current location:
Near Davis Sqaure, Cambridge, MA 02140-1203
email:
cell:
617-775-1960
Profile:
I am a creative and analytical thinker who thoroughly enjoys the QA process. Sleuthing out problems, then working with software engineers or end-users to determine the cause of an issue and seeing it through to resolution.
I have a great deal of experience with human interface guidelines and have a background in graphic design and a belief that usability issues are generally caused by design missteps.
My current skill-set and past experience traditionally places me in the SQA group of most operations with me either coming in as a Senior Software Quality Assurance Analyst/Engineer working towards being a SQA Lead. I am of course, also open to exploring other opportunities within your company as is seen fit by your needs and can work equally well as the leader of a team, a team member, or work on a project solo.
I have been working as a full time as a Senior SQA Engineer on a commercial shipping product as well as as contractor and consultant. I have also taught computer skills (Macintosh & Windows) privately since 1991 and worked as an Audio Engineering Society member FOH and studio audio engineer with experience on digital audio workstations in live and studio environments while continuing to apply myself as a graphic designer, jeweler/artisan and writer.
I have exceptional verbal skills and can quickly assess complex issues and can uncover previously unseen, creative approaches to solving problems. My strengths also make me a visionary. With little effort I am able to come up with a plethora of ideas on how to handle a situation. I am also comfortable speaking in front of crowds or conversing one on one and have a calm yet driven demeanor that I feel would fit well within most corporate cultures and as a special added bonus I can comfortably speak to software and hardware engineers, marketers, program managers, tech-support and end-users using ability appropriate language for each group.
Experience:
H&R Block Financial Corp.
Digital Tax Solutions
(October 2006 — June 2010).
Senior SQA Engineer. I automated testing of Block's tax software (formerly TaxCut) for Mac product using AppleScript to build a test harness to test builds and generate reports as they are released for acceptance from engineering. Creating automation scripts for other groups as well specialized set up and clean up scripts. I also wrote Mac test plans and where there were cross platform needs - adapted current test plans to the Mac product. I was the primary tester (black/grey/white box testing) of the product executing automation and manual regression testing along with ad hoc testing. My functions also include basic to advanced Mac tutoring of other testers who need to test the Mac product and assisting with the purchasing decisions for our group. Also testing web based products for Mac compatibility.
(October 2006 February 2007).
Contract SQA Engineer for Block Financial Corp Digital Technology Services. Same responsibilities as above.
(October 2006 February 2007).
Contract SQA Engineer for Block Financial Corp Digital Technology Services. Same responsibilities as above.
The Limbic Research Testing Institute for Software, Hardware & Wetware
Heroic Design: Sound & Images
(August 1983 — Present).
Software & hardware freelance quality assurance testing as The Limbic Research Testing Institute for Software, Hardware & Wetware. Computer Consultant, teaching basic and advanced computer use in Mac OS/OS X and Windows 98, 2000 and XP. AES member Sound Engineer with 3+ years of ProTools experience in a studio environment prefaced by 11+ years of live sound reinforcement experience for local and international touring acts. Free-lance graphic designer specializing in photomanipulation, illustration, desktop publishing, logo and corporate I.D. design, special event posters (4–color, multi-spot color and B&W) and an original line of silk-screened T-shirts marketed under "The Not Responsible Toy Company" brand. Design and fabrication of custom jewelry.
Apple Computer, Inc.
(November 1998 — October 2003).
10/1999–10/2003. Mac OS X Update Group: Testing updates to Mac OS X 10.1-10.3, Designed Classic Test Plan to test important apps that had not yet been ported to Mac OS X for continued Classic compatibility. Instituted the Mac OS X Update Site Watch looking for early responses by customers to rapidly determine any issues with the update. Updated test plans for continued compatibility with updated OS X versions. Mentored coworkers to assist them in determining causes of problems seen. Performance Measurement Team: Designed, researched and implemented a Battery Life Performance Test Suite (battery usage changes caused by code changes to the Mac OS), test matrices and its documentation. Worked closely with marketing and PowerBook engineering teams to design the suite so that data gained was valuable to all groups. Used my knowledge of scripting with AppleScript and how to use AppleScript to solve lab problems. Proficient in performance lab procedures and took over primary testing roll. Worked on performance testing for Mac OS 9.0.2 – 9.2.1.
