See you at AWS Summit London 2015
We can’t wait to attend the AWS Summit in London next week on the 15th April 2015.
We will be there all day so shout if you want to meet up.
2014 Christmas shutdown
Christmas may have screamed up on us all faster than Rudolph seeing red but we wanted to remind you that we will be here to support you through out the Christmas holidays.
We will be taking some time off though and the office will be closed from 25th December 2014 to the 4th January 2015 inclusive.
During this time any issues will be considered emergency out of hours and will only be able to support customers who are experiencing a situation where business cannot function without a resolution such as:
- Website / Server down
- Inability to trade online
We will continue monitoring and patching servers as usual over the Christmas period.
For our hosting customers, our status site will continue to be updated and we recommend you check here first as we may already be aware of an issue and posting updates for you. If you need to raise an issue please use the standard office telephone number and support email and your query will be routed to the engineer on call.
Thank you for your continued support throughout 2014. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Welcome Gary Rixon!
We are pleased to announce the expansion of our team in the form of Gary Rixon. Gary will be joining us as a Linux Systems Apprentice and brings with him a real passion for servers and hardware.
A bit of a nerd with a love of the outdoors, Gary can typically be found tinkering with computers and servers, or helping out at his local scout group. He recently returned from an awesome trip to Belgium with the scouts.
In the previous two years, Gary has been studying Computing, Physics and Maths at A-level, but his main focus has always been to get into the world of Linux and servers, so he brings with him a solid base of knowledge and the drive to learn more.
Gary will be taking over first line support from Alex, and taking part in projects of increasing levels of complexity (and fun!) as he progresses through his apprenticeship.
We’re always looking for new members to join our team, so go and check out what jobs we have available or tell us about your skills if you think you’d be a good fit at Dogsbody Technology.
Welcome Rob Hooper!
Hello! I’m Rob; Gamer, Tea drinker, and lover of all things hackable. I have customised every computer I have ever owned within a inch of its life.
I am joining the Dogsbody team as a Linux Systems Apprentice. Excited to learn more about Linux, the cool new technologies out there as well as giving back to the community which I believe is what Linux is all about.
Until now I have been focused on my studies but they haven’t challenged me. They have been very hands off; discuss and write about things. I can’t wait to actually do, and learn from real life experiences.
While I get up to speed there are many projects to play with involving Raspberry Pi’s and AWS. Coding scripts and making tools.
I will also be taking the task of handling maintenance packages off of Dan and Alex and heading it up as a project of my own.
I am looking forward to working with all of our existing, new customers and hopefully you as we continue to grow.
Congratulations Alex Last
We are very pleased to congratulate Alex Last on completing his Linux Systems Apprenticeship.
Alex now holds…
- City & Guilds Certificate in IT Systems and Principles
- City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in IT Professional Competence
We are even more pleased that Alex has chosen to continue his career with Dogsbody Technology as a permanent member of staff. Alex is now looking forward to continuing his education with professional qualifications from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Linux Foundation.
If you are interested in joining the Dogsbody Technology team as a Linux Systems Apprentice please apply at https://www.dogsbody.com/jobs/
Why did the jelly wobble?
I’ve loved organising the Camberley, Bracknell & Crowthorne Jelly events for the last 2 years but all things must come to an end. Dogsbody Technology is growing, I now have staff and and office (OK, a small room) so it’s time for me to concentrate on growing the business.
I do plan to be back though! Jelly helped me hugely while setting up Dogsbody Technology and I want to pay it forward again as soon as possible. Probably when we manage to get a meeting room of our own.
Enter your email below and I’ll let you know when we start it up again. Your email will not be used for anything other than to tell you about future Jelly events.
It was great to meet so many interesting people. If you’re a freelancer looking for a place to work and have some free time, look at organising your own Jelly. The lovely folk at UK Jelly have some great information.
…and in answer to the title of this post; Because it saw the milk shake! 🙂
2013 Christmas Shutdown and Giving
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you over the holidays.
