou Appeal on the Regulation of Convergence the document adopted at the conference.

I aim not only to develop more systems with a bias towards distributed systems and gradually move into the management of my own multinational computing firm and this has influenced my choice to study for an MSc in Distributed Systems Integration at De Montfort University.
This is because after a critical look at the course modules being offered I realised that there is the right blend of technical, management and e-business modules to give me the relevant skills, up-to-date tools and knowledge not only to be technologically savvy but also for management also because as stated in the prospectus the course was designed in conjunction with industry.

Ps : of Course I didn't go to De Montfort though they offered me a place ,
I went to Brighton University because they offered me a scholarship and they were by the sea
I do have my Msc in Distributed Systems now and everyday i happily work on distributed System(ie my web application projects) ...

Telegraph Developers Weekend
Telegraph Labs, the Telegraph web development team’s unit that experiments with new tools, hosted a developer weekend from the 26 -27 April which i attended .
The saturday consisted of a morning of presentations and training/sessions from google, apple, adobe ,digg followed by a development competition that lasted through to Sunday.
The talks/sessions were pretty good and from a developers point of view .
It was a vey useful event and cudos to the telegraph event for a well planned event
Blogs of the event
Telegraph's own Shane Richmonds Tech blog
Press gazette

Brighton Geek Social
Cindy Li a designer (at nclud) gave a talk about illustration as a solution to many corporate and personalised websites . An eye opening session for me .

Brighton Vine (A session on writting effective text for the web)
See Video below

£5 Apps
See Videos below of a £5 App Wallrss (Explanation of the inner workings of an App that creates an iPhone version of a web site )
#

Videos courtesy of Anthony Ribot . www.ribot.com

My Links:

• About Me
• My CV
• My Masters Project
• My Motivation for choosing a Career in Information Technology
• Recent Events I have Attended

GOOGLE APPS HERE I COME .....

Apart from my day job as developer I enjoy working on my own side projects.
My present side project consist of taking advantage of the new roll out of Google apps specifically Google sites and Google apps engine to develop abd deploy my own website www.ethelcofie.com . Hey it’s free right so whats there to loose
I will be editing this page telling the story from the conception to completion (bearing in mind that there is no such thing as the completion of a development project)

Step 1
Bought my domain name , tried to buy Google(their designated partner as they are not involved in domain selling ) but I was disappointed that at the checkout from which despite my choosing country as the United Kingdom kept asking for a zip code and allowed only four digits which meant .I couldn’t use it

I therefore opted for 123-reg which thankfully was so much more convenient to use.

Step 2
After 24 hours I create my goggle apps account admittedly having Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and Google Docs for all in one place is not a bad idea at all

Verifying domain
So my next step was to verifying the domain was mine which is now within the 48 hrs window .This consisted of my adding a unique CName to my DNS settings.
in the fact that after I clicked on the verify now button. Got an email confirming that step and url to documentation. However I am little disappointed
Now I can wire frame and create my wonderful new site with nice beautiful pages with customizable template argghh[at least I get to write some html ] whilst I wait for verification ,problem is that I cant seem to find any information on how to deploy my web site once I am done …..

Overall my experience at using goggle sites hasn’t being exactly a happy one Then I groan and ask myself why didn’t I just use one of the other free hosting services
:its simple I want to test out , Google sites , I want to learn ,programme in python and pull out my hair but I will road test Google app engine even if it kills me !!!
See you soon !!!
Oh yeah and I am on the waiting list for a Google app engine account [it being a preview release and all]

Update Saturday 12 April
Spent half the day(first half was spent shopping) sorting out my domain to point to goggle's mail servers.hence my new/additional email is now ethel@ethelcofie.com
Then Sorting out outlook to point to it .
Then wireframed for the rest of the day . hopefully should be done and published by mid week[link will be right here soon ]
finally discovered how publishing is done on google sites (not to my liking so I searched and found the perfect host and hosting plan for me , i should have all that sorted out in two weeks)
see you soon!!!!!

