Shafiq Ahmed
Profile
- Over 15 years experience in the testing field working on embedded devices, apps, software APIs to turnkey systems consisting of applications, embedded devices, servers and GUI front ends;
- Critical thinker and not afraid to ask questions;
- Understanding of commercial and technical aspects to software testing;
- Can work from statement of work, planning, test management to delivery phases of a project;
- Knowledge of software development tools, techniques and an understanding of the software development lifecycle;
- Ability to introduce new test methods and tools to the test workflow for the whole test team;
- Can work in rapidly expanding organisations and manage the test activity in a global multisite environment;
- Delivering impact by ensuring the software is tested to a high standard;
- Ability to draw on other colleagues expertise to fill skill gaps and get expert second opinions;
- Can adapt the test strategy if the situation changes;
- Experience of working in multidisciplinary environments;
- Enjoy mentoring junior engineers;
- ISEB Foundation in Software Testing.
Career history - Test engineer
Career break - March 2020 - Present: Various activities during the pandemic
- Attended online conferences (Examples - TestBash Home, FT Global Boardroom, CogX 2020);
- Attended a Critical Thinking course via Zoom;
- Teach my nephew (14-year-old) Python basics;
- Help care for my elderly father;
- Improve my Python skills via Udemy courses.
Roku, Inc. - November 2019 - February 2020: Senior QA Engineer
- Carried out manual testing of the TV OS features, Wi-Fi and HbbTV browser against prewritten tests;
- Test various DVB-T/DVB-T2 streams using live feeds and a DekTec modulator;
- Tested different video and audio codecs;
- Help a new starter get up to speed.
Cambridge Consultants - August 2014 - November 2019: Senior Engineer (in Test)
- Worked on a variety of cross-divisional projects in the consumer, industrial, semiconductor and medical industries;
- Tested embedded software, desktop and mobile applications, software APIs and cloud-based software;
- Successfully planned and managed software testing on projects delivering high-quality work that resulted in repeat business with significant ongoing contracts;
- Worked on products with different wireless technologies such as LoRA, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.;
- Used a variety of testing strategies and techniques (test cases, exploratory testing, ad-hoc, mixed, etc.);
- Create simple tools with scripting languages (Python) to aid manual testing where needed;
- Reviewing requirements and ensuring they are testable and easy to understand;
- Work with the project managers and the technical authority to estimate timescales to contribute to a statement of work to the client;
- Contributed to client test strategy reports;
- Delegate work to other engineers as a test lead on a project.
Example of a project (publicly disclosed) where I was the project test lead: [https://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/case-studies/accesso-smart-wearable]
Quote from the link above:
"We handed Prism over and it simply worked – we didn’t even need to be there."
Imagination Technologies (Pure) – April 2008 – March 2014: Design Assurance Engineer
- Applied different testing strategies to test mobile apps, multi-room wireless speakers, connected radios, in-car aftermarket product, Apple dock products and a connected STB PVR product;
- Carried out ad-hoc, exploratory testing, feature testing, system testing and product testing;
- Test software at pre-alpha, alpha, beta and candidate release stages;
- Reproducing issues reported by testers, internal beta testers, external customers (consumers) and raised within the development group;
- Prioritised and allocated work to teams in the UK, China and India and monitored progress to ensure the test activity met deadlines;
- Used in-house automation tools to automate testing tasks;
- Defined and carried out interoperability tests involving UPnP servers, routers and Bluetooth products;
- Worked with software, hardware, sales, marketing and customer support teams where needed;
- Reviewed specifications, test cases, help files and product user guides.
Example of a project where I was the project test lead:
[https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/pure-highway-300di]
Motorola Cambridge (Motorola, Inc.) (ex TTPCom Ltd) – Jan 2007 –Mar 2008: Test Developer/Test Engineer
- Tested a 3G dual-mode protocol stack running on new silicon;
- Worked in a new team of new starters collectively creating new processes;
- Wrote system-level test cases and executed manual tests and automated tests using internal tools;
- Prioritised test cases for acceptance criteria to release software to external clients;
- Automated manual test cases using an in-house tool that uses C language syntax to write scripts in;
- Delegated work to other team members.
My main project was to test a 3G dual-mode protocol stack:
[https://www.sunplus.com/press/press.asp?id=04F3DD4E40256]
Nokia (R&D) UK Ltd – Sept 2004 – Jan 2007: Software Test Engineer
- Worked on Series 40 software used in feature phones, used by millions of people globally, requiring high standards of testing and quality control;
- Carried out peer reviews, inspections and walkthroughs on test specification changes, automated scripts, design proposals and UI specification changes;
- Used the Anite SAS network simulator to test call handling features of the phone and speed up testing by getting the simulator to semi-automate testing;
- Wrote automated test scripts in Python to test the phone software;
- Made suggestions for improving the user interface were some of the ideas were included in the final design;
- Helped software engineers by reproducing and tracing errors raised by various teams within Nokia.
Sendo Mobiles Ltd (acquired by Motorola) - Oct 2003-July 2004: Contract Software Tester
- Designing new test cases and carrying out software testing using prewritten test cases to test the software against its specification;
- Carried out smoke testing, acceptance testing and field testing;
- Analysed failures and producing detailed steps to reproduce them;
- Wrote reports and producing statistics for management reporting on validation status;
- Delegated test tasks, providing support and training new team members.
My main project was to test the Sendo X smartphone:
[http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/Sendo_X.php]
Consort Securities Systems Ltd (now Dion Global Solutions) - Jul 2000-Jun 2001: Analyst Programmer/Tester (University placement)
- Developed skills in C/C++, Visual C++, COOL:Plex, Crystal Reports, Wise InstallManager, Visual Source Safe and software testing;
- Performed impact analysis on changes to requirements on own responsible areas of development.
Education
Coventry University - 1997-2002:
- BSc (Hons) Computer Systems - Awarded 2:1 (including industrial placement)
- HND Computing - Awarded HND