Testing You Can Trust
9:15 - 10:15 Student Alumni Room
The purpose of any type of test in any context is not so that the subject can simply pass it. Ultimately, it is to provide a measure of trust. Trust relies on past performance, understands present realities, and anticipates future behavior. It is also impacted by the trustworthiness of the one who made the test. This is a deeply personal matter. As testers, our trustworthiness impacts the trustworthiness of our tests which then impacts the trustworthiness of our feature or application. In this presentation, I’ll be addressing the five elements of trust based on the book “Trust” by Dr. Henry Cloud and applying them to the world of software testing.
I am a husband, musician, mentor, and engineer whose life is directed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Home for me is the DMV area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) but my wife, Kristen, and I are currently based in the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. I’m passionate about serving others through mentorship, collaboration, and cultivating safe spaces for growth. And my leadership strategy is three fold: Equipping people with knowledge and perspective, Encouraging people with truth and empathy when hard times come, and Empowering people with opportunities and resources to succeed and overcome new challenges.
After graduating from James Madison University with a BS in Integrated Science and Technology, I began my career in the software industry as a web developer writing in ColdFusion and C#/.NET with a healthy dose of SQL. After four years, I moved to North Carolina to pursue a MA in Ministry Leadership at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. During my second year, I began my search for a developer position in the area and this is when my career began to shift. I applied to a C#/.NET role and was asked questions about cloud architecture and my plan for working full time while studying part time. When they hired me, I was excited about jumping back into development. But to my surprise, they tasked me with starting their test automation effort with Java and Selenium and to train off-shore testers on the framework. This is how I got into testing!
Fast forward nine years, I’m now a Senior Software Test Engineer at WillowTree (a Telus Digital company) with experience building B2B and B2C solutions with diverse teams for clients in various industries including travel, food & beverage, and automotive. Throughout my fifteen year career, I’ve learned that technology is simply another context or vehicle for building relationships with people, whether they are the people on your team, the clients you’re serving, or the users you’re engaging. I’ve also learned that work is deeply personal, especially when we bring our full selves to environments where we spend time and energy that we cannot get back.
Here are some fun facts about me. My wife and I enjoy watching women’s basketball both college and professional. I have a tee shirt for every airport that I’ve visited (including layovers). If you bring up Star Trek or the Nickelodeon cartoon “Hey Arnold”, you’ll be speaking my love language. I love laughing big at small things, thinking deeply about why we do the things we do, and telling and listening to personal stories.