Objective:
To continue my career in software
testing and/or software test management with a company that values software
quality, has pride in their products, and understands the extreme importance
of high quality testing for the continued success of their company in the new
rapid software development era.
I seek an environment that strives to find the balance between doing it
absolutely right and actually doing it - realizing that money doesn't grow on
trees, that can realize that a limited feature set doesn't mean you can get
sloppy and design a static, unchangeable system, and that recognizes that it
is much, much cheaper to catch a 'bug' while it is still an idea and not yet
code.
Skillsets:
- Managed small to large
diversified teams working concurrently on many projects and multiple continents
- Greatest strength lies in
testing and managing projects, with a large record of accomplishments
- Managed and trained distributed testing organizations in the
US, as well as in India, China, and Japan
- An extensive history in both
testing and development with a vast understanding of software
development lifecycles
- Highly experienced test
manager with both a background in white box testing and development
experience for the complete package of technical expertise and
management
- 19+ years of software
testing, program management, and development experience with Windows and
Unix Client/Server applications, eCommerce, databases (MS SQL, Oracle,
DB2, Sybase, Informix, Progress, and Teradata),
web based applications, networking, security, PC to mainframe
connectivity, hardware assembly and troubleshooting, software
development, and printers
- 12+ years of white box test
experience in both Windows and Unix shops
- Development experience with
C, C++, C#, .NET, Visual Basic, Java/2, Perl, Python, Shell
scripting, Batch Files, SQL, Mercury Interactive TSL, QTP/WinRunner, Seque Silk,
Rational Visual Test, MS Test, and VBA
- Performed every aspect of
software planning, development, testing, and all other related processes
on applications ranging from in-house utilities to operating systems
used worldwide
- Managed multiple software
test labs with contract and full-time software test engineers
- Extensive working knowledge
of the following operating systems: Windows 2004 and 2000 (Server, Advanced
Server, and Professional), Windows NT 4.0 Server and Workstation, Linux
(Redhat, Mandrake, and Slackware),
Solaris 2.6 & 7, HPUX 10.20, AIX, Windows NT 3.51 Workstation,
Windows Vista, XP, ME, 98, 95, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 3.1, Windows 95j,
Windows 3.1j, and lest we never forget... DOS
Work History:
2006 Current Advanced Micro Devices Libraries and Optimizations
May 2006 Current MTS Software Test Engineer
- Created the software testing
organization for the Libraries and Optimization team
- Wrote and Implemented Test Plans
for all L&O team projects
- Staffed the Medialab team for testing and analyzing hardware and
codecs for the AMD! Live program
- Managing the test effort for
the APL / Framewave image and signal
processing library http://framewave.sourceforge.net/
- Testing for the AMD Math
Library ACML project http://developer.amd.com/cpu/Libraries/acml/
- Training for the AMD
Bangalore test organization
- Performance testing of low
level optimizations for AMD processors
- Built and managed the
performance test lab for the L&O team
- Designed and helped write the
custom test infrastructure for distributed testing for the teams in
Austin and Bangalore which used a queue based system for running tests
on specific hardware for developer initiated unit testing and kept the
fleet of test machines testing with our functional and regression tests,
built machines, and performance tests 24/7
2002 2006 Microsoft Corporation
May 2004 Feb 2006 - Software Test Lead - Digital Anvil (MGS Game
Studio - Austin, TX)
- Managing the test effort for
the Xbox360 platform - Enwor
- Preliminary test planning and
documentation - The bread and butter of test management. Writing the
test plan, automation test plan, test schedule, test budget...
- Testing of game prototype,
concept approval, and greenlight demos - As
this was the very early stages of the game, I was the sole tester on the
project. I've found great joy in going "back to my roots" as
it were as a tester... running daily BVT's,
working side by side with development on new features, finding bugs, et
all. It's really been a treat to be so hands on again, in fact I've
written more bugs in the last year than I probably did over my entire
Microsoft Career! :)
- Designer 101 training - Being
completely new to games, I spent a great deal of time learning how they
are made, how code and data work together, and how design creates the
game. This being an entirely new aspect (apart from PM and Dev) I wanted
to basically learn what it was to be a designer so that I'd have a basis
of understanding so I could design test cases and test their work with
the same understanding I have of code.
- New Tester / Newhire handbook - Preparation for the fleet of
contract testers expected to be hired as the game enters it's final
stage of testing, there is a strong need to have everything ready for
them to get them up to speed quickly and trained on all they need to
know.
