Bob W.

Experience

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  British Steel

  Oct 1995 - Sept 1996

  Student Programmer

  Re-engineered a monolithic legacy terminal control system to be a modular, extensible maintainable modern system.Produced a workflow system for order management.Maintained and improved systems on legacy mainframes as appropriate.

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  Argos

  Oct 1997 - May 1998

  Developer

  Maintained legacy Batch COBOL systems and performed a troubleshooting role in the investigation of production issues involving legacy code. Took sole ownership of integration issues involving production-level code, and managed those issues to conclusion.

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  Santander UK

  May 1998 - Jan 2003

  Created test assets for and executed Performance and Load Tests against Abbey’s e-banking application using Loadrunner in order to optimise performance and to verify that the application performed within tolerances.Accountable for delivering System test effort for Abbey’s e-banking application, ensuring that all transactions met business requirements for functionality and performance.Acted as test specialist to deliver training for multiple departments in the use of Mercury tools, realising synergies in the standardisation of test tools and defect management process across multiple areas. Show less Solely responsible for designing and executing tests for Abbey’s Digital TV banking, delivering test effort to ensure that software performed both to agreed internal requirements, and to external TV company specifications.Responsible for coding and component testing batch COBOL modules on UNISYS mainframe and Java/JSP presentation tier code on Windows/UNIX for eCommerce. Created test reports appropriate for Formal Technical Review in order to adhere to company standards for software quality. Show less

  • Test Specialist

    Mar 2001 - Jan 2003

  • Applications Developer/Test Specialist(Retail Banking to eCommerce)

    May 1998 - Mar 2001
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  Santander UK

  Jan 2004 - Mar 2005

  Test Lead

  Trained and led a small team of Business users to transition to a testing role where no dedicated test function existed, delivering test effort for projects updating software to meet new statutory standards.

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  Experian

  Mar 2005 - Jun 2009

  Test Lead

  Responsible for production of risk reports, test estimates, test plans and test cases, alongside execution of manual tests and delegation of test tasks to team members to deliver test effort to agreed timescales.Reduced regression cycle time by 80% and increased company confidence in software quality through sole design, implementation and maintenance of automated test assets for the API-based main company product.Verified that deliverable quality was appropriate, and ensured delivery to agreed timescales by delegating and reviewing work produced by an offshore test team.Engineered significant cost savings due to early defect discovery by driving improvements to create a robust document review process. Performed a key role by participating in requirements documentation reviews.Trained and mentored less experienced testers to a standard where they were able to achieve ISEB accreditation as per company skill requirements. Played a key role in the recruitment and interview of new team members.Lowered development costs by improving the quality of software delivered to the test team. This was done by aiding software engineers in increasing the quality of their JUnit component tests, and working with them in order to increase their knowledge of good testing practice. Show less

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  Axispoint Solutions Ltd

  Jul 2009 - Oct 2009

  Senior Test Analyst

  Responsible for all UK test functions.Worked closely with Developers in an Agile environment to deliver system test effort for BPM applications.Main Test Stakeholder Involved in the specification of an xUnit Unit Test Framework for a leading BPM tool.

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  Countrywide plc

  Nov 2009 - Apr 2010

  Principal Tester

  Fulfilled the Principal tester role: managed a small team of test resource, personally delivering test effort, and acting as a centre of Testing Knowledge and as an ambassador for the Testing function across the entire Countrywide business.Responsible for the management, mentoring and utilisation profile of a team of test resource, ensuring that test effort was delivered across multiple Countrywide Business Units to agreed timescales.Responsible for supporting the QA Manager and the IT Solutions Delivery Director in the implementation of Good Test Practice and Processes & Procedures across Countrywide IT.Involvement in Multiple products and projects across the entire of Countrywide Business, including Estage Agency, Insurance and Surveying. Accountable for the delivery of test effort for each of these disparate areas by my team.Implemented an estimation and time tracking procedure in order to determine 'estimates vs actuals' test effort. This led to improvements in team ability to more correctly forecast team capability, and enhanced team ability to contribute to the overall IT capability plan.Performed a key role in the delivery of the Countrywide Loyalty Scheme project, being directly accountable for the delivery of all test effort on this multi-Business Unit project, which delivered value-adding test effort to agreed timescales. Show less

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  Polaris Software

  Apr 2010 - now

  Principal Tester

  Acts as primary knowledge centre for testing practice within the JML Software Solutions element (policing area) of Polaris Software. Created a test function from scratch for JML Software solutions, and is constantly improving and evolving that function - folding use of appropriate test-assistive tools and good (contextual) practice into what we do on a day-to-day basis.