Allan Forbes is, or was, an Electronic and Software Engineer with a BTech (Electronic Engineering), awarded in 1964 by the SA Institute of Technology. He started work at the Weapons Research Establishment, Salisbury SA, in 1964, and retired from DSTO Salisbury  - same place, different name - at the end of 1999..

The first 7 years of his employment were spent in electronics labs,  assisting in the development of electronic instrumentation for missile telemetry at Woomera, and for other defence projects. In 1972 he was allowed to attend a Fortran programming course, and over the next few years was able to produce a number of useful and even significant computer programs in fields of electronics and radio wave propagation.

From 1975 until his  retirement at the end of 1999, Allan worked as a software specialist alongside the scientific and other technical staff developing the experimental Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar, situated near Alice Springs, NT.. For the initial Stage A of the project, which was a limited capability concept demonstrator, he was responsible for computer control of the radar's HF transmitters; and for the greatly expanded Jindalee Stage B radar, and the Stage C radar which served as a prototype for the operational radar, he assisted with system-level programming, sophisticated signal processing and data base management for the  radar's Frequency Management System.