- Test Infrastructure - The DA
studio infrastructure has been overhaued and
upgraded, going from a 3 game studio to a one game studio has required
many changes, and there is also now a much larger reliance on
automation.
- Project communication and
reporting - One of the defacto requirements of
a solid lead is the ability to work with all other groups on the team
and coordinate efforts. Sending out regular status reports and build
quality and milestone reports, keeping in touch with dev and design to
make sure everything coming down the pipe is tested, et cetera.
- Coordinate with Redmond based
testing - With being a remote studio located in Austin Texas instead of
at the "mothership" in Redmond, WA
I've have spent a great amount of time keeping in touch with other Test
Leads in Redmond and making sure we are able to participate in and take
advantage of anything in Redmond that we can.
- Get things done guy - as with
many small companies, there is often a need to have someone responsible
and that can be depended upon to be "the guy that gets things
done". I have always loved small teams and small projects that need
someone that can take on the ownership of the frequent but ad-hoc duties
needed to be done for support of the studio which are hard to define
ahead of time but need doing.
April 2003 May 2004
Software Test Lead MSN Content Filterng
- Creation of a test team from
scratch to test the porting of an acquired Linux product over to Windows
- Delivery of backend
components to support parental control filtering for MSN Client, MSN Mac
Client, and MSN TV
- Testing of all Advanced
Technology Group Demos.
- Coordination of all releases
with partners
- Setup of test bench, tactics,
and team fileshare
- Wrote scripts (shell scripts
and perl) for the downloading, setup of the webserver (apache) and servers for the test bench Spoofservers where we host copied static versions
of 35,000 domains and websites, used for testing of the grading engines.
August 2002 April
2003 - Software Test Lead - Client Frame team
- Transfer of oversized test
organization of 28 testers to a small elite team of 8
- Porting of thousands of
legacy bugs and triaging them for a pointed release of quality and
performance
- Tasked with the quality and
release of over half the features in MSN Client 8.5 and 9.0
- Released MSN 8 QFE2
- Responsible for testing 24 of
32 feature points for MSN 8.5 and 9.0 as lead of the Frame team
2001 2002 StarTech
Group, Inc. assigned to Wingcast
October June Senior Director of Test & Configuration / Software
Development Engineer in Test (SDET) / Configuration Manager
- Coding of Test Harness
(Python, Perl, VB, Java & C++) and Test Case Manager to track results
for both laptops/workstations as well as the embedded system
- Testing of all Advanced
Technology Group Demos.
- Setup of Servers in Lab.
- Setup of Terminal Services
for use by Linux workstations.
- Purchase plan for software and
all hardware required in the test Lab.
- Setup of Ghost environment
for backup / restoration of test platforms and workstations.
- CVS migration from VSS of
remaining objects.
- Setup of laptops and
workstations with Mandrake for testing.
- Testing of the Linux TCU
module and associated components.
- Specification and creation of
build environment.
- Final verification and
packaging / releasing all releases.
- Backup and maintenance of
Linux servers for web and source control.
- Creation of install guides
for release and packaging for installation on clean hardware
- Test planning for Digital Car
release.
- Deployment of demo releases
to test server accessible from outside world.
- Train junior staff on CM
functions and responsibilities beyond creation of ANT build scripts and
"kick off a build please".
- Be the general "go to
answer guy" for almost anything and everything.
2000 2001 Nimble Technology
September October Director of Test & Configuration
- Built an enterprise class
test organization and configuration team from scratch
- Built out an entire hardware
lab infrastructure to support both the Engineering and Professional
Services departments with various hardware platforms, operating systems,
and databases. These would include x86 and Sparc
platforms as well as AS/400, HP/UX, and AIX platforms for running all
the supported operating system configurations of our application suite
as well as all our supported databases and data adapters
- Specified and carried out a
set of budgets for two distinct departments (Test & Configuration)
in excess of 1.5 million dollars per year each
- Managed a team of 12 SDET
(Software Development Engineer in Test) testers and a configuration team
of 3 including the Configuration Manager, Database Administrator, and a
Systems Administrator
- Created and enforced strict
software development guidelines and practices
- Mentored new testers hired
directly out of the UW CS program on test theory and the software
development process with a concentration on their part in Test and
interactions with Development and Program Management
- Defined and implemented the
customizing of fields and workflow for the defect tracking system and
test case manager using Mercury Interactive Test Director
- Automation of Nimble Suite
using Mercury Interactive WinRunner, Visual
Basic, C++, Java, Perl, JUnit, and CPPUnit
- Trained the test team and
then oversaw the creation and review of test requirements for 6
different development teams
- Developed the test plan for
milestone-based releases on a feature basis for deployment to customer
sites prior to beta or major version release
- Consolidated all
documentation which was scattered throughout the company's various
groups into a single point under source control to track requirements for
testing against and coordinating cross development work
- Worked closely with our
Professional services team to ensure that all customer requirements were
identified, incorporated into functional and suite level testing, and
tested as part of the development smoke tests for changes and automated
build BVT tests
- Defined and enforced release
criteria guidelines for milestone, beta, and the version release to
customers
- Coordinated outsourcing of
testing on a number of component areas of the suite
- Co-developed the triage
guidelines and process for endgame for the release of our v1.0 product
- Managed to find time to even
do a little testing and development of a stress test harness...
