Jon Parkins

Email: jonparkins@gmail.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jon-parkins-1931bb2

A seasoned Head of Information Technology from the media and entertainment industry. Proven and extensive experience covering 24 years have been marked by a series of successful endeavors in establishing studios from scratch, showcasing my adeptness in creating foundational structures that thrive in the dynamic entertainment landscape. My contributions have been pivotal in producing captivating content that has reached and delighted millions of audience members globally.

●  System Administration

●  Virtualization: VMWare

●  Cloud Computing: AWS and Azure

●  Visual Effects (VFX)

● C-Level stakeholder management

● Technical Consulting

● Strategic Planning

● Project Management

Get Set Games. London, United Kingdom

Head of Information Technology

July 2019 – March 2024

●  Implemented a remote access solution from the ground up, proving instrumental in ensuring seamless company operations amidst the pandemic. This established the framework for a resilient hybrid work model that persists to this day. Incorporating elements such as VPN access, Parsec, and HP Teradici PCoIP. The solution provided comprehensive connectivity, empowering employees to collaborate efficiently regardless of their physical location.

●  Implemented industry-standard source control, facilitating the transition from mobile to AAA game development and aligning the company with publisher standards. Configuration, and maintenance duties encompassed network, domain, and file server management, ensuring optimal functionality and security.

●  Engineered on-site and off-site backup systems for source control, file servers, and nightly VM backups, aligning the company with required Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO), as well as monitoring systems to be on top of any outages that may have occurred so we can react.

●  Overseeing the licensing and management of a diverse array of tools essential for operations, ranging from Adobe Creative Suites, Autodesk Suites, Substance, UE 4/5, to Slack, G Suite, Office 365 and various online services.

●  Extensive planning, documentation, and strategic purchasing approaches were employed to ensure seamless integration of our systems, infrastructure and online tools while optimizing resource allocation and budget utilization.

●  Operating from London, remote management was conducted for the studio situated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Despite the geographical distance, effective oversight and coordination were maintained, ensuring smooth operation and alignment with the studio’s objectives and workflows. This involved leveraging various communication and collaboration technologies to facilitate seamless interaction between teams across locations, optimizing productivity and fostering a cohesive working environment.

●  Aided in the art department with crafting tools and content utilizing Unreal Engine 5.x and Maya 2024. This included simple prop modeling and rigging of 3D characters, and PCG environment work in UE.

August 2017 – July 2019

●  Supernatural Seasons 13, and 14. Oversee day to day operations and maintain studio back-end. Provide support to the artists, with trouble shooting of our various DCC’s, render management, and provide general research and development for new methodologies both creatively and technologically for the studio. Created various VFX for the shows shots requiring pyro, destruction and crowd sims.

●  Windows Server 2016, Active Directory configuration encompassing Windows DNS/DHCP and maintenance. Windows 10/11 workstation support.

●  Daily backups and maintenance of render farm and file servers.

●  Debian/CentOS Linux Server Configuration.

●  Dell/Cisco Switch Configuration and PFSense Firewall Configuration including VPN configuration.

●  Strategic planning, scoping and purchasing for studio hardware and software needs.

●  Software used and supported included Maya, Houdini, PFTrack, Nuke, Mocha, Zbrush, Deadline 10.x, Redshift 3D, V-Ray, Mantra, Adobe Creative Suites.

November 2007 – October 2016

●  Designed, purchased and set up all infrastructure, from initial creation of the studio through five relocations, up to our current location and size of approximately 200 people (peak staff of 300); includes all network, server, storage, workstation and software planning and purchasing. Also planned facilities, including air conditioning requirements, network drop planning and multiple transformer upgrades (due to quick expansion, outgrowing the studio’s initial estimates).

●  Duties include: setup and configuration of all servers and services in the studio (including but not limited to Active Directory Services along with Exchange integration, DNS services, DHCP Services, configuration of login scripts for user drive mappings and printer configurations.)

●  Setup, configuration and maintenance of the studio VoIP Server, Watchguard FireBox, Perforce Server, HP Procurve Network Switches and various backup systems. Backups are coordinated through Retrospect for offsite drives delivered via Iron Mountain, while Dual 25TB Arrays are onsite for both replicated data and backup incremental data via Retrospect and Double Take Recover Now.

