User:David Fern

I am a seasoned software professional with more than 12 years of experience creating software requirements, developing, testing and maintaining software and hardware in large enterprise systems.

My true concentration is breaking software in the public and private industry. Currently I am an IT Specialist and Testing Technical Lead at a federal government agency.

I have developed and implemented software-testing strategies for large government Internet application deployments as well as enterprise wide Point of Sale (POS) systems in the private sector. You have probably visited some of the stadiums, airports, hotels and casinos where I set up or maintained systems.

I am most proud of my development and implementation of a Software Assurance program including penetration and security testing for agency Internet applications.

For the last 4 years, I have been a volunteer leading teams from across the country looking for model organizations as an Examiner for both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality (MBNQ) Program and the Maryland Performance Excellence Award (MPEA) Program. Our task was to determine how mature an organization is by evaluating the organizations processes and results against the Baldrige Criteria.

I have had multiple articles published including:

“The Port Authority”, Automated Software Testing Magazine, November 2009;

“Taming the Headless Beast: A Proven Strategy For Testing Web Services”, Better Software Magazine, March 2009;

"Defect Tracking and Management Process", Software Quality Professional, December 2002;

"How to Make the Most of The Beta Process", StickyMinds Web Site, February 2002; "When is Software Really Ready to Ship", Quality Techniques Newsletter, March 2001.

I have also given presentations at the following conferences:

“TCoE + SMART Architecture = SMART TCoE” HP Universe June 2010;

“Smarter than SMART: Structured Method for Automated Regression Testing 2.0” HP Universe June 2009;

“Fully Integrated Test Management Architecture” presentation to be given at the HP Universe June 2008;

“Assuring Web Service Quality” presentation and paper given at the STAREAST Conference May 2008;

"Making the Beta Testing Process Pay Off" Managing Software Excellence, December 2002;

"How Testers Can and Should Drive the Development Cycles" American Society of Quality Week 2001.

I have the following certifications:

Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Manager Professional (PMP),

ISTQB/ASTQB Certified at the Tester-Foundation Level (CTFL),

Mercury Interactive (HP) Quick Test Professional 9.0 Specialist

Microsoft MCSE and MCDBA.