- and most importantly, stayed
and shipped on schedule and under budget! :)
2000 2000 vSource
April September Director of QA
- vSource was a very small startup eProcurement shop with ~40 employees
- Managed a team of 14 black
box testers
- Created and enforced strict
software development guidelines and practices in an environment with
zero guidance prior to my hiring
- Mentoring QA Leads through
the process of taking on additional responsibility
- Enforced code review to
minimize inadvertent regression to stable functionality
1999 2000 Getty Images, Inc. -
(formerly PhotoDisc)
July April Director of QA
- Created a QA department for
the IT business group
- Manage a dynamic, growing
team of Software Test Engineers for a fast growing profitable eCommerce
corporation
- Responsible for the
construction, deployment, and management of the corporate wide test lab
- Coordinating the testing
efforts for 3 business groups with up to 8 enterprise projects at any
given time
- Created and enforce strict
software development guidelines and practices
- Mentoring QA Leads through
the process of taking on additional responsibility
- Established an intern program
to find low-cost novice test staff with the potential for becoming solid
testers with a sound foundation in proper test methodology and practices
1999 1999 WatchMark,
Inc.
Jan. July QA Manager / Test Lead / White box tester
- Dedicated tester for a team
of 8 developers coding in C, C++, Java, SQL (Oracle), & Perl
- Assist Development with all
code review and new feature design
- Final sign-off authority for
all product releases prior to deployment to the production environments
- Client/Server testing of distributed
Unix server applications to monitor network elements via TCP, Serial,
SNMP, & X.25
- Creation and training of the
dedicated test team and test procedures for the WatchMark Control software suite
- Testing of SQL Databases, C,
C++, Pro-C, & Oracle Forms
- Performance, Load, and
Benchmark testing
- Troubleshooting with
development all issues related to multi-platform implimentation
- Creation of test automation
for regression, load, and stress testing using X-Runner, ksh scripts, C, and C++
1997 1999 TechWave,
Inc.
Nov. Jan. QA Manager / Senior Test Lead / White box tester
- Supervision and guidance of a
team of 8 testers for all projects that would enter the QA department
- Assisted test leads with the
review of specifications, creation of test plans, test designs, and test
cases
- Assisted and trained junior
testers on procedures to conduct and drive code reviews
- Training of test leads on
lower level test techniques as well as ways to delegate responsibility
to the lesser experienced test staff
- Client/Server testing of the
eCommerce back-end servers and associated applications and services
- TechWave Commerce Trust online
eCommerce server testing. Involved testing the payment processing of
real-time credit card transactions, EDI processing, fraud screening,
server security, returns processing, and hand-off to Customer Service
for order fulfillment
- Setup of the test lab test
platforms and process for setting up a clean environment using the Ghost
program from Innovative Software
- Testing of SQL Databases,
TCP/IP clients, security and anti-hacker software, & "Try and
Buy" technology. "Try and Buy" technology is based on
"enabling" software via software encryption so that a user or
customer can use a full product (no crippleware)
for free for a set period of time before they are required to purchase
the software. It can be used for both 32 bit and 16 bit executables, as
well as a general content wrapper to "wrap" any digital
content. Purchase is facilitated by either purchasing your software via
the GUI over the internet through secure TCP/IP communication, or for
customers not willing to transmit their credit card over the internet
over the telephone. The client communicates with a server communicating
to a SQL database
- Performance and Load testing
- Security testing of the
"Try and Buy" technology and then hacking the system to find
all security issues before releasing to the internet
- Troubleshooting with
development all issues related to multi-operating system and web browser
functionality and core API's
- Created test automation for
functional and regression testing using Rational Visual Test and custom
Visual Basic and C++ test applications
- Performed load and stress
testing utilizing Silk Performer and Mercury Interactive Load Runner
- Assisted Development with all
stages of code review
1995 1997 Attachmate Corp.
