My name is Russell Gee. I grew up playing video games with my family, including my parents. As I began playing them more and more, though, I started wanting to modify my favourite ones. What was once a leisure activity turned into a personally involving hobby I was enthusiastic about. In turn, that led me to here, wanting to modify—occasionally even hack—other programs, as well, and learn things like programming languages to make things happen. Then I learned web languages to help make websites to showcase those things. This has went beyond gaming, with an interest in any kind of program writing and logic brainstorming. I found working on games and coding them to be as fun as playing them.
All of that went into video game Quality Assurance (QA), working with Team Chex Quest HD and General Mills on their Unreal 4 project as the Lead QA. I garnered leadership experience managing QA and all cards and documentation filed on Trello. This required extensive communication and writing skills working with a team on a collaborative project, understanding problems and their causes, using a wide range of computer programs, and learning unfamiliar ones. There hasn’t been a computer program set before me that I haven’t figured out how to use.
This required a large array of various skills. Among them are online technical support, including troubleshooting, diagnosing, and debugging complex computer software and hardware issues; and online ticket tracking and management with software like Trello (equivalent to Jira). For hardware, I had to spec out and customize a home PC for higher-end game development; understand, setup, and customize a home PC so that it performed correctly; understand network hardware and setup; and maintain my own PC hardware, software, and operating system.
This also required excellent and extensive software documentation skills (including Google Docs and OneDrive), and being able to communicate effectively with a group of developers with excellent communication skills. I had to be an excellent communicator with excellent writing skills (60+ WPM).
Additionally, I managed a remote Linux game server. Continued maintenance of a 24/7 Chex Quest game server required “sysadmin” skills: using the command-line Terminal interface, tools (like PuTTY and FileZilla), and scripts (sh Bash) to operate it, and edit and build software on it. I also used tools to monitor network activity and access logs for suspicious activity, and to assess potential security risks. This included modifying in-house configuration tools with minor programming skills to fix bugs and add new functionality.
I have self-taught, QA skill in C, C#, C++, CMake, and Python. I also have amateur experience working with Cygwin, MSYS2, and macOS. I have greater experience and proficiency working with Git, Linux/Ubuntu, Terminal, Microsoft Office, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Trello, and Visual Studio. I also have experience working with WordPress, interfacing with Linux servers via PuTTY, and many other forms of server front ends and access methods. I have working knowledge of ADB, Android Studio, and Charles Proxy. I also have some familiarity with MAGIX Vegas, Audacity, and many other non-linear editors and other programs.
I learned HTML, CSS, CHM, JavaScript, WordPress, Node.js, and Puppeteer to design and build websites, including this one. Among this is also skill with Markdown, specifically to work with GitHub Wiki and Pages, and migrate Wiki articles from legacy sources to those platforms. This also required customizing HTML to correct broken formatting when converting to Markdown.
I had to take on several different tasks, use high-end computer aptitude to learn a growing series of computer programs I had never used before, and use them with confidence. I was asked to put on several ‘hats’ throughout the process, taking on a number of different jobs with a number of different programs and tools. This required self-motivation and on-the-fly, on-the-job self-education of unfamiliar tools. This is part of a desire to learn, and an ability to quickly learn and adapt to new environments and challenges.
To add to my own IT knowledge and Linux server work experience, as well as to refresh my past and current experiences, and illustrate my self-attestation to a commitment and desire to learn, I took several courses from Google’s IT Support classes. This completed my specialized certification as:
That certification was made up of the following courses (which come with their own certifications):
- Google: Technical Support Fundamental
- Google: The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking
- Google: Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
- Google: System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services
- Google: IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts
I’m looking for opportunities and launching points where I can take what I already know and have, and grow there in my skills in these tools, as well as grow in a career where I can eventually advance and take on greater challenges than I have before.
My contact information is located here.