CHRISTOPHER J. GIDMAN

BACKGROUND SUMMARY

A perceptive, intelligent professional with nearly 15 years of experience in software application development in the pharmaceutical industry. Major strengths in application programming, data manipulation, and system trouble-shooting. Additional skills in requirements definition, application design, customer relations, and developmental training. A creative, adaptable individual who contributes significantly to the development of the team while producing excellent project artifacts.

CAREER HISTORY

GRANGER III & ASSOCIATES, Lansing, Michigan 2009

Complete solid waste and recyclable material collection business for Midwestern customers. They also construct and operate landfill sites, recycling facilities, composting facilities. Granger is an industry leader in the field of alternative energy resources, specializing in the development of electrical power plants at landfills.

Supported the development of reports and reporting applications for enhancing the usability of DesertMicro's Route Manager software. Worked as contractor through Electric Software, LLC.

Developed numerous reports to extract data from a fairly complex and perplexing client-server application. These reports increased the customer's comfort level with regard to the application's ability to manage accounting data, allowing them to focus on more value added tasks.

Created a utility to perform a “month-end” feature, in order to give the accounting department desperately needed functionality within the system.

Built a utility for customer service that allowed them to more quickly and accurately find nearby customers while on the phone. This application decreased call time for new customers by about a minute per call and increased the moral of the entire department.

PFIZER, INC., Kalamazoo, Michigan 1995-2008

Global pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer involved in research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of human and animal health products.

Created and supported IT shop floor solutions for the manufacturing division of a multi-billion dollar, global pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Created a Microsoft SharePoint list solution for tracking product changes. This list replaced an existing IT supported solution, allowing the customer to make rapid changes while both speeding and broadening the process communication base.

Supported and enhanced a fermentation data acquisition application, allowing for the implementation of a program that saved the company nearly four hundred thousand dollars annually as well as providing data for programs that reduced product loss.

Trained the development team to recognize the syntax of the Unified Modeling Language (UML), acted as a resource to mentor the team, and introduced the UML to other IT organizations in the company. This initiated use of UML for generating system designs and documentation, improving system documentation and increasing the awareness of industry practices in the region

Redesigned and constructed a shop floor system for weighing product. The application replaced a paper-based system and interfaced directly with shop floor scales and Pfizer's enterprise management system. It streamlined product data acquisition and improved accuracy.

Prototyped, designed, and developed an application that tracks meta-data for all change control requests generated in the Kalamazoo manufacturing facility. A key feature of this application is an ad-hoc query tool that provides a simple interface for the typical user, eliminating the need for browsing through hundreds of entries.

Developed add-on functionality for both the client and server sides of a document management system, enhancing the user experience and assisting with the definition of change requests to the vendor.

Developed applications to track users, disk space usage, and training for a nascent corporate network. Created training materials and the related training presentations. These activities opened the door to corporate-wide acceptance of networked computer usage.

KEY PAWN ENGINEERING, Kalamazoo, Michigan 1998-2009

Privately-owned consulting practice focusing on IT development.

President & Owner

Worked with area businesses on an ad-hoc basis to provide IT development and other services as opportunities allowed.

Collaborated remotely with other developers to revise an application to calculate humidification parameters and select a product for potential buyers. This application helped reduce the work required by in-house salesmen in calculating customer needs.

Acted as assistant developer in building small components of a larger application. Allowed primary contractor to focus on the big picture and off-load work with minimal instruction, saving frustration and time.

Managed customer interaction through e-mail for a small Internet-based transcription company. Involvement allowed transcription specialists to focus on their business and feel confident that customer interaction was handled professionally and congenially.

TECHNICAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

WORK SUMMARY PRIOR TO DEGREE

Grew up around the paint finishing and steel fabricating industry. In so doing, worked in that environment at a very early age and did so until receiving a degree in 1994. Gained hands-on experience working with electrical control systems including PLC controls and Flame Safety Relays. Involved in and responsible for all phases of development including, system design, parts specification and ordering, panel construction, and field installation.