11/1998–10/1999 as contractor with West Valley Engineering. Mac OS SQA: Worked on Mac OS 8.5.1 update, Mac OS 8.6.x and Mac OS 9.x did engineering quick looks on System file builds as well as doing quick looks on integration builds of the OS before they were released to general testing.
(September 1998 — October 1998). Short term contract QA. Whitebox testing and verification of integration of Assistive Technologies’ Freestyle, a Macintosh based computer and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device (http://www.assistivetech.com/p-freestyle.htm). Involved in testing the upgraded OS software and underlying hardware and defined remanufacturing defects and designed testing scenarios for solutions to those problems. Designed the Filemaker Pro based bug tracking database for PicoStar.
(April 1998 — July 1998). Contract SQA Engineer. Blackbox (both ad hoc and matrix based) testing of 1.0 version of Java based client/server software to control functionality and information display on a variety of advanced digital set top boxes. Designed and maintained a Filemaker Pro based bug tracking database and wrote the documentation for the database.
(November 1997 — March 1998). Contract SQA Engineer. Blackbox testing of printer driver software on Macintosh, Windows 95 and Windows NT4. Updated test plans for clarity and Mac compatibility.
Knowledge Adventure (Davidson & Associates) <http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/>
(July 1996 — October 1997). Lead SQA. Responsible for performing Whitebox and Blackbox testing, Utilized standard and custom testing tools to bring to light coding issues. Developed test plans to be executed by testers with both matrix and ad hoc testing methodologies and then compiled data received from testers. Managed Macintosh hardware and software testing tools as well as the Macintosh lab. Ascertained viability of code ported from Windows. Worked closely with Technical Support to discover causes of problems experienced by end users and then incorporated the knowledge gained into future testing procedures. Lead on the UI design team for a new web based bug tracking database.
Worked as QA Lead, or as Technical Lead on products shipped from August 1996 to October 1997 for products shipped under the Davidson, Simon & Schuester, Blizzard labels and others.
(April 1994 — July 1996). Lead SQA for the Symantec product Suitcase 3. Forged ongoing business links with other software developers to facilitate the software testing process and maintained relationships with other software developers. Acted as supervisor when supervisor was unavailable. Maintained the software compatibility library, Symantec’s Macintosh hardware testing lab and the AppleTalk/Ethernet network in that lab. Used extensive knowledge of Macintosh hardware and software configurations to assist Software Engineers, Analysts and Technical Support personnel. Worked directly with customers to solve problem escalated and extensively tested their products for compatibility with other Mac products on the market.
(May 1992 — April 1994). Supervision of Macintosh computers, printers, Ethernet network. Trained employees in software implementation. Purchase recommendations for graphics department. Creation of graphic elements, advertisements and promotional materials for the Shopper, Executive Digest and other publications produced by Postal Press. Columnist, software reviewer.
Education:
Woodlawn High School Baton Rouge, LA., Received diploma 1978
Louisiana State University A&M Baton Rouge, LA., Majored in Fine Arts, Eastern Religions Minored in English.
Universal Life Church Seminary, Modesto, CA., received PhD. in Theology 1997, Doctor of Divinity 2003
DeAnza College Cupertino, CA., UNIX/Advanced UNIX 2003
Certifications:
Apple Macintosh/PowerBook Service 10/17/2003, Novell Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) 1995, Symantec Customer Service Training 1995,
Computer Skills:
Macintosh: System/Mac OS 1-9.2.2 Mac OS X 10.0-10.7.x including Developers tools and XCode IDE. AppleScript, iLife 2004-2009, iWork 2006-2009.
Third Party Software: HPQC (Mercury) Quality Center 9.2, Microsoft Office, Adobe; Photoshop 1.0-CS5, Acrobat, Illustrator 88-CS3, FreeHand 1.0-MX, Dreamweaver 3.0-CS3, Filemaker 2-10, Quark XPress 2.x-6.0, Corel Painter 1.0-XI, Fontographer, Meeting Maker, Digidesign ProTools 6.1.x-6.9.x, Propellerhead Reason 3, NI Komplete 5, Various plugins and more.
Windows: version 3.1 through Win 7 (including NT 3.5, 4.x, 2000). Windows setup, use and troubleshooting. Solving Windows configuration problems.
References:
References are available upon request.