Update
Site is up and running ,still pulling out my nails on design issues but its coming together : ethelcofie.com

EMAIL:ETHELCOFIE@YAHOO.COM

.Net Version of the Payment Web Service

Tutorial Link

ABSTRACT
The proposed project is a system to provide pseudo online bank facilities to the University of Brighton Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences School. The proposed project would provide CMIS department students with a simulated online bank/credit card system that they would be able to access when developing to systems that required online payment mechanisms.
The System would ideally be a web service for which the clients can access or implement.
The project would be twofold; the practical aspect is the actual development of a deliverable system as stated in the introduction and then the theoretical part which is the evaluation of the technologies that would be used in the development of the pseudo online payment system.
The proposed System would be developed in the two major technologies that are used in web services development .These technologies being the Microsoft.NET platform and the Java platform. Two versions of the system will be developed in these two platforms so as to enable the developer to evaluate them and assess how they perform in web service development and implementation.
Therefore as part of the proposed project the pseudo online bank system is developed in both the .NET and Java Platform on these initial three principles:
? Ease of development.
? In-depth analysis on how the above-mentioned platforms implement security and the tools that each platform provides for the implementation of security.
? Both platforms claim to implement Service Oriented Architecture, the proposed project will aim to research on the SOA-oriented ness of the .NET and Java attempting to discuss which is much more SOA oriented in its overall architecture and development approach.
The deliverable system would require the development of database that would keep track of credit/debit card accounts, and usage and this would be developed using SQL Server 2000.

INTRODUCTION

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Functional requirements:
According to the Client specifications the payment web service is to functionally fulfil the requirements below:
? Students should be able to use the web service to simulate their payments for customers
? There should be an Admin web front where Students can Register a Bank account
? The Admin web front should give students the permission to edit customer details
? Students should be allowed to create multiple accounts to mimic customers
? The System should be able to detect that a customer account has low funds or is does not have an account and react appropriately
? The System should produce confirmation results once payments have been successfully implemented
? Give back to user receipt of results (Payment successful or unsuccessful)
? The Students should be able to use the web front to view the Transactions details of customer accounts
Non functional requirements
? The Payment System should works on the Servers on the Computing Mathematical and Information Sciences computing environment
? Usability: the web services and the web front should be accessible via a web address
? Reliability: The web services are based on standards and proven technology like Java, .Net and Sql Server 2005. Hence, it should be dependable, robust and safe to the extent of the maturity of these state of the art technologies
? Performance: It should have reasonable performance as per web services and , with respect to Web Services lookup and invocation, as other deployed Web Services applications
? Adaptability: The Front end web application is likely to be modified to include more functionality along with the web service hence both applications must be easily adaptable and change and upgraded to newer evolving web standards.
? Maintainability: It should be upgradeable to the latest standard in web portal and Web Services implementation, without any degradation in performance
? Implementation: the web Application front end will be written in JSP and JavaScript the web services are to be developed in Java and .Net C#. It will also make use of WSDL, SOAP, BPEL, Sql Server 2005 and JDBC, compliant with the prevailing practices in similar development projects. The application development will be NetBeans for Java and Visual studio for integrated development environment
? Interoperability: The web services should be interoperable enough to be accessed by most web service platforms
[http://glycomics.ccrc.uga.edu/stargate/as2/Non-FunctionalRequirement.doc]

External Interface Requirements
Since the Web services would have to interface with student?s project they should adhere to these minimum requirements.
Java Client/Web Consumer
Client must be built with source level set at least to J2EE 1.5
.Net Client/Web Consumer
Due to problems with backward compatibility in .Net framework .The Client must be developed in .Net framework 3.0 .

EMAIL:ETHELCOFIE@YAHOO.COM
PROFILE
A self starter with excellent interpersonal and communication skills who has worked in many challenging environments with a proven track record of problem solving and delivering good quality robust solutions and products individually and in a team.
My career aim is to work in Software Business Analysis and Development, enabling business reach their full potential with Innovative IT business solutions.

