Last day at work

Today was my last day at work. It was a rather relaxed day since I already finished my work the only thing I did was giving Johnny a brief overview on how he can run my Perl scripts.
We also talked a bit about how we would actually get it to work with an BMS only to realise that this could be a lot of work but it should be possible to do.
I also gave Lawrence my details in case they need help with my perl scripts. Around lunch Rosie brought in some sweets as a last gift to say goodbye and they even gave me a little card.
They even used german it might not be proper german but hey that’s what makes it even more special
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finishing my project

Well as nearly everyone told you already this is our last week here in Belfast.
So I spent most of the week with working on my perl script.
I finished it Yesterday afternoon. I spent this morning with finishing my Europass and checking if all of the paperwork is done. In the Afternoon I gave Johnny a brief overview how my Script works and what he has to adjust for each Network.
I also gave them my contact details in case they need help with my script.

Redwood API and a night out on Thursday

This week I continued the task Lawrence gave me on Friday afternoon. He wanted me to see if its possible to trigger an unscheduled event from and external source. So I started to do my research and quickly discovered that indeed is a way to do that. So I started to write a little Perl script that does exactly that after a few minutes of research how to write a HTTP SET request in Perl I finished my little perl. But there was a little problem the answer from the Redwood Director was always accessFailure which mean I try to do a Set request on a portion of the Data Model that does not allow set requests which was strange since that part should allow Set Requests after a few minutes of looking through my code I realised what I did wrong I simply put in a wrong name that I tried to access. After getting rid of that I finished my script and tested it a few times and it works perfectly fine. I’ll show it to Lawrence on Friday since he is not in the Office tomorrow. We’re also doing a „night out“ tomorrow we’re going bowling and grab some food afterwards. Its basically to say goodbye in some way I know it’s still a week left but a few of my coworker aren’t there next week so we do it a bit earlier.

Finishing the API Task

On Thursday I continued my work on my task to access the Redwood API and pull out certain data.
It took me a while to get used to Perl and the Syntax but with a little bit of help from Tim. I managed to make a big progress. I was able to pull out all the Data I needed and finished my Perl Script on Friday afternoon.
But only so far to reach the point where we would contact the BMS but I don’t have any documentation about a BMS so I can’t program that part.
My new Task is to see if its possible to trigger an event from an external source for example an BMS.

from VBA to API

On Monday I finished my VBA Macros for excel to automatically create graphs from a .csv file.
I showed my solution to Lawrence and Steven they both liked it. I gave Steven a brief overview of what I did and what the code does he is the one that keeps my code maintained after I leave in a bit over two weeks.
Afterwards Lawrence gave me a new task as the title already states its about API Our Redwood engine got a API to pull out certain data (movement, temperature and a few more) my task is it to find a way to pull out the data when the last movement was registred from one of the sensors and if it was more than X minutes ago it should send a signal to a BMS (Building Managment System) to shut down the heating in that room/area. And of course to turn it back on if someones enters a room. The documentation was about 30 pages long and it took me a while do fully understand it. Today I finished my first perl programm that is able to send a HTTPS PUSH request to pull out certain data. The next Step is to scan the String for the data that I need. The last and I guess hardest part is to get it work with a BMS since our Building doesnt have one so hopefully I find a way to test it somewhere/somehow.

VBA and a little presentation

Yesterday Lawrence gave me a little task to write a macro for Excel that automatically draws a graph based on a .csv file.
It took me a while to get back into VBA its been a while since I used it the last time. But the macro is nearly done only a few pieces are missing to make it perfect. Today before Lunch I had to do a little Presentation about my Company what I’ve learned so far and what I want to learn in the last 3 Weeks. Samantha ordered Lunch for this ’special‘ occasion so we enjoyed some chicken wings, Sandwiches and mini Pizzas for Lunch.
In the Afternoon I continued to write the Macro for Lawrence and tried to help Hans with his Pivottable in Excel.

Cisco all day

As the title already states I used the last few days to prepare for the NetRiders competition.
So nothing really eventful happens. I didn’t thought the difference between the CCENT NetRiders and CCNA NetRiders would be that big but yeah the CCNA one is definitely way harder than CCENT. Next Tuesday we will see how bad or good I scored finger crossed that its not the last place.
After I attended the NetRiders my Supervisors were supposed to come to visit me but as Martin told me they didn’t have enough time to do so they didn’t come over. So I spend the rest of the day with John he introduced me to the VOIP services KNI offeres. I was supposed to go with him tomorrow on site but I don’t have the Health and safety training I’m not allowed on a ‚construction‘ site.

Site surveys and In-building wireless

On Thursday a co-worker and I went to Micro Focus to do a site survey to see if its possible to put in our lights without any problems and to see what we have to buy to make it possible.
After that I took a look at our pilot project in the Derry City Council to see if we still have any motion detection at times where no one is in.

On Friday I prepared a bit for the CCNA NetRiders next Wednesday. In the Afternoon I did a bit of research for In-building Wireless for a project that we’re working on.

A long weekend and a lot of blueprints

As the title already states we had a long(er) weekend. Monday was a bank
holiday here in Belfast, so most of us had off. My workday on Tuesday
started with processing the time sheets for our workers so they can get
their paycheck.
Later on I continued to estimate the cable length and data outlets for the
Ulster University building BC. I finished 4 of 15 floors on Tuesday. I
continued the estimating today and finished three more floors. After that
I talked to Lawrence about the rest of the Week. He is sending me on a
site survey tomorrow about a (maybe) future Intelligent Lighting
installation. Afterwards I’m going to take look (remotely) at the pilot
project in the Derry city council to check if there are any lights that go
on at a time were they shouldn’t e.g. midnight. So we can replace or
re-calibrate them.
I’m looking forward to doing that. With a bit of luck he might take me
with him to Dublin on Friday. But it’s not written in stone so that could
change.

Cables and data outlets everywhere

Yesterday I finished the estimation for the Ulster University Block BD.
After I finished that Mark gave me the blueprints for the next Building (Block BC) which got even more floors to measure but I will get through it.
After a little confusion how to split the data outlets between the three comm rooms on floor 01 I started to get an average for each area so that Mark can do the pricing for this part.
This morning I did a little bit of research for Lawrence about a company called Surface Power that offers a product called HONE that uses Nano technology to turn daylight (not sunlight) into energy.
Afterwards i continued to do my measurement for floor 01 of building BC. Shortly before I ended the day Steven showed me how to process the timesheets for our worker so they get their paycheck, since he is on holiday I have to do that for him on Tuesday.