Nov. Nov. Software Test Engineer I
- Testing 16/32-bit Mainframe
Connectivity Software across multi-protocol networks, developing test
requirements, cases and automation, creation of design specifications,
and time estimates for completion of testing of everything from an entire
project to just a simple feature test pass
- Test Lead, Tester, and
Trainer for multiple areas of functionality
- Responsible for testing
everything, beginning with GUI/Display, File Transfer,
Network/Remote/Coax connectivity, advancing to low level COMM and
SNA/Non-SNA traffic testing. Projects included creating and coding
automation for testing areas that require extensive knowledge, so that
simple regression testing could be performed by junior test staff
- Tracked test coverage and
produced reports for risk assessment and release criteria, assisted
management and development with triage of problems found. Issues like
severity and possible customer impact were weighted against the time to
release, schedules for development fixes, and test requirements to verify
fixes
- Test lead of the doublebyte enablement of the Extra! for Windows
code-base for Japanese. This involved the creation of master OS installs
for the test environment, generation of all test documentation, time
estimates for QA completion and manning requirements
- Trained a group of 20+
testers without the prior knowledge of doublebyte
systems in the proper test methodologies to test multibyte
enabled code as well as how to operate foreign language operating
systems
1995 RhoTech
April October Software Test Engineer (Consultant at Attachmate Corp.)
- Testing 16/32-bit Mainframe
Connectivity Software across multiprotocol
networks
- Developed test cases,
documentation, and test automation
- Functional testing of the feature
areas Display, UI, Cut/Paste, On-line Help files, connectivity,
compatibility with other applications, Coax, Remote connectivity, and
regression testing
- Integration testing of the
individual 16/32-bit applications for the creation of the unified product
release of EXTRA! Personal Client the enterprise release of all the
Attachmate products into a single application suite
1994 Volt Technical
Resources
Feb. March Software Test Engineer (Consultant at Microsoft Corp.)
- Tested the firmware and drivers
for the Windows Printing System 2.0
- Wrote test suites and
automated cases using MS Test
- Verification of completed
test suites
- Reported bugs to development
and verification of all development fixes
1992 1993 Mattom Software
Oct. April Software Developer / Tester / Support / Sales / Jack of
all trades
- Designed, tested, and
maintained custom database software liking electronic scales to
computers for production tracking, reporting, loss prevention, and
payroll
- Creation of specifications,
consulting with customers for required functionality, training testers,
and troubleshooting install bases for problems encountered in the field
1991 1992 Volt
Technical Resources
Dec. Sept. Software Test Engineer (Consultant at Microsoft Corp.)
- Managed a test team of 5
contract employees, setup and maintenance of file and print servers,
installation of test software and MS Test Harness and test cases/suites,
and hardware maintenance. Tested printer drivers for the Windows Drivers
Library for Windows 3.1
- Design and automation of test
suites with MS Test for the Windows Printing System 1.0
- Verification of completed
test suites
- Reported bugs to development
and verification all of development fixes
1990 Volt Technical
Services
Feb. Sept. Assistant Software Test Engineer (Consultant at Microsoft)
- Performed both Printer and
Configuration testing. Printer testing involved creation and running of
test suites to test a printers functions with PC Word
- Tests were designed for
fonts, graphics, and control code functionality. Configuration testing
involved testing compatibility with all major computer, video, and
keyboard combinations for PC Word and the accompanying computer based
training program
Education:
1996 Developmentor
·
Essential Visual Basic & Intensive Visual Basic courses
1992 1994 Highline
Community College
·
Worked towards an AA Degree
1988 1990 Sea-Tac Occupational Skills Center
·
Computer Technology Department
1986 1990 Tyee High School
·
Lettered in Academics and Football
Hobbies
Metal Casting, Machining, Woodworking, Fabrication, Motorcycles, Photography, and Volunteering with Purebred Alaskan Malamute Dog Rescues:
Texas Alaskan Malamute Rescue Association (TAMR)
& Washington Alaskan Malamute Adoption League (WAMAL)
Contact MattSc@ExMsft.Com
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