Mark Axelrod, White Box QA Engineer

Mark Lawrence Axelrod

Pleasanton, CA

Email: ablarg at the domain of mac dot com

Home: (xxx) xxx xxxx

My current interests are Web 2.0 technologies, relational databases, Javascript, and languages that make use of closures/lamba functions.
I'm currently employed with FileMaker, where I write automation software to regress and break FileMaker Server.

Operating Systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, OS 9, MacOS X 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.3 Server, 10.4 Server, 10.5 Server; Palm OS Garnet and Cobalt; UNIX, including Solaris and Linux

Languages & Protocols: Java 1.5, C, C++, Perl/MacPerl, SQL, Python, (some) Ruby, AppleScript, MPW, bash, CGI, DHCP, HTML, SQL, HTTP, XML 1.0, IMAP, POP

Tools: Xcode, Visual Studio 2005, Eclipse, CodeWarrior, VMWare, Parallels, FileMaker Pro 7, 8, 8.5, 9.0; FileMaker Server 7, 8, 9; FileMaker Server Advanced 8, 9, SQL Server 2005, MySQL 5.0, Perforce, Visual Source Safe, svn, STAF, Ghost, Disk Clone, Borland SilkTest, Framemaker, Crystal Reports, Partition Magic, fdisk, gdb,

Hardware: Component/driver installation and troubleshooting of: RAM, IDE & SCSI hard drives, CD-RW/ROM, NIC (PCI, ISA, USB, 802.11, PCMIA), cable modem testing

Networking: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP; installation, configuration and troubleshooting of LAN networks; expert use of most OS networking system utilities

Other: Black/white box testing; test plan writing and implementation; build/release automation skills; software testing methodologies; client/server testing; performance testing; testing automation utilizing virtualization

Lead Developer Tools Test Engineer, PalmSource Inc., (2003 to 2005) :

Lead test engineer for the Palm OS Developer Tools Suite, an integrated toolchain for building Palm OS Garnet and Cobalt applications
Wrote test plans, managed the project bug database, compiled and communicated project metrics for management
Lead a team consisting of 4 local engineers and later, an outsourced team of 8 engineers located in China
Successfully shipped 2 quality releases of product on schedule despite reductions in assigned headcount for project

Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation Mountain View, CA (2003) (contract):

White and black box testing of Entourage X mail client for Microsoft MacOffice X, 2003
Interfaced with Engineering, Product Marketing, and Documentation to resolve quality defect issues
Tested application functionality using a variety of email protocols (IMAP, POP, Hotmail)
Coded scripts to monitor network mail traffic for application debugging
Wrote, tested, and regressed bugs using Microsoft proprietary software
Executed test cases against daily builds
Created test cases for Entourage X mail client
Generate test plans for feature sets
Regression, functionality, load, and acceptance testing
Regression of PPP functionality

Emulation Tools Test Engineer, PalmSource, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (2002-2003) (contract):

White and black box testing of PalmOS Emulator and NT Simulator, applications that allow testing of Palm OS products on Windows and Macintosh operating systems
Tested Palm OS Emulator functionalty across Windows, MacOS, Palm OS, and Linux
Wrote test scripts in Perl to test Emulator functionality
Wrote, tested, and regressed bugs
Generated test plans for feature sets
Regression, functionality, load, and acceptance testing
Testing of product and software development kit tools for Chinese language release
Generated test builds of open source product using Perforce, Visual Studio, and CodeWarrior

Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation Mountain View, CA (2001-2002) (contract):

White and black box testing of Entourage X mail client for Microsoft MacOffice X
White and black box testing of MSN client for OS X
Interfaced with Engineering, Product Marketing, and Documentation to resolve quality defect issues
Tested application functionality using a variety of email protocols (IMAP, POP, Hotmail)
Coded scripts to monitor network mail traffic for application debugging.
Wrote, tested, and regressed bugs using Microsoft proprietary software.
Executed test cases against daily builds
Created test cases for Entourage X mail client
Generate test plans for feature sets
Regression, functionality, load, and acceptance testing
Regression of PPP functionality

Software Engineer, ExciteAtHome Corporation, Redwood City, CA (2000-2001):

Designed and implemented automated build system for Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X using MPW, AppleScript, CodeWarrior, and Visual SourceSafe
Interfaced with Engineering, Product Marketing, Documentation, and Quality Engineering to resolve release/build process issues
Provided build support for all company products with client side components
Coded installation scripts to integrate various software components into a single install
Maintained sane code tree that allowed for scaling of future products and projects in repository database
Generated daily project and product builds based in Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Wise Installer and other development tools
Created and implemented processes to increase efficiency and promote accountability for Release group interactions with rest of company

Lead Software Test Engineer, ExciteAtHome Corporation, Redwood City, CA (2000):

Performed acceptance, regression, load, functional, and stress testing of all ExciteAtHome Client Network Software and hardware components
Client Software includes installer, custom IE based browser, plug-ins, Java VM, and network diagnostic applications
Tested supported At Home Client Network hardware: network cards, USB to Ethernet adapters, DOCSIS cable modems
Ownership of all At Home certification of all Client Software supported hardware device drivers for all Windows client operating systems
As lead QA Engineer, supervised and mentored junior Client Software Quality Engineering personnel
Maintain source control for all certified device drivers supported by At Home Install CD (approximately 40 different devices at any given time)
Performed validation of build and verification of driver data to Technical Publications and any other relevant group
Troubleshooting of various networking problems spanning the OSI model from application layer browser functionality to physical layer cable modem signal acquisition over coax cable; DHCP server validation; and cable modem provisioning

Software Test Engineer, Etec Systems, Inc., Hayward, CA (1998-2000):

Performed SQA on software components of next generation pattern mask writing hardware tool Mebes-X
Wrote test plans for various proprietary component software APIs
Develop and execute test harnesses against proprietary component software APIs
Implemented and coded Corba API software based in C, C++ and Perl
Performed white and black box testing of various software API on real and simulated hardware
Configurations tested include NT and Solaris boxes integrated with custom hardware
Tested software and hardware integration

Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Bay Logics Inc., Novato, CA (1998):

Ownership of all SQA on two of Bay Logics three products
Tested and installed Visual Basic based client/server software over multiple server architectures including Oracle 7, SQL Server, and SQL Anywhere
Tested and installed FoxPro based real estate tracking software
Tracked, documented, and tested numerous software customizations for company clients
Developed and maintained SQA Manager change management systems for both software packages
Debugged and tested database conversions
Interfaced with Customer Support and Software Development on product quality issues

Graduate, Punahou School, Honolulu, 1986

Bachelor of the Arts, Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1991