We’ll be taking some time off over Christmas, however we’ll continue to be monitoring our customer’s servers 24/7 as usual and customers should all have our emergency mobile number in case of urgent issues.
Our office will be closed on the following days and response to emails maybe slower:
Wed 25th Dec 2013 – Public Holiday
Thu 26th Dec 2013 – Public Holiday
Fri 27th Dec 2013 – Office Closed
Mon 30th Dec 2013 – Office Closed
Tue 31st Dec 2013 – Office Closed
Wed 1st Jan 2014 – Public Holiday
This year we are again making a donation to two charities instead of sending Christmas cards; they are:
The Restart Project – A London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by learning fundamental repair and maintenance skills. Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in many countries including the UK. While recycling is important, The Restart Project prefers intervening before disposal – encouraging consumers to buy for longevity and diverting electronics from “end of life”.
Open Rights Group – The UK’s leading voice defending freedom of expression, privacy, innovation, creativity and consumer rights on the Internet. ORG is a member organisation of European Digital Rights (EDRi).
We hope you all have a great winter and see you in the new year.
Please welcome Alex Last
We are very happy to announce the addition of Alex Last to the Dogsbody Technology team. Alex is joining us a Linux Systems Apprentice and comes with a lot of enthusiasm for new technology.
A self confessed fitness nut, Alex can often be found at the gym or up a mountain somewhere, he’s recently climbed mount Snowdon as part of a 5 day expedition.
For the last two years Alex has been completing a BTEC Extended Diploma in Uniform Public Services however in true geek style he’s also been teaching himself Linux in his spare time.
Alex will mainly be looking after first line support as well as taking on some of the fun projects we’ve been storing up for him… seriously, the rest of us are really jealous, he gets to play with Raspberry Pi‘s and everything!
Should you get to talk to Alex, do say hi and ask him about driving the Nürburgring 🙂
We’re still looking for more talented people for our company, could you be our next apprentice? or do you have a skill you think we can use?
There’s no place like ::1
It’s an old joke (which we updated to IPv6) but it’s true, there is no place like home. After a year of sharing an office with the wonderful Orcare Web Design it’s time to spread our wings and go it alone.
We haven’t moved far, approximately four miles to Farnborough and the beautiful Ferneberga House.
Our new address is:
Dogsbody Technology Ltd.
Ferneberga House,
Alexandra Road,
Farnborough,
Hampshire,
GU14 6DQ
Edit: We have since moved again. Please see our contact page for our new address.
Ferneberga is actually the original name for Farnborough as listed in the Doomsday book. Over time it changed from Ferneberga to Farnburghe, Farenberg, Farnborowe, Fremborough, Farneborough and eventually Farnborough. Ferneberga House used to be the town hall, a historic building that has stood here for over 100 years.
So, if you’re in the area and fancy a chat then do feel free to give us a call and pop in.
Foundation Degree Accreditation
This week our Director (Mr Dogsbody to you) was asked to be an industry expert for the revalidation of a Foundation Degree in Computing for University Centre Yeovil. This was a fascinating experience which showed the commitment that education has to make to it’s students.
Computing is a fast changing industry. What is taught at a Master’s degree level one year can soon be taught at a Foundation Degree level a few years later. It is vital that academic institutions keep up to date with what is going on in the real world.
The revalidation of Yeovil’s foundation degree came after a complete re-write of the unit specifications for the entire course. Independent people are bought in to help with the revalidation and make sure the content is at the right level. As part of the event the panel get to talk to students at the institution as well as local employers that hire them. The day showed how it was possible for the students to learn what the employers needed while employers could gain skilled people and support the local economy.
What impressed us the most was how the Yeovil College and University Centre Yeovil had tied their courses together allowing for an easy progression from an Apprenticeship to a Foundation Degree and hopefully soon a Full Degree. We use Yeovil College for our apprentice scheme and actively encourage all of our staff to further their education 🙂