●  VPN Tunnel configuration, routing, PAT/NAT and redirection of network traffic to connect with various partners and publishers.

●  Set up, configured and maintained the studio’s two 96TB Dell Equal Logic arrays, ensured nightly snapshots occurred, and solved failures in a timely manner. Other systems include three Ubuntu/Debian Servers running various in-house web and development services.

●  Oversaw the work of Junior IT Associate, and all tasks which are relevant to day to day operations to ensure the studio is on-task and the needs and requirements of all staff are met.

●  Hardware and software setup and configuration, such as Dell, HP and White box setups, as well as standard office/studio software requirements, including but not limited to Office, Autodesk 3DS Max, Maya, Mudbox, Motionbuilder, Adobe Photoshop and Creative Suites, Visual Studio 2008/2010/2012.

●  Configuration of Azure VPN Tunnels and Servers for F2P servers, as well as AWS Storage Gateway for offsite cold storage.

●  Shipped titles: ModNation Racers (PS3), LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3), Sleeping Dogs (PC/360/PS3) , Tomb Raider : Definitive Edition (Xbox One, PS4), Smash + Grab (PC), Triad Wars (F2P, PC), Halo Warchest (Xbox One), Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (PC, Xbox One, PS4)

January 2006 – November 2007

Get Ed Productions LTD. Toronto, Ontario

Sr. Systems Administrator

● Oversaw development of the studio from its inception, including all IT operations such as network, server and workstation setup. Responsibilities also included studio’s Avid suites, and all delivery TAR’d assets via SDLT to Disney.

Elliott Animation Inc. Toronto, Ontario

Sr. Systems Administrator

● Assumed all IT duties and operations. Managed studio growth, and relocation and setup.

Red Rover Studios Ltd. Toronto, Ontario

Jr. Systems Administrator

● Oversaw all studio’s operations, including Matrox Edit Suite, SGI O2 Ink and Paint Workstations, and 3DS Max Workstations.

Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology

Computer Graphics – Technical Diploma

September 1998 – April 2000

CGMA Intro to Prop Modeling for Games

CGMA Mastering Destruction in Houdini

CGMA Introduction to FX using Houdini

Live Action Series with Allan McKay

FXTDT with Allan McKay

Completed 4 Week Program

Completed 8 Week Program

Completed 8 Week Program

Completed 4 Term Program

Completed 4 Term Program

Nuke, 3DS Max 20xx, Maya 20xx, Houdini, Substance Painter and Designer, Visual Studio, Redshift, VRay, Thinking Particles, FumeFX, Deadline Render Management, ZBrush, FlexLM, NLM and RLM License Managers, Unreal Engine 5.x, Windows 10/11, Windows Server 201x, Various Linux Distros, VMWare, Veeam Backup, Retrospect Backup, HP Teradici PCoIP.

●  Windows Server 2019 / 2020.

●  HP Teradici PCoIP Anywhere Configuration

●  IPSEC VPN Tunnel Configuration

●  VMWare EXSi and vSphere

●  Exchange 2010 Email Server Configuration

●  Experience with Amazon AWS, MS Azure and GCP

●  Retrospect and Double-take Recover Now for onsite and offsite backup and replication of data

●  Configuration of current and next gen dev kits for Microsoft, Sony, META and Nintendo

●  Configuration of Asterisk VoIP Server and Polycom handsets and conference phones

●  Watchguard, Sophos, Ubiquiti, PFSense andJuniper Firewall Configs

●  Basic scripting skills as job has required (Bash, Python, Powershell, VBScript)

●Active Directory Configuration

●Windows DHCP / DNS Configuration

●Windows 10/11, OSX 14.x, Centos, Ubuntu

●MS SQL / MySQL Server Configuration Kaspersky / Trend / Sophos AV Deployments Perforce Server and Hardware Configuration

●HP ProCurve / Dell / Ubiquiti Switch Configuration

●Confluence / JIRA Server Setup

●Purchasing of all studio hardware and software needs. Cost analysis and planning for studios needs

●Managing technical relationships with publishers and their access portals

●Management of cloud services. GSuite, Slack, Office 365, Adobe, and other creative services Strategic planning and scoping for studio hardware and software needs

● Management of the IT team and ensuring on task