Curriculum Vitae - Vincent Dirks

Intro Vincent Dirks - Software Quality Engineer

As a versatile Software Quality Engineer, I aim to understand the nuances of the product, team dynamics, technological landscapes, and organizational structures so that I can adapt and contribute effectively. My approach extends beyond traditional testing methodologies; I consider the design of the whole ecosystem that facilitates excellence and efficiency in software development.

I specialize in adapting to diverse contexts to deliver high-quality software solutions efficiently, and I'm passionate about testing and tool development, they are both critical to driving software excellence and maintaining delivery speed.

Skills Summary

Testing Skills

Context Driven Testing API Testing Testing Native Mobile Apps Testing Web Apps Testing Firmware/Embedded systems Testability Concepts

Observability Concepts Exploratory Testing (Session & Thread Based) Visual Modelling Metrics Driven Development (A/B Testing) Accessibility Testing

Programming and Automation Skills

Javascript	Java	Other
Node.js Express.js React.js Jest Cypress.io Webdriver.io	Cucumber (BDD) Tidal Wave UI automation library Selenium REST Assured JUnit, TestNG LeJOS (Lego mindstorm) Robotics	Appium XCUITest C#: Specflow (BDD) SQL GraphQL C++: Arduino, ESP32
Tools
Splunk (log aggregation & analysis) Postman, Newman Github/Bitbucket Jenkins, Azure Devops, TFS, Google Cloud Platform Bash & Powershell scripting SoapUI & ReadyAPI

General Skills

Platform Engineering Staff Mentoring & Induction Agile Squad Master Manufacturing Resource Planning - Logistics Manager Physics - Weather Radar Systems, Lasers, Fibre-optics Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Work Experience

I am currently on a Mental Health and Wellbeing Break (Jan-2024 - Present) to give myself time for self-care and recovery following significant life events in recent years.

TTC - Dept. of Internal Affairs - Senior Test Automation Engineer (Nov-2023 - Jan-2023)

Contracting. Part of the Test Automation team for the Three Waters Project, developing a UI Automation suite in Java using the Tidal. wave Selenium automation library

Westpac NZ - Senior Automation Quality Engineer (Apr-2021 - Nov-2023)

Served as a Roving Automation Quality Engineer, bridging testing and automation gaps across multiple teams. Tested and automated mobile apps (Appium & XCUITest), a D365 web UI (Java, Selenium, POM's), and various APIs (Java, REST Assured). Also undertook a secondment as a platform engineer supporting Splunk, and later developed a ReactJS web app for viewing the test environment landscape.

FirstAML - Test Analyst (Oct-2020 - Mar-2021)

Served as a quality coach for a startup company developing a ReactJS Web App for the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism) industry.

Weather Radar NZ limited - Weather Radar Systems Engineer (Jun-2020 - Oct-2020)

Contracting 4 days/week. Helping modify legacy weather radars with some embedded Arduino micro controllers. Designing new electronics, PCB's, maintaining power waveguide systems, and performing signal analysis.

Grappler- Agile Quality Analyst (Jun-2020 - Oct-2020)

Contracting 1 day/week. Developed a Postman collection to test the API and implemented a node in Google Cloud Platform to execute the collection using Newman, and a simple Web UI (Node.js, Express.js) to trigger test runs and display HTML test reports. The Web UI implemented access restrictions for whitelisted IPs and authenticated users.

Fiserv Auckland - Intermediate Software Test Engineer (Jan-2017 - Apr-2020)

Native Mobile App functional and accessibility testing. API testing and automation. Using Postman/Newman, Specflow with C#, Javascript(Postman/Node.js/Express.js), Splunk for dashboards, TFS & Powershell for System deployment automation. Created a Postman Testrunner Framework for automated API integration checks and environment health monitoring.

Trade Me - Senior Software Test Analyst (Dec-2014 - Aug-2016)

Part of a small squad at Trade Me, I conducted context-driven exploratory testing for software changes to the iconic website. My responsibilities included testing DBs, UIs, APIs, and mobile apps, leading deployments, conducting test planning and peer reviews, utilizing BDD and visual test tools. I gained experience with implementing agile methods, Splunk, ReadyAPI, XMind, Jira, and Confluence. I also enjoyed onboarding new staff and contributing to the test and agile guilds.

Pre-2014 Roles

Logistics Manager, Caregiver, Software Engineer, Development & Support Engineer, Production Scheduler, Physics Tutor

Related wiki pages

References

TTC, Westpac , Fiserv , Trade Me Motors

Volunteering

Ministry of Testing, Eastern Suburbs AFC, Glendowie Boating Club, MOTAT, Eastern Suburbs Montessori Primary School

What I'm reading, watching, listening, learning, and trying out in 2024

Interesting Reads

• A Context Driven Approach to Automation in Testing By James Bach and Michael Bolton

Quote: "dynamically evaluating context and selecting, designing, or adjusting our actions to solve the problems that we encounter."

• Round Earth Test Strategy by James Bach

Interesting alternative to the "Test Automation Pyramid".

Quote: There are testing problems to consider at every level, "Quality above requires quality below".

My Observability Project

• Express.js basic hello world and my node.js-in-the-cloud repo
• Kubernetes vs. Docker by Josh Campbell at Atlassian
  

I want to learn the difference between these technologies to see how it might apply to my Observability Project

• Setting up Docker Desktop at home to run the Docker Splunk Image

Archive of pre-2024 entries

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