Gary Bleads G0HJQ wishes to relinquish his position as SOTA Database Manager:
Gary devised and ran the database for SOTA and it is no exaggeration to say that the programme as we know it would have been impossible without his contribution. However Gary has little spare time to maintain the database, so the Management Team therefore needs a volunteer to replace Gary in the Team.
The task of the Database Manager is to ensure the routine operation of the SOTA Database and website, and to make the occasional bug fix and enhancements, as required by the rest of the SOTA programme. The database
website has been very reliable, and is often able to run for months without any serious problems.
Routine tasks include:
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Taking regular backups of the database
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Answering email enquiries
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Occasional modification of data stored in the database (for example to correct errors in activator entries). This is done by writing a custom SQL statement, and running it on the live database, so care needs to be taken!
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Producing the occasional custom report (by creating and running SQL queries.)
The SOTAData website has been written using the following technologies :
Microsoft SQL Server - for the data storage
Microsoft ASP.NET - for the web site
Microsoft C# - for the programming
The administrator will probably need to be familiar with Microsoft SQL Server management console (to administer the database), and Microsoft Visual Studio (to edit the code and website.)
The replacement database administrator will need a (fairly basic) knowledge of the SQL database query language, plus some website development using Microsoft ASP.Net. C# experience would be useful, but the program code is fairly simple, so someone with decent VB.Net should have no problems picking it up.
Many parts of the website are fairly old now (circa 2001 - ancient in internet terms), so if anyone with the necessary skills offers to re-write it in another technology, this would be perfectly satisfactory. Alternatively it could be updated to the latest version of .Net, which would simplify the code quite a lot, and should improve performance and security.
The successful candidate for the post should be based in the UK so that he/she could attend the regular meetings of the Management Team, and should have an excellent command of English as most of the enquiries that might have to be dealt with regarding database problems will be in English.
Anybody interested in the post should email the Management Team. Gary G0HJQ
will deal with any technical questions.
Please email Summits on the Air and select “The Management Team - General.”