My Story
I have had quite a varied work background and started my career in the UK military. During this time, I was deployed on operations and gained many life skills and experiences that have benefited me. After leaving the military, I worked in numerous jobs from driving trucks to working on luxury holiday homes. In 2014 I started making simple websites for friends. After looking further into this vast industry, I became very interested in software development and processes involved in the SDLC. It was at this stage when I decided to retrain as a manual software tester. This led me to embarking on the ISTQB foundation certificate that I passed and soon after acquired my first role.
After settling into my new role, I became increasingly interested in automated testing and programming in general. This kick started my Open University studies in Software Development. Soon after starting this, I became a Senior Technical Test Engineer, leading to a new role as a SDET for a company that made online games. I continued in this role for some time, learning new skills until I was given an opportunity to become a Development Team Lead. This involved running a cross functional agile team of Developers, Testers and Artists, and managing the work flow while maintaining a strong skill set to implement technical work.
The next steps for my progression is learning and completing my MSC in Computer Science. I currently work as a SDET for a UK based company. Returning to this role has allowed me more hands-on coding and being part of the development team, creating and maintaining robust test frameworks across the teams.
In my spare time I like to keep fit and enjoy running and gym workouts. I play golf and cricket when I can and enjoy the great outdoors. Other hobbies include gaming and DIY projects when time allows.
