# Pete Birkinshaw (@binaryape.bsky.social)

Profile: https://sifa.id/p/binaryape.bsky.social
Headline: Identity & Access Management Consultant, Software Developer & Small Business Director.  Loathes generative ”AI” - it’s a scam and a bubble and a blight on culture and science.
Location: Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom

## About

Identity & Access Management (IAM) ---- Shibboleth, LDAP, SAML, CAS, account provisioning, credential management   Ruby Developer ---- Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, data processing, security, testing  Sysadmin/Devops ---- Puppet, TheForeman, Linux, Apache, XMPP, mail, security  Test Engineer ---- BDD, Agile/Scrum-master, Cucumber/Gherkin, RSpec, Capybara

## Experience

- **Founder at Mimoto** (2016 – present)
  Mimoto Ltd was created in 2016 by the founders of Serotine and Digital Identity to provide consulting and support for users of academic identity and access management services.
- **Software Developer in Test at BBC** (2012 – 2014)
  Middleware service testing: developing and supporting the automated test framework for BBC Search. This mostly involved using Ruby and Cucumber to test Java services. Part of the team that built http://www.bbc.co.uk/search
- **PC Network Officer at UMIST** (2004 – 2005)
  I performed varied backfill duties for Systems and Networking staff during the merger with Manchester University. I was UMIST Hostmaster and Postmaster and maintained proxy, IMAP and webmail services. I also processed CERT incidents and coordinated copyright enforcement procedures.
- **Founder at Digital Identity Ltd** (2010 – present)
  Digital Identity Ltd is a small Manchester-based company that supplies federated identity services to higher education. Most of our work is based around applying the many benefits of Shibboleth and other SAML identity software to social and business web applications.
  
  We are currently focusing on our new Indiid.net cloud identity product but continue to provide software development services for identity projects. Consulting and support are now handled by Digital Identity's sister company, Mimoto Ltd.
- **Senior Engineer at Sirius Corporation plc** (2013 – present)
  Identity & access management specialist
- **Solutions Engineer at DAASI International** (2016 – 2017)
  Research and pilot development for the AARC (Authentication and Authorization for Research and Collaboration) project.
- **Content Coordinator at Interactive Learning Productions** (1994 – 1998)
  As a Content Coordinator I was responsible for acquiring, editing and supporting the content for a number of successful educational CD-ROMs. This included hiring and managing external authors, artists and actors, directing video and audio recording sessions, product proposals, and producing online and printed help and documentation.
- **Senior Directory and Registration Administrator at The University of Manchester** (2005 – 2012)
  I developed and maintained the University's IT Account Manager software, which is used to supply new students and staff with IT accounts. I built and ran the University's web authentication services (based on CAS and Shibboleth/SAML) and provided 3rd-line support for the central identity management database. I created bespoke identity services and integrated University systems with third-party services.
- **Network Administrator at Granada Learning** (2000 – 2004)
  I managed the development and maintenance of the Newcastle office network and intranet, Granada Learning's physical and Internet assets, co-hosted servers and VPN/WAN integration with other offices. I built a teacher-training classroom of 25 centrally managed PCs.
- **Technical Researcher at Granada Learning** (1998 – 2000)
  This position was a hybrid of Content Coordinator, Technical Support and System Administrator roles. I researched and implemented new features for multimedia products. I also maintained email and intranet servers and provided IT support to staff.

## Education

- **The University of Manchester** — BA(Econ.) Honours, 2:1, Economics, Politics and Anthropology  (1990 – 1993)

## Skills

- Tomcat
- SLES
- Debian
- SAML
- CentOS
- Yubikey
- Smart Cards
- Authorization
- Password Recovery
- Linux
- Git
- Apache
- JavaScript
- Agile Methodologies
- MySQL
- Scrum
- Bash
- Ruby on Rails
- Ruby
- Perl
- XML
- Information Security
- Web Applications
- Databases
- Identity Management
- Subversion
- Puppet
- RSpec
- Two-factor Auth (2FA)
- Enterprise Messaging
- Servers
- Agile Testing
- JVM
- BDD
- Shorewall
- LDAP Administration
- Kanban
- ElasticSearch
- Middleware
- Certified Scrum Master CSM
- Federated Identity Management
- Authentication
- Cucumber
- x509
- Password Management

## Projects

- **Indiid.net** — https://indiid.net
  Academic Cloud Identity Service

## Languages

- English (native)
- Chinese (elementary)

## Other profiles

- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petebirkinshaw