EDUCATION
MSc Distributed Systems February 2007 Brighton University, Brighton, UK
Modules include component design, entrepreneurship, web application development, client server database development, internet business strategies,
Project: Developed a pseudo online payment Web Service System using both .Net and Java Platforms and evaluating the strengths of both technologies.[ View Snippets of Project ]

BSc (Hons) Computer Science 2005 Valley View University, Accra, Ghana
Dissertation: Developed a Java based Client Server System for collation and generating of electoral statistics with web front end for the Ghana Electoral Commission which was show cased in the universities annual most relevant ICT projects exposition.

Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination 2000 Mfantsiman Girls School, Saltpond, Ghana

EMPLOYMENT
December 2007 – Present: Web Applications Developer: Click with Technology (Online Travel Systems Provider)
1.Working through the software lifecycle, developing and testing applications based on specifications and writing test scripts for new products
2.Working with as part of a team to develop of usable, accessible web applications.(PHP,Javascript, CSS)
3.Managing email campaigns for client: including creating backend application, database and reporting for email responses
4.Supporting and maintaining web applications(installation and helpdesk services (Apache, Linux)
5.Database Maintenance and Development(Sql Server 2000)

July – November 2007: (contract) Telegen, Brighton UK
1.Web/Intranet Application Development with CSS, JavaScript and ASP.net C#
2.Web Application Testing: Writing and implementing test documentation
3.Junior Database Administration with Sql Server 2000

February – June 2007: Student Assistant: teaching Dreamweaver, University of Brighton
1.Work alongside the Principal lecturer to make sure students understood the underlying concepts of web design and usability

May 2004 – July 2006. Institute for Information Technology (INIIT)
First four months on placement and further 2 years as permanent worker.
1. Web/Software Project Management
2.Software Development and Website Development
3.Research ICT Policies of African Countries
4.Research into outsourcing potential of local software industry
5.Organizing ICT workshops

May 2002 – August 2002. Technical Intern. SoftTribe, Software Development
1.Developing satellite modules to help Project Developers ( Java )

WEB DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE
I have had considerable experience developing web applications in a variety of technologies with the ability to easily adapt to new platforms.
I have involved in the development of various websites including :www.iniit.com,
www.ait.edu.gh
www.cruises.co.uk
www.cwtonline.co.uk

TRAINING
Project Management Tool:Basecamp (April 2008)

WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES
WSIS (World summit on the information society) Preparatory conference Accra as ICANN
Role: Participant and ICANN (International cooperation for Assigned Names
and Numbers) workshop facilitator
ICT, telecommunication and media convergence conference in Cotonou –Benin (West-Africa) February 2006
Role: INIIT Representative, Presenter and part of the writing of the Cotonou Appeal on the Regulation of Convergence the document adopted at the conference.[ View my Presentation ]
Ghana Scan–ICT workshop Technical Workshop by ECA(Economic Commission of Africa) in collaboration with INIIT and Ghana Statistical Service
Role: Participant and Reporter

RELEVANT TECHNICAL SKILLS
System Development Tools and Platforms
UML/SSADM
Java (J2SE)
Visual Basic 6.0
.Net C#
C/C++
Microsoft Visio
Linux operating System
Apache
Microsoft windows operating System
Subversion

Web Based Development Tools
JSP/PHP/ASP.NET
HTML/XHTML/XML
Microsoft FrontPage
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Macromedia Fireworks
Macromedia Flash

Databases Management Systems
MySql
Ms Access
Ms Sql Server (2000/2005)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Hobbies and Interest:
Travel, Avid interest in Current Affairs and World politics, Dancing and Music.

MemberShips
British Computer Society(BCS)[www.bcs.org]
Brigton Geek Girls[http://girlgeeks.projectbrighton.com/]
User Experience Brighton (http://ux-bri.wetpaint.com/)___##19##___ Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing Vehicle (GINKS)[http://www.dgroups.org/groups/ginks/index.cfm]

REFERENCES
Available on Request